An attorney and former state court solicitor says he needs court protection from a former client who has been stalking him from a public sidewalk and via Facebook.
Former Washington County Solicitor Michael Howard filed a Petition for a Stalking Protective Order on March 27 against Washington County resident Stacey Johnson after Johnson videoed Howard’s law office from the sidewalk in Sandersville. Howard was hosting a campaign event for his wife, Amy, who is running for Chair of the Washington County Commission.
The 45-page application, written in third-person, includes a two-page typed statement by Howard and 38-pages of exhibits. In it, Howard alleges Johnson committed the act of stalking and placed him and his wife in fear for their safety. But the body camera footage published on social media this week tells a somewhat different story.
Among the allegations made by Howard in his application:
Johnson “placed the event under surveillance by recording with his phone and additional body camera.”
The Georgia law Howard alleges Johnson violated does not apply to ‘events’ as an event cannot be the victim of a crime. The statute applies to individuals placed under surveillance and requires a pattern of harassing behavior.
A Sandersville Police Officer arrived at the event and told Johnson what he was doing was ‘perfectly fine.’
Johnson “recorded the doorway and into the windows.”
Johnson’s video and body camera footage from Sandersville PD shows Johnson did so from a public sidewalk. In Howard’s own application, he also wrote that the windows are ‘darkened for privacy.’
In body camera footage, Johnson told the officer ‘windows are made to look through’ and the officer replied, ‘they are.’ They continued to discuss the legitimacy of recording things that can be seen from a public place.
Johnson posted the video to Facebook to harass and intimidate Michael and Amy Howard as well as their guests.
Johnson has a First Amendment right to publish content he collects from public spaces.
In the body camera footage, Michael Howard can be heard telling the officer that Johnson “is a stalker.” The officer asked him if he [Johnson] comes to the office a lot, to which Howard replied, “No, not really. He follows me around to city council meetings.”
Johnson’s presence caused ‘emotional distress’ and placed him and his wife ‘in reasonable fear for their safety’
Both Michael and Amy Howard can be seen on Sandersville PD body cam exiting the building to address Johnson. Amy Howard confronts Johnson on the sidewalk, holding a tray of desserts and an unopened bottle of water. She talks to him for over two minutes before telling him to have a good evening.
Johnson’s behavior ‘serves no legitimate purpose.’
Amy Howard is a candidate for public office, a position that will thrust her even further into the public eye should she be elected. It is not uncommon for critics of candidates and elected officials alike to watch official and advertised campaign events.
When the officer asked Johnson his reason for filming and Johnson replied ‘news.’
Johnson told police he would be leaving but returned when they came back.
Howard did not hear Johnson say that to police and the body camera footage does not indicate that occurred. In fact, the officer told Johnson “You are free to film from the sidewalk as you please for as long as you want to…You’re not breaking no laws, there’s nothing I can do for them.”
Johnson “even filmed automobiles that he knows belong to Michael & Amy Howard, which were parked behind the law office.”
Johnson recorded the videos from a public space in the same manner Amy Howard did when she posted vehicles of critics of her husband in September 2025, though she went a step further and posted home addresses, pictures of the home, and a QPublic listing of said critics.
Johnson posted Howard driving in his car caused him emotional distress and in fear for his safety.
Howard was in a public place with the top down on his convertible, making him even more visible.
Johnson has posted at least 33 times on his Facebook page about Michael and Amy Howard and the behavior is “strange and alarming,” indicating a “strange obsession.”
The petition makes no claim about the time period of the 33 posts. Based on the exhibits provided in the petition, the posts were made July 9, 2025 and March 26, 2026 – a period of 37 weeks and one day. When presented that way, the posts occurred less than once per week.
It also begs the question about how many posts it takes to rise to the subjective threshold of ‘strange and alarming.’ Amy Howard’s Facebook page shows several public posts about Johnson, attorney Ben Sessions, and others. More exist privately. In fact, she posted about them twelve times in eight days.
