A judge on Friday declined a Georgia state senator’s request for an arrest warrant against a state House staffer following a confrontation between the two earlier this year.
State Sen. Colton Moore, a Republican from Trenton, had sought the arrest warrant against Keith Williams, a lawyer in the House speaker’s office, after the two men were involved in a scuffle outside the House chamber in January. Fulton County Magistrate Judge Robert Wolf said at the end of a hearing that he hadn’t seen sufficient evidence to support probable cause that criminal charges were warranted.
A lawyer for Moore said they intend to appeal the judge’s decision to Fulton County Superior Court.
Moore, one of the state Senate’s most conservative members, was arrested Jan. 16 after he tried to push his way past House staffers who were blocking him as he tried multiple times to enter the state House chamber for the governor’s state of the state speech. House Speaker Jon Burns, a fellow Republican, banned him from the chamber last year after Moore denounced late House Speaker David Ralston on a day when Ralston was being honored and his relatives were watching.
Before trying to enter the House chamber, Moore told reporters that the law didn’t allow Burns to keep him from attending a joint House-Senate session to listen to Gov. Brian Kemp.
