By Dean Poling
Former Alapaha Circuit Judge Brooks E. Blitch III is reportedly scheduled to enter a plea this morning in federal court, according to a Thursday evening report from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The AJC story attributes court documents and claims the plea will be in relation to a count of fraud.
Blitch will reportedly appear before Senior U.S. Middle District Court Judge Hugh Lawson.
A federal grand jury originally indicted Blitch on 14 counts of various charges with accusations ranging from fixing cases to making illegal payments to courthouse employees, according to court documents. He resigned from his Superior Court seat in May 2008 to avoid judicial misconduct charges by the state after nearly 28 years in office.
Blitch served as a judge in the Alapaha Judicial Circuit and was one of rural Clinch County’s most powerful politicians.
He was indicted alongside his former law partner, Homerville attorney Berrien Sutton, who resigned as a state court judge shortly before they were indicted. Sutton pleaded guilty to one count of honest services fraud conspiracy earlier this year.
The Blitch indictments were the result of a federal investigation into misconduct in the Alapaha Judicial Circuit. The Alapaha Judicial Circuit consists of Clinch, Lanier, Berrien, Cook and Atkinson counties.
Blitch’s case had been set for trial in July but was postponed because Blitch was suffering complications from a ruptured appendix.
