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Atlanta judge draws private discipline for DUI

June 5 -- Atlanta Municipal Judge Andrew Mickle (right) drew a private reprimand from the state Judicial Qualifications Commission for a March 2008 DUI arrest. The terms of the punishment are sealed.

Mickle refused to take a breath or blood test at the scene of his arrest, which could have cost him his driver's license for a year or more under Georgia law. But the arresting officer did not turn in paperwork noting the refusal, so Mickle kept his license, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last year.

Police arrested Mickle after a traffic accident that was not his fault. Officers said he failed several field sobriety tests.

Mickle, a Municipal Court judge since 1992, pleaded no contest to the DUI charge on Nov. 6. He was fined and sentenced to 24 hours' incarceration and 12 months of probation, according to an official notice of the reprimand.

Notice of the discipline can be found on the Web site of the state judicial oversight commission, where I found it when looking up another judge with DUI problems, former Chattooga County State Court Judge Carlton Vines.

The commission signed off on the private discipline in January.

"In agreeing to such a disposition, the Commission attempted to balance its responsibility to the public to insure an honorable and independent judiciary with its reponsibility to deal fairly with Judge Mickle," the notice said.