Talladega County Presiding Circuit Court Judge Julian King says Judge Tommy Dobson will not handle Juvenile cases when he returns to the bench in May. Here’s the story from the Daily Home. King provided no information about what cases Dobson would be handling, other than to say that King would be assigning other cases to Dobson and that Dobson has agreed to handle those cases “in an efficient and professional manner.”
King publicly thanked Alabama Chief Justice Drayton Nabers Jr. and the many retired and active judges who spent so many hours re-evaluating the cases Dobson and his referee Jack Swinford. In King’s words, “I offer an apology on behalf of the judiciary. I am relieved that this matter has been resolved by the Court of the Judiciary of Alabama. This unpleasant episode is now over and we can again fully concentrate on the future.”
This judge got nothing more than a slap on the wrist. In the juvenile court here my husband and I were NEVER told we could requestahearing in front of another judge. My husband never got any papers about the referees findings I did but he didn’t.
Whatever papers we did get were late, and the 14 day time limit was down to 7 days and that’s no time to gather witnesses or evidence.
I think ALL of the juvenile courts need to be investigated. We’ll be surprised by what would be found.
VICKI