Lumpkin v. Johnson

For the reasons explained below, I believe that the system under which appellant’s death penalty prosecution was assigned to a particular judge of the Augusta Judicial Circuit is both at odds with the Uniform Superior Court Rules and fundamentally flawed as a matter of public policy. Accordingly, I would not allow it to stand. I also believe that, pursuant to the clear dictates of Uniform Superior Court Rule 3.2, the trial court was required to assign the same superior court judge to preside over appellant’s civil and criminal trials. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.

On September 13, 1996,…