Word - Howard’s end?

In the words of his attorney, former Gov. Roy Barnes, the felony battery case against Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has become “curiouser and curiouser.” Accused of injuring a sheriff’s deputy during a March 31 courtroom tussle, Howard escaped arrest last week when the state attorney general’s office assigned the case to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI report, expected as early as next week, could indicate whether Howard will face criminal charges. If indicted, he could be forced to step down.</
“I am confident that the true facts once gathered will show that I acted properly and within the authority of the Office of the District Attorney in attempting to speak with the jurors following their release from jury service after the trial. Further, I maintain that the facts will prove that I did not commit any criminal act or in any way physically injure this deputy.”</
-- Paul Howard, in a May 1 statement</
“Judge Bedford ... stood up and called Mr. Howard’s name several times, telling him not to talk to the jury and to leave the courtroom. As I began to try to escort Mr. Howard out of the courtroom, Mr. Howard snatched his arm away from me, hitting me in the arm and stating that he was not leaving. ... During this incident, Mr. Howard has struck me several times and pushed me.”</
-- Fulton Deputy Levoular McCray, in a statement to police</
“Upon indictment for a felony ... [that] relates to the performance or activities of the office of any public official, ... the Governor ... shall ... appoint a review commission. ... If the commission determines that the indictment relates to and adversely affects the administration of the office of the indicted public official, ... the commission shall recommend that the public official be suspended from office.”</
-- Excerpted from Georgia Code Section 45-5-6