Two candidates seek judgeship in Southwestern Judicial Circuit

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a series of previews on the May 24 primary and nonpartisan elections in the metro Albany area.

ALBANY — In January, a new judge will be seated on the Superior Court bench in the Southwestern Judicial Circuit. Two attorneys, Jimmie Brown and Lewis Lamb, are seeking to succeed Judge George Peagler, who is retiring when his term of office concludes at the end of the year.

The Southwestern Circuit comprises Lee, Macon, Schley, Stewart, Sumter and Webster counties.

Lamb has served as chief assistant district attorney for the circuit since January 2009 and has prosecuted both felony and misdemeanor cases in every county in the circuit. Before becoming a prosecutor, he spent two years working with the circuit’s Public Defender’s Office after working in private practice, where he said he gained extensive experience in civil cases. He earned his law degree from the University of Georgia, where he was an honor graduate.

Having worked in the circuit for about a decade, Lamb said there would be no learning curve required.

“I think I’m in a position to step in and take over this job without folks in my circuit ever missing a beat,” he said.

Lamb said he would bring a sense of compassion and understanding to the position.

“There is a whole category of folks who just putting them in jail doesn’t accomplish anything for society; it doesn’t accomplish anything for them,” he said. “Getting them treatment makes us all better off.”

While Lamb said he sees room for improvement, he said that if elected he would be inheriting an already well-operating circuit.

“Mostly, I would like to continue the things that we’re doing in the circuit now,” he said. “I think it runs efficiently, it runs effectively and, from a judicial perspective, I think I can keep that moving.”

Brown, who served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, returned to Georgia and earned a bachelor of science degree from Georgia Southwestern College (now state university) in Americus in 1980. He went on to earn his law degree from Mercer University in 1983 and has practiced law in Georgia for more than 32 years. His office is in Albany.

He said that he feels a Superior Court judgeship is the pinnacle of his profession and that he would like the opportunity to finish out his career in that capacity. He’s worked on criminal, civil and domestic cases, and is a court-certified mediator. He said he believes his experience, as well as his attitude, can help him make a difference.

“What I want to do is have an impact on the community,” Brown said. “I think we need people that will run with a servant attitude, and that’s what I’m hoping to do.”

He said there are problems within the community that are being tolerated, and he would like to help bring about change.

“The judge doesn’t have a say-so in economic development, but the things that go hand-in-hand with that are drugs and crime,” Brown said. “Drugs and crime go up when economic stress is in a community.”

Brown added that, as judge, he would take into consideration rehabilitation as opposed to criminalization.

“A judge can intelligently sentence in criminal cases, for example,” he said. “What I’m talking about is, say, a hard-line drug dealer, you throw the book at that guy … but you can’t put some young first-offender who’s made his first mistake in the same category and treat him the same way.”

The judgeship will be decided in the May 24 election. Polls will be open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Early voting is currently under way.