Sheriffs Lobby Kemp to Appoint Candidate Recommended by Superior Court Judge
In the wake of the unexpected passing of Ogeechee Circuit District Attorney Robert Busbee, the political jockeying to appoint a replacement began with a superior court judge a little less than an hour after Busbee’s death was formally announced.
Records obtained by TheGeorgiaVirtue.com reveal that Superior Court Judge Michael Muldrew contacted sheriffs in the Ogeechee Circuit by group text message to segue into sharing his pick for the position well before many state officials even knew Busbee died.
Though the timeline was faster than many anticipated, the political maneuvering to find a replacement not directly connected to Busbee was not unexpected. Bulloch County Sheriff Noel Brown and Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie had endorsed incumbent Daphne Totten in the 2024 primary election and Busbee’s 63-37 defeat over her was seismic.
*Jenkins County Sheriff Robert Oglesby opted not to endorse any candidate in the race and Screven County Sheriff Normal Royal was still running for office.
Elected officials often set aside their electoral season signatures after new officials are sworn for the sake of best serving the public, but relationships were still strained in the Ogeechee Circuit at the time of Busbee’s death.
Strife Between District Attorney’s Office and Law Enforcement Agencies
It’s not unusual for some friction to exist between prosecutors and law enforcement agencies. While they must work together, in most circuits, prosecutors aren’t the oil on the pulley, but instead are the check on the system. They file formal charges in court, evaluate the sufficiency of the evidence, weed out improper arrests, and hold law enforcement accountable.
But after decades of streamlined pipelines for prosecution in the Ogeechee Circuit, Busbee’s approach upset the apple cart. Whether it was the dismissal of some cases outright, plea agreements, seizure procedures, or the placement of compromised officers on the Brady List, there was a well-documented pushback on the practices of the new regime.
Bulloch County’s Noel Brown was at odds with Busbee for most of his short tenure. Brown was displeased with Busbee’s decision to involve the GBI about a longtime friend of Brown and brother of county commissioner Toby Conner. Busbee had been contacted by another county commissioner but since commissioners set budgets for both the district attorney’s office and the sheriff’s office, sought the assistance of the GBI. Brown contended that the investigative referral should have gone to his office.
Similarly, emails obtained under the Open Records Act in another TGV story revealed angst about policies and practices within the District Attorney’s Office.
In an October 10, 2025 email, Busbee sent an email to Sheriff Noel Brown regarding the “withholding” of evidence by BCSO after video of a buy with a confidential informant was turned over to defense attorneys during the discovery process and later published online. The email suggested that withholding evidence could result in case dismissal, while also addressing the practice of ‘investigative holds’ and asset forfeiture practices by law enforcement.
“Asset forfeiture is intended to attack “the business of crime,” not the criminal defendant. That’s why they are filed as civil actions against the property itself,” Busbee wrote before noting that he would begin personally reviewing all asset forfeiture cases in Bulloch prior to filing in court. “The jail is the Sheriff’s domain, but if you unlawfully hold someone under an “investigative hold,” you do so at your own risk and liability. Moreover, my office cannot use any evidence obtained through illegal detention in either criminal cases or asset forfeitures.”
An October 17, 2025 email from Busbee to the four sheriffs recapping a recent meeting included a ‘warning’ of sorts by Busbee regarding the disposition of property deemed ‘abandoned:’
“…[T]he road you guys are getting ready to walk down is perilous, and I recommend extreme caution. If my office has looked at your case and declined to participate, that should probably be viewed as a flashing red warning light.”
The email also referenced challenges to Busbee’s prosecutorial discretion and the DA’s position on asset forfeiture of property prior to conviction.
So when Busbee passed away unexpectedly on the morning of May 22, chatter of who would take the helm began almost immediately and in a not-so-quiet fashion. Word spread quickly that Judge Muldrew and at least two sheriffs were making moves on behalf of Bulloch County Solicitor Catherine Sumner.
Sources privy to the conversations were unbridled about the conversations beginning ‘before Busbee’s body was even cold,’ prompting the records requests by TGV to determine when exactly the political machine sparked its engine.
Records Obtained Under Georgia Open Records Act
On June 9, TheGeorgiaVirtue filed Open Records Requests with both the Screven County Sheriff’s Office and the Jenkins County Sheriff’s Office. The list of items requested included:
- Communication regarding the passing of Busbee by the respective sheriff and any individual between May 22, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. and ending June 6, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
- Communication with the respective sheriff by anyone regarding the replacement and/or appointment for the position of District Attorney in the Ogeechee Circuit between May 22, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. and June 6, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
- A copy of any draft letter or finalized letter sent to Governor Kemp by the sheriff and/or other sheriffs within the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit.
Jenkins County Sheriff’s Office Response
Text Messages
JCSO provided text messages from May 22 in response to the request. The screenshots indicate that Judge Michael Muldrew texted four people in a group text at 12:06 p.m. to inform them that Busbee had passed away. Notably, the Busbee family learned of his passing around 10:00 a.m. and the District Attorney’s Office posted the announcement on social media at 11:18 a.m.
Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie acknowledged the heard the news, prompting Muldrew to reply, “I’ve also heard Catherine Sumner the Bulloch solicitor is interested. She would be a great DA.”
McDuffie replied, “Sounds good to me” and Brown replied with ‘thumbs up’ and ‘praying hands’ emojis.
Despite responding to TGV that he had no communications in response to the ORR, Sheriff Royal appeared on the text thread and responded with a ‘praying hands’ emoji. Sheriff Oglesby followed with ‘Yes sir.’
Muldrew followed up with “Catherine is definitely running if she doesn’t get appointed.” Brown replied with a thumbs up and praying hands emoji and McDuffie replied by saying ‘Yay.’
Letter of Recommendation to the Governor
While the response from the Jenkins County Sheriff’s Office indicated otherwise, the Screven County Sheriff’s Office responded to TGV’s records request by stating that no records existed:
“The Sheriff has no communication regarding this matter and does not have a copy of the letter that was sent.”
On follow-up, TGV asked if Sheriff Norman Royal placed his name on a letter he did not review. Chief Deputy Matthew Petrea replied with the following:
“He signed the letter. The letter was handed to him in person; he signed it and then handed it back to another sheriff. That sheriff placed the signed letter into an envelope and walked away with it.”
Petrea also confirmed that Royal signed the letter on Tuesday, May 26, the day before Busbee’s funeral arrangements were announced. Markedly, May 25 was Memorial Day and the two days prior were weekend days. The lengthy two-page letter was drafted at some point before Tuesday as it includes a detailed professional and personal resume of Catherine Sumner, including things not readily available on the internet.
The Jenkins County Sheriff’s Office supplied to TGV a copy of the letter to Kemp, but only had a record due to the letter being texted to the chief deputy and then emailed to an administrative assistant “for printing.” The office did not provide records as to who texted the letter to the chief deputy. Accounts from two offices indicate that the letter was otherwise transported via hand-delivery and without a paper trail.
TGV confirmed that the letter was ultimately sent to Kemp with the signatures of all four sheriffs, but who penned the actual text of the letter and on what date it was mailed to Kemp remains unclear. (Story continues below)
Who is Catherine Sumner?
Catherine Sumner (formerly Findley) worked for the District Attorney’s Office until she was sworn in as Bulloch Solicitor General in January 2021 following a victory in a three-way primary. She has served in that capacity since. Sumner ran for re-election unopposed in 2024 and, if appointed by Kemp, would leave a vacancy in her office as her term runs through December 31, 2028.
Sumner is not an unexpected choice for Brown in Bulloch County. Both as Solicitor and as an Assistant District Attorney, she has worked closely with the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office. The agency also handled the investigation into her now-former husband when he was accused of stealing money from the Sumner family business.
Judge Muldrew, who was an ADA in the same office as Sumner and Daphne Totten, until he was sworn in as a judge in January 2017, presided over the criminal case against Sumner’s former spouse as well as the domestic proceedings involving their shared children.
Totten was District Attorney at the time of the criminal case, but conflicted her entire office off the case due to the conflict of interest.
Statement from Erika Busbee
Erika Busbee learned of the political moves in the wake of her husband’s death shortly after they were put into motion. She asked for a statement to be included in an article in the event that the evidence matched the rumors that were circulating. The statement is below in its entirety.
The time since Robert, the love of my life, passed away unexpectedly has been the hardest time of my life. Trying to navigate through grief while being strong for our 3 boys has been hard. We have been lucky to be surrounded with support from people who care and our family appreciates it immensely. It’s been remarkable to see how many lives Robert touched in his short time.
Unfortunately, there have also been displays by those who seem to lack in human decency or compassion for their fellow man. Before we were even out of the hospital, we were made aware that people were pushing for Robert’s seat as District Attorney, despite Robert picking Jillian Gibson to lead in his absence.
I know some in power didn’t like Robert. Robert wasn’t a ‘Yes Man.’ He didn’t care if he ruffled feathers, he cared about the law and what was right because he had seen innocent people railroaded by the system. That was the very reason he ran for District Attorney.
Finding out about this effort beginning the day Robert died made the grief worse. I knew people could be vile, but this bad? What if you were in my shoes and someone was this heartless and without compassion about your loved one? I know people will say “It’s politics, what do you expect?” My response is simply “If they can do this to their colleague, they can most certainly do it to you.”
By sheer luck, I found out that Governor Brian Kemp was going to be in town on May 28 for a political event. My Mother in Law, Ginger, and I decided we want to have our voice heard so we went to meet Governor Kemp. He was kind, talked with us a while, and he even knew who we were. We also shared that we supported Robert’s Chief ADA to continue his work.
Robert worked hard to clean up the District Attorney’s office. He started the Major Crimes Division, the Pre-Trial diversion program, and he got court cases moving again. He campaigned on transparency and accountability, not just because he wanted to be DA, but because he lived by that motto. The world will never be the same for us and we mourn him everyday, but I find no other way to honor him than to be transparent myself and hold others accountable when they aren’t.
