Recusals in Drug Court cases happen later after learning of investigation
Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court Judge Meng Lim is now facing additional charges from the state’s Judicial Qualification Commission, coming in just before month’s end and adding to the tally of accusations against the circuit’s Chief Judge.
The JQC posted the new round of charges in an updated filing on Friday, January 28. The new round of complaints brought the total up to 24 with the amended filing adding eight new counts to the overall complaint.
The full filing can be found here on the Georgia Supreme Court website.
The new set of charges involved another drug court participant who Judge Lim failed to disclose previous communications with a relative in one case, and a criminal case in which he also neglected to disclose a personal relationship with the defendant.
In the matter of the drug court, much like the previous charges he still faces from the JQC, Judge Lim is accused of having a personal relationship with a relative of a Drug Court participant, and failing not only to disclose that relationship but also conversations he had with that relative outside of court involving the defendant in Drug Court, but also allowing the relative to testify.
The filing stated that between May and October 2019, Judge Lim spoke to the grandfather (listed as Summerville) of a drug court defendant, only known in the filing as McAlpin.
Judge Lim never disclosed those conversations with any court officials, per the filing, and then as the head of the drug court subsequently presided over his case.
Summerville additionally was allowed to testify in two different hearings, and also had ex parte (outside of court) conversations directing McAlpin’s attorney on what to do to get the grandson into the Drug Court program, even though McAlpin had never asked to apply.
That continued from May 2019 through October 2021. Six of the charges against Judge Lim are rules violations in court proceedings – failure to disclose, failure to recuse himself, etc. – involving McAlpin’s case.
The other two charges involve a defendant in criminal court only listed as Robinson.
The filing stated that between 2017 and 2019, he failed to disclose to anyone that he had a personal relationship with the defendant before they appeared before the bench, and additionally failed to disqualify himself in the proceedings.
It wasn’t until after Judge Lim learned of investigations into the matter that he recused himself from the pair of proceedings. McAlpin’s case was assigned to a senior judge in October 2021, and from the Robinson case from 2019 on January 12, 2022.
Judge Lim previously faced just 16 charges for his involvement and failure to disclose personal dealings with a drug court defendant Darrell Hill in 2016, referring him to the program and later overseeing his stint in the program and intervening in at least once instance to keep Hill working at Judge Lim’s restaurant instead of attending a required session. He also kept Hill in the program despite failing three drug tests and skipping another not long after missing a session.
Additional charges involving Judge Lim’s romantic relationship with a former Court Clerk’s office employee and translator Erika Hernandez were also among those the JQC sought disciplinary action for since he failed to disclose that relationship and employed Hernandez for translating purposes during court sessions, above and beyond her duties with the Court Clerk’s office.
Read about that past filing here.
You can read the full filing for Judge Lim’s response to the original charges here. (Note: A longer story about that was originally planned for October 2021, and will be forthcoming to detail all that is involved. – KtE)
A request for additional information about how the new charges filed on January 28 will impact the hearing schedule had not yet received a response.
Judge Lim has already announced that he will seek re-election for a new four-year term this year.
Other than the DUI, this is all bs. How is a country judge in a rural county going to be able to do his job? Especially if he knows all the citizens? Looks like some good ole boy racism to me.