Wild Antics Get Georgia Judge Thrown Off Bench

(CN) - The Georgia Supreme Court ruled to permanently remove a county judge who smoked marijuana at least once a week for several months, pointed a gun at himself in the courthouse, called the sheriff "a spineless jelly spine" and engaged in other questionable conduct.

The ruling comes on the heels of a recommendation from the state's Judicial Qualification Commission to bar Catoosa County Magistrate Judge Anthony Peters from ever serving on the bench again.

The commission found that Peters used marijuana once a week from March to May 2010.

One year earlier, he had pointed a gun at himself in the courthouse while talking to another magistrate judge, according to the commission.

"I am not scared," he said, according to court records. "Are you all scared?"

The commission also found that Peters went on a TV show called "Night Talk" and identified a confidential informant with a photograph.

On the same program, he called the chief magistrate judge "spineless."

Backbones were apparently a sticking point for Peters who called in to another cable TV show that was interviewing the county sheriff. Peters tried to disguise his voice with several foreign accents before calling the sheriff a "spineless jelly spine."

While Peters admitted to some of this conduct before the commission, he stated that he had been disciplined "enough" because he has been on paid administrative leave since June 2010.

"Notwithstanding Judge Peters' personal belief that he has already received appropriate discipline, the record reveals that Judge Peters has not sought treatment for his admitted drug problems and has done nothing to show that he has any ability to live up to the high standard of conduct expected of members of the judiciary in Georgia," according to the court's unsigned opinion.

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