Court of appeals deciding if former judge should get new trial on hacking charges

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The case of a former Gwinnett County judge accused of hacking into the county’s computer system has taken another twist.

The Georgia Court of Appeals is considering whether a second round of charges against Kathryn Schrader was illegal.

Prosecutors want to try the former judge a second time. A first trial ended in a mistrial.

But now the former judge says she would rule that double jeopardy and it shouldn’t be allowed.

In a hearing this week before the Georgia Court of Appeals, attorney Brian Steele laid out the former judge’s argument insisting that a second indictment of Schrader after one trial already ended in a mistrial shouldn’t be allowed.

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“We are talking about statutory double jeopardy,” Steele said. “Any of these crimes could have been brought and therefore violation of oath of office should have been brought in the first indictment.”

Schrader and a cast of characters, including a convicted child molester who was also a computer expert, along with a private eye and his employee were charged with hacking into the county system because the judge feared then-District Attorney Danny Porter was spying on her.

The other defendants testified against Schrader and prosecutors say gave them new information for a second indictment, which included some different charges.

“The state is not required to read her mind, that would be an impossible standard,” prosecutor Sheila Ross argued.

Schrader, while suspended from the bench, lost re-election and is no longer a judge. It could take the court of appeals several months to announce its decision.

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