April 19, 2001
(ATLANTA) – A judge has refused to throw out a conviction even though the prosecutor of a young woman charged with killing her boyfriend was technically not a licensed lawyer during the trial.
Assistant District Attorney Clint Rucker’s law license was suspended in September after he failed to pay the required $175 annual dues to the Georgia Bar Association. Rucker describes that as an oversight and promised the judge Wednesday that he would pay up.
Dionne Baugh’s lawyers moved for a mistrial Tuesday after she was found guilty of the beating death of Lance Herndon of Roswell in 1994. They argued that Georgia rules require that all lawyers appearing in court must be in good standing.