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Finklestein grievance dropped

• A complaint alleges that Cooper had unfairly persecuted men in domestic violence cases while ignoring women who had broken the law, authorities said.

J.D. Sumner

AMERICUS — A complaint against a local district attorney has been dismissed by the Georgia Bar Association, documents show.

In a letter dated May 22, Jonathan Hewett, Senior Assistant General Counsel for the State Bar of Georgia, dismisses a claim that Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Cecilia Cooper took inappropriate actions in prosecuting criminal cases.

Filed against Cooper by Albany attorney Jim Finklestein, the complaint alleged that Cooper falsely testified and took other inappropriate prosecutorial actions while acting as prosecutor of criminal cases, the letter says.

According to Hewett, documents and other materials purported to be evidence by Finklestein of Cooper’s inappropriate action “do not show Ms. Cooper violated the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct,” the letter states.

Finklestein told the Herald in April that his complaint was based on what he perceived to be unfair prosecution of men in the judicial circuit.

The 20-page complaint reportedly outlined examples and evidence of what Finklestein said was Cooper’s habit of prosecuting men in domestic violence cases but not pursuing women, who he believed had obviously broken the law.

Cooper, who is up for re-election this year, dismissed the grievance as purely political.

Finklestein’s complaint came immediately after a client of his, a former Sumter County Sheriff’s deputy, was exonerated of a rape charge that he had been indicted for in 2007.

“My contention from the beginning was that this case never should’ve been prosecuted,” Finklestein told The Herald after his clients charges were dismissed.

In a letter faxed to the Herald, Cooper lauded Hewett’s decision to dismiss the claim.

“It is with great pleasure that I today received the State Bar’s dismissal of his (Finklestein’s) complaint,” Cooper wrote. “I have attached a copy for you to review and hopefully disseminate in the same manner as the complaint.”

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