ATLANTA — In the hallways of the state Capitol, women describing themselves as victims in cases connected to House Speaker David Ralston called for the speaker’s resignation.
Documents show that Ralston, who has a law practice in Blue ridge, requested 81 delays for 202 court dates in Gilmer County alone over the last eight years—citing the state’s legislative leave law.
"I haven’t gotten any justice. I haven’t had my day in court," said Jydon Carpenter. Her day in court would be with her ex-boyfriend David Shell.
According to an indictment, Shell head-butted and choked her during a July 2013 dispute. Shell’s attorney was David Ralston, Georgia’s current Speaker of the House. Since 2015, Ralston wrote seven letters postponing 12 court dates in the case, citing state law that gives his legislative duties precedence over court cases. Shell is out of jail on bond.
"I do live in fear," Carpenter said at the Capitol, while trying to tell her story to some of Ralston’s many supporters in the legislature. "It’s unethical. I have rights as a victim. My rights have been denied," she added.
Ralston defended himself in the House last week after some of his fellow Republicans submitted a resolution calling for his resignation.
"No action I have taken has been illegal, wrong, unethical or immoral," Ralston told House members.
"I'd also like to see him step down as Speaker of the House because I just don’t think it’s right," said Sheryll Shinn, who said she sued her former business partner after he bilked her in 2007. Shinn said Ralston was the partner’s attorney. She says Ralston delayed the case 20 times over the last 12 years, a case that’s technically still pending but is now a lost cause.
"It’s been so many years that nobody remembers" the details of the case, Shinn said. "I have no case. I’ve lost thousands of dollars in attorney fees. And my business. And I’m basically living on social security now."
Ralston declined comment on the presence of his courtroom adversaries in the Capitol. Ralston recently appointed a panel to investigate the legislative leave law.
A Republican-authored resolution calling for his resignation is stuck in a committee packed with Ralston-friendly lawmakers and is going nowhere.