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| Georgia Judge Jason Deal |
(Updated at 6:05 p.m., CST, on 1/15/13. See update the end of this post.)
A Georgia couple is calling for an investigation of a judge in connection with the unexplained deaths of two lawyers, one of which occurred in Alabama.
Hilda and Larry Clark, of Flowery Branch, Georgia, are the parents of Jennifer Paige Clark, a Mobile lawyer who died last May, nine days after the Alabama State Bar suspended her license. In a letter to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the Clarks say Superior Court Judge Jason Deal played a major role in launching an investigation against their daughter. They go on to say that Deal has apparent ties to the death in December of John G. Wilbanks Jr., who supervised the district attorney's office in Dawson County, Georgia.
Wilbanks' body was found in Jacksonville, Florida, on December 13. That was one day after a report that he no longer worked in the Dawson County DA's office and was the subject of an investigation that a superior court judge had requested. In their letter to John Bankhead, director of public affairs at the GBI, the Clarks say Jason Deal probably was the judge who requested the Wilbanks investigation. They also suggest that Deal, the son of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, had dark motives for targeting both Wilbanks and their daughter. (The full letter can be read at the end of this post.)
Jason Deal presided over a case, styled Clark v. Flowery Branch, 2003-CV-2830, in which Jennifer Paige Clark represented her parents. The Clarks alleged that they incurred damage to their property when the city caused water to be diverted onto private land. Jennifer Clark's aggressive representation on her parents' behalf met with resistance from Deal and apparently led the Alabama State Bar to investigate her--even though our research indicates she did not commit the primary violation alleged against her.
An official cause of death has not been released in either the John Wilbanks case or the Jennifer Paige Clark case. But Hilda and Larry Clark make it clear in their letter to the GBI that they believe an investigation will lead to Jason Deal's doorstep. From the letter:
You should conduct an investigation on Hall County Superior Court Judge Jason Deal and the Hall County District Attorney's Office. We believe Judge Jason Deal now has the mark of two deaths--this year--that we are aware of: Jennifer Paige Clark and John Wilbanks Jr., both attorneys who died premature, tragic deaths because of the actions of Judge Jason Deal.
I read the article in the Gainesville Times concerning the unfortunate death of Mr. John Wilbanks Jr., who was the supervising attorney in the Hall-Dawson District Attorney's Office. Let me make it clear, I did not know Mr. Wilbanks, nor any of his family; this letter is written only from my own observation. According to the article, an investigation on Mr. Wilbanks began at the request of an unnamed superior court judge, but within the community, it's pretty common knowledge this was at the request of Hall County Superior Court Judge Jason Deal.
According to the Gainesville Times, Wilbanks was involved in a fight last November 19 at a Dairy Queen in Dawson County. Officers responded to reports that Wilbanks had been assaulted, and a Jasper, Georgia, man named William Lee Evans was charged with disorderly conduct in the case. The Clarks address that incident and other issues in their letter to the GBI:
[The request for an investigation of Mr. Wilbanks] appears to be far more complicated than is reported in the paper, and I doubt seriously if it had anything to do with the 'Dairy Queen episode'; but rather, [it was] an opportunity to damage and destroy Mr. Wilbanks and his reputation. Within the scope of Mr. Wilbanks' position at the Hall-Dawson District Attorney's Office, did he witness, discover or file a report on some type of dishonest or illegal activity within the department? Or on activities of previous DAs? One thing stands out very clear from this article--it's apparent that Mr. Wilbanks had some powerful enemies.
Media coverage on the Wilbanks investigation, and his subsequent death, has been limited and curious. The Gainesville Times, in a December 12 article titled "Dawson Assistant DA No Longer With Office," reported on Wilbanks' abrupt exit at work. From the article, by reporter Jeff Gill:
The Dawson County office of the Hall-Dawson District Attorney’s Office no longer has its supervising assistant district attorney.
John Wilbanks “will not be returning (to) the district attorney’s office,” District Attorney Lee Darragh said Wednesday afternoon.
Darragh would not elaborate on Wilbanks’ departure.
“Presently, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further,” Darragh said. “I may issue a press release at a later time, but for now, one would be premature.”
The next day, December 13, Gill reported on Wilbanks' death, in a piece titled, "Dawson Assistant DA Found Dead." From the article:
The supervising attorney in the Hall-Dawson District Attorney’s Dawson County office has been found dead.
The District 4 Florida Medical Examiner’s Office in Jacksonville confirmed Thursday that it has the body of John G. Wilbanks Jr.
Wilbanks was being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, with the cooperation of District Attorney Lee Darragh’s office.
