A Georgia judge was found dead in a courtroom of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Tuesday, his last day in office, authorities said.
Deputies discovered State Court Judge Stephen Yekel, 74, at the Effingham County Courthouse at around 10 a.m., the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Court was not in session, and the courtroom was empty. Investigators said he had died either Monday night or early Tuesday morning.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will perform an autopsy to confirm Yekel’s cause of death.
“He was in the courthouse, apparently by himself there this morning,” county coroner David Exley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He was sitting on the bench in his courtroom.”
Chief Judge F. Gates Peed immediately closed the courthouse, which will resume operations on Jan. 2, WTOC reported.
Appointed in 2022 by Gov. Brian Kemp, Yekel had lost a runoff election in June to attorney Melissa Calhoun by just 319 votes, according to the Effingham Herald. He had attempted to resign earlier in December, effective Dec. 30, citing the fact that just 6% of eligible voters had cast ballots. But Kemp rebuffed him.
“Regardless of the low turnout for this year’s runoff election, the people of Effingham County have spoken,” Kemp replied on Dec. 12. The 71,000-population county lies about 20 miles northeast of Savannah.
Accepting the resignation would have vacated the position with a day remaining, forcing Kemp to appoint a new judge for not just the remainder of Yekel’s term but also for the following term, nullifying the election results, WJCL reported. Yekel had been appointed after his predecessor resigned to become a state superior court judge, the Journal-Constitution noted.
“While we are unable to provide comment on an open investigation, Judge Yekel’s family and loved ones are in all of our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” Kemp’s office told WTOC.
Yekel, a graduate of the Atlanta Law School, had been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 1976. During his 45-plus-year legal career, he’d worked as a special agent for the Georgia Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Unit and as a special investigator at the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, WSAV reported. He was a former assistant district attorney in Chatham County and had held various court positions.
