LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - A jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of a Georgia judge accused of illegally accessing a courthouse computer network.
Presiding Judge David Sweat on Tuesday declared a mistrial in Gwinnett County Judge Kathryn Schrader’s case, acknowledging that the jury didn’t appear able to reach a unanimous verdict on three charges of computer trespass after a day and a half of deliberations, news outlets reported.
An indictment in September accused Schrader and three others of illegally accessing the Gwinnett County Justice Center computer network in February 2019. The three others - Dragon Con co-founder Ed Kramer, T.J. Ward and Frank Karic - reached plea deals.
According to trial testimony, a series of events early last year caused Schrader to think someone had hacked into her work computer. She wasn’t satisfied with the response from the county’s IT staff so she hired Ward, a private investigator.
Ward had Karic, a forensic specialist, install a monitoring device on Schrader’s computer, and Kramer, who worked as a forensic analyst, was assigned to monitor and analyze the collected data.
Kramer was arrested in late February 2019 and accused of photographing a minor without parental consent, which is illegal for sex offenders. Authorities said the incident occurred at a doctor’s office. Kramer had to register as a sex offender after a 2013 conviction on charges of child molestation.
When investigators seized Kramer’s electronics as part of that investigation they discovered files related to the judge on his computer, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter has said. The district attorney turned the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and recused himself because he was a potential witness in the case.
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia handled the prosecution.
Jury forewoman Rachel Steahr said after the mistrial was declared that jurors had disagreements from the start and that prosecutors left too many questions, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“We couldn’t point to something that specifically said guilty or not guilty on any specific charge,” Steahr said. “It was hard.”
Schrader’s attorney, B.J. Bernstein, said the county IT department did not adequately address her concerns so she had no choice but to call an outside investigator. Bernstein also called an expert witness to testify about real security issues in the Gwinnett computer network, the Journal-Constitution reported.
Prosecutors said in court Tuesday that they plan to pursue a new trial against Schrader, but they later said they would make a final decision after giving the case another look.
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