The scope of the investigation wasn’t immediately known, but GBI spokesman John Bankhead said the death, which he couldn’t confirm, would close any investigation.
An official with the Fernandina Beach Police Department has said the earliest any incident reports about the death could be released is today.
What does the article tell us about Wilbanks' death? Not much. We know that the death closes the book on the investigation. And an incident report was to be released shortly, but that's about it. And our research turns up no published accounts about the incident report.
Let's consider just a few of many unanswered questions:
* Where was John Wilbanks' body found?
* Who found it, and under what circumstances?
* What was the cause and manner of death?
* What was Mr. Wilbanks doing in Jacksonville, Florida, and how did he get there?
Hilda and Larry Clark raise more questions in their letter to the GBI. They note that the Deal family surely enjoyed the holidays in the governor's mansion, surrounded by staff and all the fine things that taxpayer dollars can buy. The scene was different for the Clark family. "To honor the holiday season," they write, "we put a wreath and flowers on our beautiful daughter's grave."
The scene undoubtedly was equally grim for the Wilbanks family. According to his obituary, John George Wilbanks Jr., 57, had been married for 28 years and had two sons and one daughter. He earned his law degree at the University of Georgia and was a career prosecutor.
In the final paragraph of their letter to John Bankhead, the Clarks raise the possibility of political considerations providing cover for Judge Jason Deal:
One final question: Why would the GBI not reveal the name of the judge that requested the investigation of Mr. Wilbanks? Was it because it was Judge Jason Deal, the Governor's son?
UPDATE: According to a report at accessnorthga.com (12/14/12), the death of John G. Wilbanks Jr. has been ruled a suicide. The police department at Fernandina Beach, Florida, released an incident report the day after Wilbanks' body was found, but it does not appear at the Web site of the Gainesville Times, the primary newspaper in Wilbanks' home area. From the acessnorthga.com article:
The report said that police found the body of John Wilbanks, 57, of Gainesville on the beach at 2410 South Fletcher in Fernandina Beach. Wilbanks had taken his own life Thursday morning, according to the report.
The report said the Wilbanks family owned a beach house nearby.
Wilbanks, who was the supervising Assistant District Attorney in Dawson County, had been fired from his job Monday, according to the police report. Police said Wilbanks' wife had shared that information with them, and she also told them her husband had been depressed.
Meanwhile, Hilda Clark reports that she has received a letter from the GBI stating that it will not investigate any role that Judge Jason Deal might have played in the deaths of John Wilbanks and Jennifer Paige Clark.
The death of another political figure in Georgia remains a mystery, and it is drawing international attention. The body of Glynn County Commissioner Tom Sublett was found on December 11 at a marina on St. Simons, Island. Sublett was shot in the head, but authorities have not determined if it was murder. Sublett, the married father of four who had worked in real estate, was a popular figure in the area, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that residents in Glynn County are perplexed about the mysterious death of an individual who was not known to have any enemies.
We have found no connections between John Wilbanks and Tom Sublett, but we have found some oddities regarding the two cases. Sublett's body was found on December 11, and Wilbanks' body was found on December 13. Wilbanks' body was found at Fernandina Beach, Florida, near Jacksonville, and Sublett's body was found at St. Simons Island, which is just north of Jacksonville.
The Sublett case has drawn international attention from the UK Daily Mail. Reporter Meghan Keneally has an article titled, "Death of beloved town official and married father-of-four found shot and drowned with his hands tied still a mystery a month later."
Kill. The U.S. of A. so called government took license to kill.
ReplyDeleteThe Reddit Co-tech expert was also, his parents say, killed by the "Feds" and charges now that he is dead have all been dropped.
Here's a tap root to the tip of the tap root:
I find the word defined in Funk and Wagnalls'
Dictionary in four ways:
"1. A society of cardinals, the overseers of foreign
missions; also the College of the Propaganda at
Rome founded by Pope Urban VIII in 1627 for the
education of missionary priests; Sacred College de
Propaganda Fide.
"2. Hence, any institution or scheme for propagating
a doctrine or system.
"3. Effort directed systematically toward the
gaining of public support for an opinion or a course
of action.
"4. The principles advanced by a propaganda."
The Scientific American, in a recent issue, pleads
for the restoration to respectable usage of that "fine
old word 'propaganda.'"
"There is no word in the English language," it
says, "whose meaning has been so sadly distorted as
the word 'propaganda.'
http://www.whale.to/b/bernays.pdf
One of my great hopes for 2013 is that we will come to know what happened in the Jennifer Paige Clark case.
ReplyDeleteBecause of him being the governor's son he would probably get away with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for staying on top of this story. Something certainly seems to be out of order, especially in light of this Wilbanks case.
