ATLANTA - Former Douglas County Judge Christina Peterson was supposed to appear before a judge on Friday morning for a hearing related to her arrest at a Buckhead nightclub. However, FOX 5 Atlanta has learned the hearing was canceled. At this time, it is not known when the hearing will be rescheduled.
Peterson was arrested on June 20. According to an Atlanta Police report obtained by FOX 5, an officer working an extra job at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge on Peachtree Road in Buckhead spotted a disturbance outside the venue and attempted to escort the woman from the premises.
While assisting security in deescalating the situation, the officer was approached by another woman, later identified as Peterson, who began screaming at the security guard and the officer. Police say she then forcibly pushed the officer in the chest. Despite the officer’s attempts to assist the woman being escorted out, Peterson continued to interfere, swiping at the officer’s hands.
Police say after a second push to the chest, Peterson was placed under arrest. However, she repeatedly refused to provide her identifying information, causing delays in her processing. Subsequent investigation allowed officers to confirm her identity.
On the Fourth of July, the Atlanta Police Department released several hours of footage connected with Peterson's arrest. In the footage, Peterson is visibly emotional while sitting in the back of the squad car, telling officers, "Book me in … unbuckle me and book me in."
"It's harassment," Peterson says in the footage. "It's poli-tricks."
It also appears from the video that Peterson has confused the officer who arrested her with the man who allegedly attacked the woman she was reportedly defending.
She accuses him of hitting the other woman and then putting her in handcuffs because she didn't agree with his disrespect of women.
The new video collaborates Atlanta police's position that she refused to give her name. Peterson was asked multiple times by several different officers for her personal information, but she refused each one of them. However, the video also shows that her friends at the nightclub told the arresting officer repeatedly that she was a judge and gave him her name before he left with her in the patrol car.
Peterson is facing charges of simple battery and felony obstruction. She's set to appear before a magistrate court judge for a pre-indictment hearing at 9 a.m.
Ex-Douglas County judge Christina Peterson refutes charges
A day after her arrest, Peterson, her lawyer, and witnesses held a press conference declaring her innocence.
The witnesses said Peterson tried to defend Alexandria Love from a vicious attack after an unidentified man accused her of cutting in front of him in a food truck line.
"He viciously attacked me," Love said, "punched me in my face and Judge Peterson was the only one to help me."
Witnesses Madison Shannon Kelly and Alexandria Love insist the judge did nothing wrong.
"I see this person flying by me and I didn't know who she was," Kelly told reporters. "But I know she helped my friend, and if she hadn't helped, I don't know what we would be saying today."
One new piece of body camera footage seemed to corroborate their story. In it, an unidentified man told police that Peterson "jumped in to help the girl out," before describing the former judge as "tipsy."
Georgia Supreme Court removes Christina Peterson from office
On June 25, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that Peterson should be removed from the bench. Additionally, she will not be eligible to be elected or appointed to any judicial office in Georgia for the next 7 years.
The first-time judge for Douglas County has been the subject of several FOX 5 I-Team investigations since she took office in late 2020.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) decided in April that Peterson was guilty of "systemic incompetence" because she ignored courthouse rules, abused courthouse personnel, made inappropriate posts on social media and, in repeated cases, failed to do her job.
The decision came after four separate hearings that began in September 2023. She faced 30 counts of misconduct.
In their ruling, the justices agreed with the JQC's findings related to the matter.
Peterson was in her last year on the bench. She recently lost her bid for re-election.
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