Macon lawyer appealing contempt ruling

A Macon lawyer found guilty of three counts of contempt last week is appealing the judge’s ruling.

Veronica Brinson was cited for 10 counts of contempt of court Sept. 26 on allegations that she’d filed documents in a former client’s case despite being ordered not to, that she was interfering with the client’s new representation, and that she made false or misleading statements.

Judge John Allen, a retired Superior Court judge from the Columbus area, presided in the case after judges in the Macon Judicial Circuit disqualified themselves.

Allen found Brinson guilty on two of the counts pertaining to documents filed and a count related to interfering with her client’s new representation by a public defender. She was cleared of the other seven counts.

Brinson’s attorney, Franklin J. Hogue, signed a notice Monday of his and Brinson’s intent to appeal the judge’s ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals. The document was stamped in the Bibb County Superior Court Clerk’s Office on Thursday.

In his ruling, Allen ordered Brinson to pay a $750 fine by Thursday or be sent to jail for four days.

Brinson sent the clerk’s office a certified check Wednesday with instructions not to deposit it pending the appeal.

On Sept. 17, Judge Howard Simms removed Brinson from representing Frank Reeves, a 74-year-old man charged in a Macon murder. He alleged that her representation of Reeves was “ineffective.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2014 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Macon lawyer appealing contempt ruling ."