ReplyDeleteI live in Georgia and had not heard about the Wilbanks death. It's been kept very quiet, it seems.
ReplyDeleteI read Hilda Clark's letter to the GBI, and I'm very impressed with how she handled the matter. She has to be broken-hearted at the loss of her daughter, but she stays on track and makes very clear, solid points. I hope someone in authority takes her concerns seriously.
ReplyDeleteJust another dead body connected to politics in the South. Nothing to see here.
ReplyDeleteSo the governor is this judge's daddy? Hmmm, that sounds a little like the Bob Riley/Rob Riley story here in AlaBam. These little juniors seem to think they can get away with anything when daddy's in the guv's mansion.
ReplyDeleteWhy Jacksonville? Why no follow up in the Gainesville paper about what happened? Very strange.
ReplyDeleteHow many people have to die under "mysterious circumstances" across the South before Obama or Holder or someone starts to realize we might have a problem?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the director of the GBI is appointed by Jason Deal's daddy, Gov. Nathan Deal. I don't believe GBI is going to be taking a real hard look at this.
ReplyDeleteRaymond:
ReplyDeleteYou took the words right out of my mouth. I immediately thought, "Bob Riley and Rob Riley." Sounds just like them.
John Wilbanks' departure from the DA's office was announced on one day, and his death was announced the next day--and his body was found in Jacksonville, FL, even though he lived near Gainesville, GA? Now, that is weird.
ReplyDeleteLS, you come up with more good mysteries. And they are from real life. I'm most intrigued by the incident at the Dairy Queen last November? Was someone assigned to attack Mr. Wilbanks so that officials would have a reason to investigate him? That's what it sounds like to me.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of her letter, Hilda Clark asks why GBI didn't identify Jason Deal as the judge who targeted Wilbanks. I think I found the answer to that question. This is from GBI's Web site, about the agency's director:
ReplyDelete"On January 18, 2011, Governor Nathan Deal re-appointed Vernon M. Keenan as Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). During Keenan's career, he has been promoted to every rank in the GBI's Investigative Division, and then moved even farther up the chain of command to assistant director and now continues as director."
I'm betting we will get a finding of suicide on this one.
ReplyDeleteRaymond--
ReplyDeleteExcellent reporting. Thanks for sharing. Nathan Deal appointed the GBI director, so that might explain why the agency could tend to protect Jason Deal.
Send the story over to England.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2259046/Murder-suicide-Death-beloved-town-official-married-father-shot-drowned-mystery-month-later.html
Anon at 12:01--
ReplyDeleteGood Lord, the story at the link you sent is in Georgia, too. Thanks for sharing.
The victim was a county commissioner named Tom Sublett, and his death came one or about Dec. 11, the same time frame as what happened with Mr. Wilbanks. Also, Mr. Sublett's body was found at St. Simons Island, not far from Jacksonville.
I encourage readers to check this out. I will repeat the URL to the UK Daily Mail story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2259046/Murder-suicide-Death-beloved-town-official-married-father-shot-drowned-mystery-month-later.html
Britain isn't so quick to report obvious homicides as suicides and accidents. This travesty occurs so often in America people are losing faith in law enforcement, coroners' offices, and American investigative & responsible journalism.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading about how America actually got our "society."
ReplyDeleteFreud, LS, and all LS readers, he came to America and the story goes on about that one and only trip, but how his nephew read his work and then we got the consumerism culture.
Edward Bernays, 1828, wrote the book "Propaganda" and although the old fashioned read is indeed outdated in multiple ways, the reality tap root is propaganda sold Americans into the same place Napoleon found the French when he took over as dictator.
Fascinating how America became the consumer experimentation.
"Public Relations," and of course the ideology of war was sold as though "good for US."
Our development proves it was the culture of corruption, to consume as much as any human could and no boundaries: Pedophilia and wars without end, killing innocents endlessly and calling it an agenda of modern, progressive, ?
We've developed rather than into a "critical thinking society," into another form of 'culture,' sold by the "media," "news," "information it is the power" to grow in human Americans addictions to consuming a non-self sufficiency endlessly.
From the point of the treasurers in the states,
coupling with the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations in the 1960s,
Inns of Courts in the 1980s, overlord of the B.A.R.s,
add the digital power from the Federal Reserve System's "Blob" ET AL since the 1800s,
media, information, education, so called intellectual pursuit of higher thinking as dumber than boxes of rocks,
and we have U.S. of A.
We must change our "thinking stuff," individually and then push the collective into a different direction than circling the downward spiral of what our reality as consumerism is.
