Bulloch County State Court Judge Joseph Cushner, who qualified earlier this week as a candidate for a new, full four-year term, notes that he is the only candidate in the race with experience as a judge.
He has served as the single-county State Court judge for two years so far, having been appointed in March 2020 by Gov. Brian Kemp following the fall 2019 retirement of Judge Gary Mikell. The appointment forestalled any election to the judgeship until this year. Now Cushner faces a challenger in Michael Classens, a longtime, Statesboro-based defense and general-practice attorney. Having filed their paperwork and paid qualifying fees Monday, they will face off in the nonpartisan general election concluding May 24, the same day as the party primaries.
Before being appointed judge, Cushner had served three years and a quarter as Bulloch County solicitor-general, in effect the State Court prosecutor, after being elected unopposed in 2016. Before that, he served more than six years as an Ogeechee Judicial Circuit assistant district attorney.
“I’ve been in State Court exclusively since the end of 2016, so I know how it works, and we’ve run a very good court here,” Cushner told the Statesboro Herald. “We’re accessible to the people. We keep our dockets moving quickly. Even during COVID we kept running, so we don’t have this backlog that other places, other courts have developed. We’re still pretty current in our dockets, in our calendars.”
His arrival as solicitor-general followed the 2016 retirement of Joey Cowart from that office to return to private legal practice. Cowart’s 16 years as the solicitor overlapped Mikell’s 19 years as the judge.
“Gary Mikell, and Joey Cowart too, spent a long time building State Court and working on it, and I think I’ve continued behind both of them building off of what they had created and moving it forward,” Cushner said Thursday. “I think we’re a well-run court, and I want to continue that legacy.”
Life resident
A Statesboro native, he graduated from Statesboro High School in 2003 and went to the University of Georgia for both college and law school. After attaining a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2006 and his law degree in 2010, he returned to Bulloch County, where his first job was that of an assistant district attorney under then-District Attorney Richard Mallard.
As an assistant DA, Cushner prosecuted felony cases, including serious violent crimes such as aggravated assault, rape, and murder, in Superior Court.
The role of State Court is different, as it handles misdemeanor criminal cases, traffic citations and civil cases, particularly lawsuits seeking a money judgement. But the court’s caseload, with only one judge presiding, involves impressive numbers.
“As solicitor-general, I prosecuted over 15,000 cases, with each one making the singular choice of how to best deliver justice to the victims of crime and how to help those who appear there charged with violating the law,” Cushner said in a prepared statement. “One of the most important things we do in State Court is to provide those individuals with the opportunity and, many times, the tools to refocus their lives on productivity and contribution to the community.”
Since becoming judge, he said, his role has been to preside fairly and impartially over both civil and criminal cases.
“Citizens can have faith in the judicial system only when they know that their judges are committed to that standard,” Cushner said.
Busy court
During calendar year 2021, the Bulloch County State Court handled 1,935 criminal cases, 4,378 traffic cases and 297 civil cases, he reports.
All of the court’s nearly 2,000 annual misdemeanor criminal cases appear before the judge at some point. Many of the roughly 4,000 traffic citation cases end when defendants simply pay their fines, but the court typically sees between 100 and 200 defendants during its monthly traffic arraignment day, Cushner said.
The majority of State Court trials are judge-only bench trials, but the court usually holds six jury selections each year for a total of 10 to 20 jury trials, criminal and civil, annually.
Cites his record
"I believe that my broad experience as a prosecutor is one of the most valuable things I have brought to the bench and, in a time of economic uncertainty, it is important to note that the State Court of Bulloch County has operated under-budget every year since I was elected solicitor-general,” Cushner said in his campaign statement. “I would also add that I am the only candidate with judicial experience. It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Bulloch County and it is my desire to continue to do so."
Cushner and his wife, Leslie, a local attorney, have been married for 10 years and share two daughters, Ella and Charlotte.