Court: Lawyer was in contempt when she kept working case after judge removed her

The Georgia Supreme Court has affirmed a judge’s ruling that Macon attorney Veronica Brinson was in contempt of court when she continued to file documents in a murder case despite being ordered not to.

In an opinion released Monday, the court agreed that Judge John D. Allen wasn’t in error when he found Brinson guilty of three counts of contempt in 2014 and ordered her to pay a $750 fine. Allen, a judge in the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, handled the case after judges in the Macon Judicial Circuit disqualified themselves.

The case stemmed from Brinson’s representation of Frank Reeves, a 76-year-old man charged with fatally shooting a woman outside a Gray Highway gas station in 2012.

Judge Howard Simms had removed Brinson from Reeves’ case in 2014, deeming her representation “ineffective.” He appointed a public defender to represent Reeves, who was deemed incompetent to stand trial earlier this year.

Simms ordered Brinson not to file any more documents in the case and for the court clerk not to accept any filings from Brinson.

During her contempt hearing, Brinson admitted that she had filed a letter and motions in the case, but she maintained she wasn’t aware of Simms’ order prohibiting the filings until later.

Testifying, she said she wouldn’t intentionally defy a judge’s order.

The decision by the state’s highest court was unanimous, with Justice Robert Benham not participating.

Brinson declined comment Monday.

In a separate case, Brinson is appealing Judge Bemon McBride’s May 2016 determination that she again was in contempt of court, this time stemming from her failure to obey an order in a civil case. She has also appealed McBride’s ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Brinson sued another Macon lawyer, Andrew Foster, in 2011, alleging harassment, and she lost. She was ordered to pay attorney’s fees, but she didn’t provide financial documents to Foster’s lawyer as required.

McBride, also a Chattahoochee circuit judge, was selected to handle the initial lawsuit after Macon judges disqualified themselves.

He issued an order early in 2016 compelling Brinson to provide the documents, but she still failed to hand them over.

McBride, after ruling that Brinson had violated his order, ordered her to go to jail until she provided the documents. She posted a $20,000 bond to keep her out of jail while the appeal is pending.

This story was originally published October 3, 2016 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Court: Lawyer was in contempt when she kept working case after judge removed her."