Consumers or humans?
How many grow enough food in a garden to feed their family as much as can be for a truly healthy medical care program?
Do the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct to anything Bonnie Wyatt was alleged to have done in a Georgia case. I don't tehink so. As to the matter concerning her parents condo at Gulf Shores - she must have pulled too hard the chain of someone on the other side in the condo case. Wonder who that could have been?
ReplyDeleteDavid:
ReplyDeleteI think you are referring to Jennifer Paige Clark, not Bonnie Wyatt. And no, Ms. Clark definitely did not commit the primary violation that was alleged against her. I will be providing details on that shortly. As for the Gulf Shores case, I believe there were some big-money types who wanted to knock down the "mom and pop" condos that had been there and build a multi-level monstrosity of some sort. Still researching that.
Thanks for posting this well researched article. As a native Cracker who has worked and spent a lot of time on both sides of the Alabama-Georgia border, I've seen a lot of corruption and sanctioned crime by powerful people. Stuff too strange to be believable, but still real. And with real and sometimes tragic consequences for the less powerful, usually the victims.
ReplyDeleteGovernor Deal left Congress (he resigned) to escape an ethics investigation. He was on CREW's list of most corrupt Congressmen, and personally [financially] bankrupt when he moved into public housing, the Governor's mansion. Now he's flush with cash again.
His House Speaker, David Ralston, got his law partner assigned to a new state judgeship. Ralston calls ethics reform a 'liberal conspiracy' and today the Senate passed some kind of 'ethics reform' that forbids citizens from filing ethics complaints. Looks like the Deal ethics disease is infecting the state capitol--a new variant of an old scourge.
Deal ousted an upstart legislator who wanted more power, "Chip" Rogers, by getting him to resign--costing a special election just last week--and giving him a $100,000+ marketing job in Georgia Public [Television/Radio] Broadcasting. GPB later announced the decades old nightly program that covered the legislature nightly during their 40 day session would cut back to twice a week only...
And look out for the private schools-private prisons pipeline to get revved up. Deal found money to push the claim that the [proposed] and newly passed constitutional amendment to use public money to fund state chartered "charter" schools over local objection is a go. Bring on the corporate school contractors to fund the private schools to private prisons programs. Private dorms may be next, so look for Rollins to get in on it.
These folks are very sleazy. Using the GBI as their private investigators and enforcers goes way back here in Georgia. Following the money and political appointments tells a lot.
Where's the federal oversight in any of this? Seems the plantation ways continue for these elites...
Keep up the good reporting. The whole region needs it.
Anon at 7:02--
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insights on Gov. Deal. I was not familiar with his background, but I'm starting to think he and his comrades merit serious scrutiny.
I know for a fact these lawyers & judges will kill you and if Leon Panetta had not ended the Cheney/Prince hit squads June23,2009:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/politics/12intel.html?_r=0
I probably would be residing in some garbage dump somewhere because those two guys who came barging into the house--July16,2009 were well trained & not kidding.
The Court of International Trade is the only Article III, U.S. Constitutional Court in the U.S. of A.
ReplyDeleteBegin with this fraud. The court system is nothing but, what we know as corrupt. Corrupt is when courts "Make Believe" that the law is being due processed.
The only Court in the U.S. that can hear the U.S. Constitution's due process is the Court of International Trade:
http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/CourtDirectory.html
Here is what happened ~ Edward Bernays used the SHADOW POWER of mass hypnosis that was being worked with by the forever criminals that call themselves 'elite,' to get women to smoke. This power provided the tobacco companies with so much money the rush was on.
Noam Chomsky is, in my opinion, one of the few who got to know what was going on and write about this stuff, but did not actually tell the people what was really going on.
He wrote about Bernays, however, he didn't really talk about the new SHADOW GOVERNMENT, which was the OPEN COMPETITION that got sold to US as "good."
Basically, the companies with products to sell got to have absolutely no boundaries in how the products were put into the marketplace for Americans, that is, all "consumers."
SHADOW GOVERNMENT is what we have and it is the owners of the transnational corporations, the Rollins,' and the judges too, all that do not sit and demand due process law.
Our U.S. Constitution is due process law and the judges are in essence gamblers in the shadow government.
The consumer products have been killing US since Bernays wrote his booklet PROPAGANDA in 1828.
Cigarettes are not good for human consumption with over 2000 chemicals in the product and then on the paper there is an opium mist which addicts the smoker immediately to that particular BRAND, too, it works that well, SHADOW GOVERNMENT.
With this consumer corruption we have what it is, too much insanity.
