Fayette County Commissioner Robert Horgan is asking a superior court judge to overturn a panel’s ruling that he violated the county’s ethics rules when he was arrested May 23 by a Fayette sheriff’s deputy for possession of marijuana and driving with an expired truck tag.

A group of three county attorneys ruled Oct. 14 that Horgan violated Fayette’s ethics ordinance by not following Georgia law and also that his conduct was unbecoming of a public official.

In his legal challenge, Horgan insists that he should not be held accountable to the ethics ordinance because the arrest was not “related in any manner to his official duties as a Fayette County Commissioner.”

The arrest took place on a late Saturday afternoon as Horgan was coming home from a trip to the Lowe’s home improvement store in Fayetteville, according to a deputy sheriff’s incident report.

The suit clarifies that when Horgan was arrested he was “in his personal car, on his personal time and on a public street.”

The suit was filed last week in Fayette County Superior Court against the authors of the ethics complaint: Patrick J. Hinchey and David Cree, and also Fayette County and the ethics panel which rendered the decision.

Horgan is represented in the case by Peachtree City attorney Rick Lindsey. On Oct. 22, he pled no contest to the misdemeanor marijuana and expired tag charges. He was sentenced to an $800 fine, 12 months probation and 40 hours of community service by Fayette County State Court Judge Fletcher Sams.

Sams also ordered Horgan to avoid any drug or alcohol use for which he will be tested during the probation period. He must also submit to a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any recommended course of treatment, if any, along with attending a session of the county’s new drug court.

Per county ordinance, a three-member panel of county attorneys from nearby counties was convened to hear the ethics complaint in a public hearing. The three attorneys included Jim Fortune of Spalding County, Robert Morton of Pike County and Tyron Elliot of Meriwether County.

Should the ethics panel’s ruling be upheld in court, Horgan’s fellow members on the county commission will have to determine whether to fine him up to $1,000 and whether to publicly censure him.

Horgan has already survived an attempt by a group of citizens to recall him from office. He has steadfastly refused to resign his post despite continual pressure at commission meetings from several people including former county commission Chairman Harold Bost and Hinchey.