Christina Peterson, the former Douglas County probate judge, the Georgia Supreme Court removed from the bench last year, is headed back into a courtroom, this time as a criminal defendant in Fulton County. She faces a misdemeanor obstruction charge tied to her June 2024 arrest outside a Buckhead nightclub and is simultaneously pushing a federal civil-rights lawsuit seeking at least $50 million, alleging excessive force and a coordinated smear campaign built around police body-camera video.
Between the criminal case and the new federal complaint, old questions about that late-night arrest and the high court’s earlier decision to oust her are back in the spotlight.
Most of the original criminal counts did not survive prosecutorial review. A simple battery charge was withdrawn, and a felony obstruction count was reduced, leaving a single misdemeanor obstruction charge and a hearing now set for March in Fulton County, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
On a separate track, Peterson’s federal complaint, filed in mid-January, seeks more than $50 million in damages. She alleges she was "violently slammed" to the ground and that "compressive force" was applied to her neck and back while she was not resisting, and accuses the city of releasing misleading, edited body-camera footage, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Court records show the civil case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Jan. 13, 2026, as case No. 1:26-cv-00202. The complaint names the City of Atlanta and an individual officer as defendants and demands a jury trial, according to the federal docket on Justia Dockets.
Nightclub Arrest And Body-Cam Fallout
The confrontation that now underpins both cases unfolded just after 3 a.m. on June 20, 2024, outside the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge in Buckhead. Atlanta police later released hours of body-worn camera video that ignited public scrutiny of what exactly happened on the sidewalk that night.
Witnesses at the scene and Peterson’s attorney have said she stepped in to assist a woman who was being attacked. Police, by contrast, say Peterson shoved an officer during the disturbance, as reported by Atlanta News First.
Legal Stakes On Two Fronts
In her federal suit, Peterson brings claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for excessive force, false arrest and malicious prosecution, and adds a municipal (Monell) claim aimed at the City of Atlanta, according to the court filing. Public reporting shows she is representing herself in both the criminal and civil matters, an unusually high-wire move even for a former judge.
The Georgia Supreme Court’s decision to remove Peterson from the bench last year followed a separate ethics investigation and remains legally distinct from the nightclub arrest and the new lawsuit. Still, the timing and optics inevitably intertwine in the court of public opinion.
Her civil theory leans on the fact that the more serious criminal counts were dropped or reduced, while the city and the officer are expected to rely on defenses that could include qualified immunity and sharply disputed accounts of what unfolded outside Red Martini, according to coverage by Law&Crime.
What Comes Next
On the criminal side, Peterson has entered a not guilty plea and asked to waive her arraignment as the misdemeanor obstruction case heads toward the March hearing in Fulton County. Both the state prosecution and the federal lawsuit are expected to generate a burst of pretrial motions and more granular review of the body-camera footage in the coming weeks, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
