A county attorney’s being replaced after being late to work too often. The order from Fifth Judicial District Chief Judge Arthur Gamble ticks off incidents of lateness, missing papers, failure to bring witnesses to trials where they were scheduled, and complaints by clerks and the public that they could never reach Martin Ramsey, the County Attorney for Madison County, and he’d never return calls. It even lists trials where defendants had to be let go, because the prosecutor didn’t show up.
The 11-page ruling notes Ramsey gave no excuse except that he just had trouble being on time, and says “the court cannot perform its basic function of administering justice when the County Attorney is repeatedly late or when he fails to appear at all.” Saying his chronic “failure to attend to the business of his office has hindered and delayed the orderly business of the court,” the judge orders the Attorney General’s office to appoint a county attorney till the Madison County Board can find and hire a replacement.