About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2024)
Death of church deacon prompts Ga. lawmakers to seek changes in traffic ticket laws, insider far. . (The mmts Thursday, February 22,20241 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA I gainesvilletimes.com ✓ Private US spacecraft enters lunar orbit, will attempt a moon landing, inside,4a Honestly Local Buford, Hall continue spat over corn maze Annexation and requests at this South Hall property could change the future of a popular agri tourism attrac tion, Buford Corn Maze. Jeff Gill The Times ANNEXATION NOTICE cam.PLA/thrt) annexation BY BRIAN WELLMEIER bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com Hall County again plans to object to a property owner's request to annex the Buford Corn Maze into Buford. Property owner Chris Watford's latest application seeks to rezone 31 acres on Bennett Road from Hall County's designation of agricultural-residential III and suburban shopping to an alternative agriculture-residence zoning district in Buford. County commissioners voted last month to authorize a formal objection to Watford's previous annexation request and future commercial rezoning of the 31-acre tract. That application was later withdrawn by Watford, who told The Times in January that he planned to sell the property for industrial purposes when the current lease on the land expires in 2027. Industrial zoning is never mentioned in Watford's new application, but Hall County Attorney Bill Linkous said officials believe that's the ulterior, long-term intent of the request. “It's still increasing the density, and (Buford) still has a long term plan for commercial and industrial use of the property - which is inconsistent with our (comprehensive) plan," Linkous said. Much of the land west of the See Maze 13A Conviction stands Photos by Scott Rogers The Times Juan Martinez sits in Hall County Superior Court Tuesday, Feb. 20, as his attorney Hammond Law, left, speaks to him through a court interpreter, right, during a motion to withdraw his guilty plea of second- degree murder. Judge denies motion to withdraw plea from ’21 murder Attorney Vanessa Kosky gives testimony through a video link in Hall County Superior Court as her client, Juan Martinez, files a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, arguing that Kosky did not “do any significant work” on his case, according to court documents. BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com After five hours of testi mony and argument, a Hall County judge denied a Gainesville man's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea from the 2021 murder of a 2-year-old. Juan Martinez, 34, was sentenced in October to 30 years with the first 29 years in prison after plead ing guilty. Martinez's fourth attorney in three years, Hammond Law, filed a motion to withdraw the plea in December. “At the end of the day, there's no magic num ber of visits to the jail or hours spent to determine whether an attorney is providing effective assis tance of counsel,’’ Superior Court Judge Jason Deal said. “And there's been no records showing that Ms. (Vanessa) Kosky was ineffective.'' To the contrary, Deal said she was able to negoti ate a plea to second-degree murder instead of felony murder, which would have carried a longer sentence. Nancy Martinez, 35, also pleaded guilty to sec ond-degree child cruelty and was sentenced to eight years in prison. The Martinez couple was taking care of 2-year- old Valeria Jordan Gar- fias while her mother was away for work. “While sitting her down in her chair, I was angry and that's when I hit her," Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Bagwell said at the plea hearing, quoting Juan Martinez's interview. “I was walking away from the chair, and that's when I saw her fall out." The motion to withdraw hearing brought the attor neys of Martinez's past to the courtroom, as Law argued that Kosky, who represented Martinez at the plea, had not worked much on the case. Before Kosky, Marti nez was represented by attorney Arturo Corso. After waivers were signed about the potential conflict of interest, Corso previ ously represented both co-defendants. Deal, however, disquali fied Corso from represent ing the co-defendants, particularly after there were motions filed about the defendants' mental competency. Kosky estimated she spent more than 200 hours on the case in the year that she was representing Mar tinez, visiting him several times at the jail to discuss the case or the evidence. Corso previously told The Times he continued on with the case after his disqualification, acting as a conduit for the family and bringing items to the attorneys' attention. Members of Martinez's family complained to Corso about not receiv ing updates from Kosky about the case, as she also stopped responding to Corso's calls, texts and emails. “I was leaving voice- mail messages that said, ‘Vanessa, what’s wrong? Why aren't you respond ing to me? What's going on? Are you upset with me? Let me know what the problem is,"’ Corso said. Bagwell objected sev eral times during Corso's testimony that complaints or conversations with Mar tinez's family constituted hearsay. Corso, while still on the stand as a witness, argued to the judge that what he had to say was not hearsay, though Deal ultimately sustained these objections. Martinez testified that See Martinez 13A Ga. high court vacates ruling on radiation center BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com The Georgia Supreme Court has vacated a ruling by an appeals court that Northside Hospital can create an inpatient radiation therapy service in Gwinnett County. The ruling Tuesday, Feb. 20, comes after a four-year legal battle between Northeast Georgia Medical Center and North- side over atypical barriers to care. The Times has reached out to Northside's lawyers for comment on the ruling. “We are pleased with the Supreme Court's decision and look forward to the Court of Appeals reassessing the case,’’ Northeast Georgia Health System chief legal officer Andrei Boyarshinov said in a statement. “We still believe our grow ing care team already provides high-quality radiation therapy services that meet the community's need.’’ In June 2020, the Georgia Department of Community Health approved the certificate of need for a radiation ther apy service at Northside Gwinnett Hospital. Northeast Georgia Health System has three locations in Hall County, including one near the Gwinnett line. Vantage Cancer Centers of Georgia and RCOG Cancer Centers LLC provide services at Gwinnett County loca tions “that are about 0.3 miles and 0.8 miles from Northside, respectively,’’ according to the Supreme Court's decision. Northside claimed that its inpatient cancer patients “had to be transported offsite for radiation therapy," resulting in “negative quality issues," according to the Supreme Court. The Department of Community Health's decision was reversed by a hearing officer in April 2021, and that rever sal was later overturned by the Department of Community Health's commissioner. This leads to the question the Supreme Court agreed to address, which was whether the commissioner applied the “appropriate standard in rejecting some of the hearing offi cer's factual findings." When a certificate of need is contested, it is “the hearing officer, rather than the agency, that is tasked with evaluating the evidence," according to the Supreme Court's decision. The high court ruled that the commissioner “must provide sufficient detail in his order from which a reviewing court can determine whether the commissioner has or has not improperly substituted his judgment for the findings of fact of the hearing officer." Ex-DJJ counselor pleads guilty to sending obscene photo to young girl BY NICK WATSON nwatson@Gainesvilletimes.com A former Department of Juvenile Justice counselor was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to sending an obscene pho tograph to a young girl. John Wilkins III, 31, pleaded guilty Tuesday, Feb. 20, to electronically fur nishing obscene material to minors under the First Offender Act. Judge Michelle Hall sentenced Wilkins to 12 months on probation. The Department of Juvenile Justice serves as the correc tional system for Georgia youth. Wilkins served with the department since November 2021 but was fired Oct. 13, 2022 following an internal investigation. DJJ Director of Communications Glenn Allen said Wilkins violated the department's employee conduct policy, adding that Wilkins “used his position of authority with the agency to engage in inappropriate behavior with a youth." The prosecution did not discuss the facts of the case dur ing the plea. Wilkins See Wilkins 13A
