Judge cries foul over attack ad

Responding to negative campaign material circulated by his opponent, Superior Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell of Thomaston took offense Monday at what he called insinuations that he was a child molester.

His opponent, John Mrosek of Peachtree City, challenged that assertion.

“We have never said that Johnnie Caldwell was a child molester,” Mrosek said Tuesday.

The card, which Caldwell said was mailed to households in the Griffin Judicial Circuit, has wording on the top that says, “Vote NO to child molesters,” followed immediately by the words, “Vote NO to Judge Caldwell.”

“That’s as close as you can get to calling me a child molester,” Caldwell said at a press conference Monday afternoon in Griffin.

Mrosek said he merely wants voters to examine the cases through news accounts he cited in the mailing and also review the case files themselves “and make up their own minds.”

The card features several partial news clippings on the front relating to child molestation cases in which Caldwell has accepted guilty pleas. On the back side, the card urges voters to “examine these child molestation cases of Judge Caldwell,” citing the dates and sources of the news clippings.

Caldwell chastised Mrosek for publishing the information and making the victims relieve the cases all over again. The judge said he regretted going into the details of each case, but he felt it necessary to clear the record.

Mrosek said Tuesday that Caldwell has used the idea of protecting victim’s privacy to “promote” the use of negotiated pleas to avoid trial. Mrosek argues that keeps authorities from determining if there are other victims in such cases.

“We believe we need stronger punishment and less probation,” Mrosek said.

Of the five cases called into question on the campaign mailing, four involved Caldwell accepting guilty pleas for probation sentences which were the result of negotiations between the district attorney’s office and the defense attorneys involved, Caldwell said.

In each of the four probation cases, the defendant received a probation sentence and fine instead of prison time, but Caldwell noted that in all four cases the victims and their families recommended the pleas be accepted.

One of the cases, from Pike County, was pled out after the deputy sheriff who investigated it reported that the entire investigative case file was missing, Caldwell said. In that case, Ben Hunton was originally charged with child molestation but pled guilty to enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Caldwell sentenced him to 10 years probation, a $1,500 fine and a payment of more than $10,000 to the victim to pay for medical expenses including counseling. The latter, Caldwell said, was so Hunton couldn’t declare bankruptcy to avoid compensating the victim.

Had the case file not been lost, Caldwell said he felt likely Hunton would have received prison time as part of his sentence.

Mrosek contends that Hunton is not a registered sex offender.

Another of the probation cases involved a former Starr’s Mill High School teacher who pled guilty to having a sexual relationship with a student. Laura L. Voyles pled guilty to sexual assault against a person in custody and was sentenced to three years probation and a $1,500 fine because the victim and his family “were adamant” that Voyles receive probation, Caldwell said.

Caldwell noted that Voyles and the victim, who was 17 at the time the affair took place, have now married.

Caldwell also addressed the facts of a case where a Peachtree City man who was originally charged with child molestation later aborted his first guilty plea to a reduced charge of enticing a child for indecent purposes with another judge. Robert Lee Silva was sentenced to 10 years probation and a fine because that was the sentence originally accepted by Superior Court Judge Paschal A. English Jr. before Silva withdrew his first guilty plea, Caldwell said.

Another of the cases called into question on the Mrosek mailing was that of a Fayette man who was originally charged with five counts of aggravated child molestation but later pled guilty to reduced charges of five counts of sexual battery, a misdemeanor. John Steven Colvert was sentenced to five years probation and a $5,000 fine in that case, which Caldwell said involved the most dysfunctional family he has run across in his entire career.

Caldwell said he accepted the plea because the assistant district attorney on the case said if the evidence were presented to a jury, “there would be little chance for a conviction.”

During the case, it came to light that the family had a photo album which contained nude photos of the children, not baby pictures, on the coffee table in the family’s living room for anyone to see, Caldwell said. The mother also testified during divorce proceedings that the children had been “cross-dressed” on numerous occasions, Caldwell noted.

Colvert is not on Georgia’s sex offender registry because he pled guilty less than a month before that law went into affect, Caldwell noted.

Caldwell admitted making one mistake in the case, though: not removing the children from the custody of the mother. The judge did sever custody rights from Mr. Colvert, he added. At the time, the Fayette County Department of Family and Children Services did not make a recommendation to remove the children from Mrs. Colvert’s custody, the judge said.

The fifth case involved a Spalding County man who pled guilty to solicitation of sodomy and child molestation after his trial had begun. Caldwell sentenced Larry Gene Taylor to 10 years in prison plus another five years on probation.

Caldwell defended his decision to allow Taylor three days after sentencing to turn himself in to authorities to begin serving his prison term. The judge also noted that shortly after court was adjourned the day of the sentencing, he was notified that one of Taylor’s neighbors saw him packing his auto and thought he might be trying to leave the county. At that point, Caldwell said he ordered Taylor arrested “out of an abundance of caution” and Taylor has been in jail ever since.

Caldwell said he stood behind his decision, saying Taylor had appeared at all necessary court hearings while he was out on bond for the offenses. He also noted Taylor’s attorney had requested a two-week delay in reporting to jail.

Caldwell noted Monday there have been a number of other child molestation cases where he has handed down sentences from between 20 and 60 years in prison.

The content of the mailer deserved a response, the judge said, adding that he has never called a press conference during his entire political career as a district attorney and judge.

“It crossed the line. It was personal,” Caldwell said. “I’ve never had anybody call me a child molester and I’m not going to take it lying down.”

Caldwell said he would not seek to take any legal action against Mrosek as a result of the political mailing.