Retired Cherokee Judge Frank Mills To Hear Marlow-Trim Recusal Motion

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Retired Cherokee County Superior Court Judge Frank C. Mills III has been assigned to hear a motion for two sitting Superior Court judges to recuse themselves as Robert and Kelly Trim appeal their convictions.

Kathlene Gosselin, administrative judge with the Ninth Judicial Administrative District, issued the order on Sept. 30. Mills will hear the motions at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21 in courtroom 2B at the Cherokee County Justice Center in downtown Canton.

“While presiding in this case, Judge Mills is fully clothed with all of the authority and powers of a Superior Court judge of the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit,” Gosselin wrote in her order.

Judge Mills retired from the bench in 2012 after serving over 30 years as a Superior Court judge.

Both Superior Court judges David Cannon Jr. and Ellen McElyea voluntarily filed motions to recuse themselves from the case, which is under appeal by the defendants. The motions requesting both judges recuse themselves were filed by Brian Steel, the attorney for Kelly Trim.

Robert Trim’s attorney Michael Dupont later joined the recusal motions, but fellow defendant Barbara Knowles has not.

Cannon offered his motion to recuse in September after he revealed to the court that his uncle, Canton attorney Billy Hasty, Jr., is the chairman of Reinhardt University’s Board of Trustees. Cannon was assigned the case after McElyea also voluntarily recused herself.

Steel has argued McElyea and Cherokee Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Petruzielo have a relationship through their service on the Reinhardt board of trustees and that his client was unaware of their alleged connection.

Along with the motions to recuse filed by both McElyea and Cannon, Judge Jackson Harrison last year recused himself before the trial got underway, which originally kicked the case to McElyea’s calendar.

The lack of Superior Court judges to hear the case kicked the issue to the Ninth Judicial Administrative District, which had the task of assigning either a sitting or senior judge to hear the motions.

Knowles and the Trims were found guilty of lying to Canton police when they accused Petruzielo of trying to run them over in downtown Canton after a contentious June 2013 school board meeting.

The Trims and Knowles, who are preparing to appeal their convictions, were sentenced to serve 60 days in jail and 10 years on probation, but McElyea in July granted the three defendants an appeal bond, which allows them to remain out of jail pending an appeal.