Products that have not been tested to know whether or not the human body, mind, spirit can ingest and then digest the substances is indeed in violation of our U.S. Constitution. We The People cannot be used as lesser than.
We have equal rights' and human dignity, but the portfolios of the courts depend upon SHADOW GOVERNMENT to take care of them when the retirees are able to.
I'd say you need to file in the United States Court of International Trade, LS, and teach the southern consumers how to stand and demand due process law, in real time.
We got stuck in the peduncle of consumerism and now we must get ourselves thinking about why we want to consume "Make Believe," when reality has not even begun in the U.S. of A., not since 1828, and earlier.
We The People can do better, a lot better, than continuing to see the very tragic stories ~consumerism kills more than consumerism fulfills wholly.
Judges and the entire court system that are not an Article III, U.S. Constitutional Court - are simply gamblers in a game of human capital and the SHADOW GOVERNMENT is the only winner.
The Fed sells computer debt which Americans purchase as credit to pay into perpetuity interest, and then purchase the SHADOW GOVERNMENT'S consumer products so the retirees can FEEEEEL special.
And Americans' in the majority?
Dying early, destroyed as infants, children, mothers' wombs are intentionally corrupted with any and all SHADOW GOVERNMENT'S products that are of course good for human beings.
SHADOW GOVERNMENT that allows us to FREELY COMPETE in the market that is of course free, needs to become totally transparent and this means every court, judge, "tribal legal," does not retire on the woe industry of U.S.A. absent the reality of "Make Believe" completely exposed, for all to see how gambling addiction on human flesh is cannibalism, Your Honors, Et Al.
The sad reality of our criminal justice system is that some of the worst criminal offenders wear robes and are addressed as "Your Honor." The Founding Fathers gave us the Second Amendment right to carry firearms for a reason. Nathan Deal is another low down, dirty party switcher & anybody who still calls themselves a Democrat, but who wants to take your guns away is just as, if not more evil.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that Governor Deal is up for re-election next year in an increasingly Black, Brown, Red & Progressive White state. We are dealing with a civilization of White, Confederate Men that is nearing its end. They can lash out at a few of us and destroy our bodies, but our ideas will live forever. As we continue to breed with their women & pay support to the mixed race children like Obama that we know of, our genetic codes will destroy their so-called "white supremacy" & create a new race of people.
ReplyDelete....ongoing, as rumors float about....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.atlawblog.com/2012/09/sentences-handed-down-in-gwinnett-corruption-cases/
It's certainly no place to raise a family.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Schaefer
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/former-drug-prosecutors-life-goes-wrong/nQT7K/
http://www.atlawblog.com/2012/05/ex-prosecutor-arrested-in-meth-ecstasy-bust/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Tarpley_Camp_Jr.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2009/05/15/720677/plane-crash-update-fulton-county.html
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/notorious-atlanta-convict-turns-prosecution-witnes/nTFKt/
http://www.macon.com/2009/09/28/861070/warner-robins-mayor-donald-walker.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/glenn-richardson-george-h_n_379093.html
THANKS FOR SUCH A NICE POST!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete"What Is Isn't, What Isn't Is, Until It Is or Isn't" I Have The Skinny On This Subject-matter. Prvt. Convo by Invitation, Shadow Govt. Afoot, SB, UCC, SH and 9/11 Have Knowledge To Bring To Justice.
ReplyDeleteAre You A Georgia Lawyer? Call Me 912-755-9845, Looking For A Large Following To Release Our Country From Tyranny Within Every State In Our Republic. It's Time For A Paul Revere Ride. All Eleven Republican Candidates Dirty, Stacked Deck By Both Parties, Socialism Next, Then Communism, Then Despotism.Senator McCarthy Was Right.
ReplyDeleteRobby Scott Hill Is an NCS Shill, Coytte Lane Another Shill, look at the names of her google plus subscribers and where they are at in Arizona, a bee hive, Careful.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not a lawyer at all. My background is in journalism.
ReplyDeletethe dairy queen case im sure has alot to do with wilbanks death. i guess Deal covered that one up too. a lot of people dont know that wilbanks had an affair with evans's whore wife millie. so evans beat him up....then what? ohhhh how the law works. evans got thrown under the rug. considering he WAS THE ONLY SUSPECT IN WILBANKS CASE. or was he ever listed as a suspect? NOPE. because they rulled it as suicide. suicide my ass!
ReplyDeleteWillbanks was a dirty assistant d.a.!! He broke so many laws and never allow someone to have a fair trial on top that he would tell so many lies durning trials as well as try to get into fist fights with the defense attorney. He has destroyed lives i know because he destroyed mine.
ReplyDelete