Pamela Green is halfway through a 30-year sentence for nonviolent burglary by a judge who should have recused himself.
Green, 69, will be 84 years old when she completes the no-parole sentence, and her lawyers say enough is enough.
Pamela Green
Attorney Mark Loudon-Brown of the Southern Center for Human Rights filed an application for a discretionary appeal Friday with the Supreme Court of Georgia.
The appeal contends a lower court’s ruling that it lacked authority to entertain Green’s motion for a new trial, but would have with the prosecution’s consent, a violation of her due process rights.
Now-Chief Middle Circuit Superior Court Judge Robert Reeves should have recused himself after serving as Green’s defense attorney in several nonviolent theft cases prior to delivering her sentence of 30 years without parole, it says.
Reeves was elected judge of the circuit, which spans Emanuel, Jefferson, Candler, Toombs and Washington counties, in 2007.
He is now under investigation by the Judicial Qualifications Commission for committing misconduct and exhibiting intemperance that’s prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Reeves has denied all the charges, which stem largely from comments made inside and out of the courtroom, such as “are you really that retarded” and “he’s the biggest drug dealer in Emanuel County,” as well as whistling at female court employees and improper touching.
Reeves recused himself April 26, 2023, the date Green’s motion for a new trial was scheduled.
Visiting Judge Brenda H. Trammell later denied the motion, noting the Georgia Court of Appeals had three times denied Green’s efforts to modify her sentence or secure a new trial.
In an Aug. 3 ruling, Trammell held that the court had no authority to grant a new trial because Green had earlier filed an extraordinary motion for new trial and that her recidivist sentence was valid at the time it was entered.
Attorneys had missed the window of time to modify her sentence or ask Reeves to recuse himself, the judge ruled.
The appeal says Trammell’s errors give the Supreme Court of Georgia the authority to intervene.
Prior to her 2009 sentence, Green had served a combined nearly 10 years in prison, some in plea agreements negotiated by Reeves, in separate convictions for shoplifting, forgery, credit card fraud and possession of opiates.
Since her sentence, the legislature has realized the costly error of its ways, Loudon-Brown argues in his appeal to the state high court.
The state’s prison population doubled between 1990 and 2011 and state spending on corrections grew to more than $1 billion. The result was House Bill 1176, signed by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2012, which “reserve(d) our prison beds for those who are truly dangerous,” he wrote.
Green’s two male codefendants, one of whom was her husband, were released in less than three years, while only 7.2% of people convicted for burglary in 2009 remained in prison in 2013, let alone 10 years later, Loudon-Brown said.
Her appeal states Green hadn’t even filed an earlier extraordinary motion for new trial, and that Reeves recused himself at the direction of the Judicial Qualifications Commission. It argues a state law as interpreted to deny the right to an automatic appeal of an extraordinary motion for new trial deprived Green of due process.
