Summary
Judge Stephen Yekel, 74, died by suicide in his courtroom on his last day in office after losing a re-election bid.
He was found Tuesday morning at Effingham County State Courthouse, with investigators believing the incident occurred late Monday or early Tuesday.
Yekel, appointed in 2022, had recently attempted to resign but was denied by Governor Brian Kemp.
He was also facing a wrongful termination lawsuit from a former court employee.
He attempted to resign, but was denied. Then he lost reelection. So, this isn’t a “I don’t have anything to live for” situation. It’s a “I don’t want to live with what I’ve done” type thing.
Can you help my understand why his attempted resignation makes it more likely he was covering something up?
It was that he attempted to resign, was told no by the Governor, then lost his re-election, and killed himself. Basically, he got what he wanted in the first place by not being reelected, but he killed himself anyway. He was the defendant in a wrongful termination suit that may have something to do with his suicide, depending on what comes to light from that. If a guilty verdict was something that could potentially affect his pension, he might have pulled a Bud Dweyer and killed himself so his family could still collect before it was taken away from him. There could also be other things that were simmering away in the background that haven’t come to light at all. It’s just a very strange state of affairs to get what you want, and then kill yourself the day you get it. If it had been several months from now, I could see otherwise, but he killed himself on the last day in the office. If it isn’t a statement, then I don’t know what is.
That doesn’t answer my question though.
Yes it’s very suspicious and likely something shady will be discovered soon.
What is it about the resignation that makes it more suspicious though?
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