Wednesday, October 23, 2002
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Wednesday, October 23, 2002 |
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Fayette native Sams a finalist for Superior Court judgeship By JOHN
MUNFORD
Fayette County State Court Judge Fletcher Sams Sr. is one of the three finalists still in the running for the vacant Superior Court Judgeship created by chief judge Ben J. Miller Jr., who is retiring the end of this year. Joining Sams on the short list selected by the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission are Andrew J. Whalen III of Griffin, the son of former Chief Superior Court Judge Andrew J. Whalen II and Tommy Richard Hankinson, a Thomaston attorney. The finalist will be selected by Gov. Roy Barnes. "I'm very humbled with everybody I know who has been involved with this to have been included on the short list," Sams said Tuesday. "I know the governor's got a tough decision to make and I don't envy him." Sams, a sixth-generation Fayette native, first worked as an assistant district attorney in south Georgia for several years after graduating the Cumberland Law School at Samford University in 1979. While there, he served as a special assistant U.S. Attorney for one case involving a pharmacist accused of forging 30,000 prescriptions. Later, Sams returned home, serving as Judge Pro Tem for Fayetteville City Court in the early 80s, then as District Attorney of the Griffin Judicial Circuit from 1989-1992. Elected as Fayette's first state court judge in 1996, Sams has also served as a special master in several Superior Court cases in Fayette and Pike counties which involved him making recommendations on the case to the sitting judge. Sams was also the town attorney for Brooks from 1993 to 1996. Other Fayette residents applied for the Superior Court Judgeship, including State Court Solicitor Steve Harris, municipal court judges Robert Ruppenthal and Charles Floyd and Peachtree City attorneys R. Dolores Daniel and Stephen M. Kiser.
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