Sandy Springs Reappoints 4 Municipal Court Judges

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — The Sandy Springs City Council has reappointed four judges to serve on its Municipal Court. Council members at their Aug. 7 meeting unanimously approved naming Candiss Howard, Donald Schaefer, Joseph Buford and Marcia Ernst to serve on the bench for another four years.

Their terms began upon Council approval at the meeting, and they will serve on the court through the first regular City Council meeting in August 2022. Municipal Court judge nominations are made by Mayor Rusty Paul, and they are subject to City Council approval.

Sharon Dickson, the city's fifth judge, asked the mayor not to be reappointed. Dickson's request came weeks after anti-Iranian remarks she made to a nursing student during a 2017 bench trail came to light.

City Manager John McDonough said the four judges have told Sandy Springs they could handle the increased workload that comes with having one less judge. McDonough added Mayor Paul does have the power to nominate more names in the future if that need arises.

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Controversial comments uttered by Dickson to defendant Fazial Azizan, an Iranian-American pursuing a degree in nursing, were made during a July 13, 2017, trial on a disorderly conduct charge. The judge called the college student and Uber driver "despicable," and chided him for speaking in court with the comment, "I know where you come from, women don't mean anything," which critics said showed the judge's bigotry.

Dickson sentenced Azizan to serve six months in jail on the disorderly conduct charge stemming from a March 2017 accident. Azizan appealed his sentenced, and the city of Sandy Springs last month agreed to reduce the defendant's sentence imposed by the judge.

That consent order shared by the city indicates Azizan will serve a total of 78 days. However, he will receive credit for the 18 days he served in jail and will carry out the rest of that sentence — two months — on probation. The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which filed an amicus brief in support of Azizan's appeal, said it welcomed Dickson's decision to "step down" from the Municipal Court.

"Anyone who enters a courtroom in Georgia must be able to trust that he or she will be treated fairly and equally, regardless of national origin," said CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell. "That could no longer happen in Judge Dickson's courtroom."

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