A Woodstock city judge has removed herself from the bench until an investigation into underage drinking at a party at her Kennesaw home has concluded.
Woodstock Municipal Judge Diane Busch held a Christmas party at her Marietta Country Club home Dec. 21 that several Cobb County officials attended.
During the adults’ holiday party, a group of teenagers had planned to spend the night at the home.
Police were called around 3 a.m. Dec. 22 by a nearby resident, who said she heard gunshots, but, instead of finding an armed person, police found teenagers under the influence of alcohol and cited 10 of them for underage drinking, according to a Cobb County police report obtained from the Cobb solicitor’s office.
Busch’s attorney, Jimmy Berry, of Marietta, could not be reached by press time.
To date, the situation has included Cobb Police, the Cobb County Solicitor’s Office, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council, a state senator and the city of Woodstock. One of the teens cited at Busch’s home in December was ordered to play 150 hours of college baseball as his sentence, and the assistant solicitor who negotiated the plea before seeing the police report has resigned.
Cobb County Solicitor General Barry Morgan said he’s asked the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council to appoint another prosecutor for the case to decide whether Busch or any other adult at the party should be charged. Morgan said he also has re-filed charges on the teen because a requirement under the diversion program—filing a diversion petition—was not completed.
“That was not done, so the requirements of the program were not satisfied,” Morgan said.
The special prosecutor, LaLaine Briones, was given the case file Feb. 18, but has since sought more information on the case from Cobb Police. Efforts to reach Briones at press time were unsuccessful.
Morgan opted for a special prosecutor after finding out an assistant prosecutor in his office attended the party but left long before police arrived.
“We would be precluded from prosecuting that because she may be called as a witness, if so, that’s a conflict for us,” Morgan said.
Last week, a Cobb County judge sentenced a college baseball player, William Maxwell, 19, who was cited for drinking alcohol at Busch’s home to 150 hours of playing baseball—the standard sentence of 40 hours of community service was waived.
Busch reportedly negotiated the deal, as Maxwell’s attorney. Busch however did not represent him in court early last month.
The assistant solicitor, John Summers, who negotiated the plea for the Cobb Solicitor’s Office, resigned last week.
Woodstock Mayor Donnie Henriques said city officials are watching to see how the investigation into Busch transpires, but he would not speculate on what decision the city would make regarding Busch’s employment with the city.
“It’s not an issue for us to deal with until something is concluded on,” Henriques said, adding that Busch’s actions as the boy’s attorney would not play a role in their decision about her employment, should they have to make one.
“Her actions in a judicial manner, whether it be as a lawyer or a judge, we would have to have evidence of misconduct on her part before we would take any action,” Henriques said.
It takes a majority vote of the Woodstock City Council to remove a sitting judge or to appoint one, Henriques said.
Busch has been a city judge for Woodstock since 2002. She was Woodstock’s judge pro tem from 2000 to 2002.
Currently, the city has different judges filling in during Busch’s absence.
According to the report, in the early morning hours of Dec. 22, when Cobb Police arrived to investigate the gunshot sounds, they found several popped balloons in the driveway of Busch’s home. While trying to ascertain if the balloons had made a noise mistaken for gunshots, they discovered several teenagers under the influence of alcohol.
The teens later told police that they had filled one person’s car with balloons and popped them, as a joke, the report said.
The responding officers knocked on the door and rang the doorbell of Busch’s home and saw several young adults run down to the basement. Another officer went around the back and saw some of the teens consuming alcohol, the report said.
The officer, who had gone around back, saw a young person walking down the steps of the deck with a tub full of ice and alcoholic beverages, the report said. The officer asked that young person to get an adult so he could speak with them.
After an adult initially spoke to the officer, Busch was notified and came downstairs. According to the report, she appeared “intoxicated,” had “slurred speech” and was “very unstable on her feet.”
Busch reportedly kept asking why police were there, then made a statement, “Damn you kids,” the report said.
Busch told police at one point that she knew the teens were there, but she didn’t know how many, and she had gone to bed, the report said.
One of the officers commented in the report that he heard Busch say something like, “I would rather have the kids drinking at my house than out driving around,” and “I gave the kids the alcohol.”
While police were at her home, Busch reportedly said she was a former prosecutor for Cobb County and currently is a Woodstock city court judge. She also told police, “the person assisting you all is Senator (John) Wiles,” the report said.
Wiles, R-Kennesaw, reportedly arrived at the home after the police did. He reportedly advised the kids to be quiet and reportedly hushed Busch when she allegedly told police she allowed the alcohol.
According to the report, Wiles also asked police if they could refrain from issuing a citation to a teen who had a scholarship to play baseball at a university in Texas, as that university “does not tolerate such issues.”
“I explained to both (Wiles and the teen) that I could not issue citations on JCFs (juvenile complaint forms) to everyone but him just because he is going to” the university, the officer said in his supplemental report.
Busch also reportedly ordered the officers to leave her home and threatened to call Cobb County Police Chief George Hatfield and Cobb Director of Public Safety Micky Lloyd.
“Get out of my house, I will call George Hatfield, and don’t think I won’t,” the report quoted Busch as saying. It also quoted her as saying she was “going to call the Director of Public Safety Micky Lloyd right now if you do not leave my house.”
One of the officers told her do it if she felt it was necessary, and they were doing their jobs, the report said.
According to Cobb Police, the investigation is ongoing and the special prosecutor has not made a decision on filing charges against any of the adults.