Among the exhibits attached to the application for a protective order:
- An undated screencap of Johnson’s Facebook live with comments made by others.
- A photo taken from what appears to be the inside of a campaign event showing Johnson standing on the sidewalk with a phone on a tripod.
- Four screencaps of Johnson’s Facebook live which show three cars in a parking lot, a grey Lexus SUV, the license plate of a grey Lexus GX SUV, and the license plate of a white convertible Chevrolet Camaro.
- A screencap of Johnson’s Facebook live showing Michael Howard driving his vehicle on a public roadway.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s ‘share’ of a public Facebook post made by Amy Howard titled ‘Weekly Video Update from the Howards.’
- A screenshot of Johnson’s share of another post on Facebook.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s share of a news article about the civil suit pending against Amy and Michael Howard. Johnson’s excerpt mentions Amy’s upcoming event for her campaign for Washington County Commission Chair.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s March 13 post of public court documents.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s March 10 Facebook ‘share’ of a cartoon made by Jessica Szilagyi regarding Amy Howard’s campaign for county commission chair.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s March 3 post of public court documents.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s February 16 post of public court documents with a notation that he (Johnson) will be at the Tennille City Council meeting that evening (where Howard is the city attorney)
- A screenshot of Johnson’s February 9 post of public court documents.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s January 27 post of public court documents.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s January 26 ‘share’ of a news article regarding a civil suit against Amy and Michael Howard.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s January 25 post of public court documents.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s January 23 post of public court documents.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s December 12, 2025 post about what supporters of Howard think as information continues to come to light.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s December 10, 2025 post about not getting a friend request from Michael Howard.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s November 11, 2025 share of a 13 WMAZ news article on the appointment of a solicitor to replace Howard.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s November 10, 2025 share of a News 12 26 Augusta news article on the appointment of a solicitor to replace Howard.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s November 7, 2025 post sharing the publicly-provided courtroom live stream from Georgia’s Eighth District.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s October 2, 2025 ‘share’ of another post about Amy Howard posting the home address, vehicle photo, and QPublic listing of an attorney who challenged Michael Howard.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s September 25, 2025 share of an WRDW news post regarding the appointment of a District Attorney to oversee the investigation into Michael Howard.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s August 4, 2025 post in which he doesn’t name the Howards.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 27, 2025 post in which Johnson tags a man and asks him if he regrets going to the local judge with information and jokes that they will not be invited to the Howard family BBQ.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 27, 2025 post in which he shares a public picture of Amy and Michael Howard.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 26, 2025 post showing Johnson wearing a shirt that quotes something Michael Howard said to Johnson when Johnson was his client.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 23, 2025 post which does not mention Michael Howard.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 22, 2025 post which asks Michael Howard to write a few paragraphs explaining allegations made by the original poster.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 20, 2025 Facebook ‘share’ which asks people to confirm that the allegations made in the original post are related to Michael Howard’s father-in-law.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 17, 2025 Facebook post in which he identifies himself as the target of Michael Howard screaming ‘F*** YOU! F*** YOU AGAIN!’ in a viral video.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 16, 2025 Facebook post sharing a WRDW article about Howard resigning as Solicitor.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 14, 2025 Facebook ‘share’ of content about Howard’s resignation.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 12, 2025 Facebook post that shows a picture posted by Michael Howard of a liquor shelf in his office. Johnson asks if that’s why Howard is favorable to dismissing DUIs.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 9, 2025 Facebook share of content from someone else.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 9, 2025 Facebook post where he shares that he tried to bring concerns to county commissioners.
- A screenshot of Johnson’s July 9, 2025 Facebook share of a post made by District Attorney Tripp Fitzner regarding a GBI investigation into Michael Howard.
Georgia law allows individuals to obtain a temporary Stalking Protective Order without the judge hearing from the responding party. A temporary order was signed on March 26 for a period of 30 days and will remain in effect until a hearing can be held in accordance with Georgia law. That hearing is scheduled for later this month and will determine if the Stalking Protective Order will remain in place for twelve months.
