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Written by: A. Smith
Published September 9, 2025 @ 8:46 AM ET
CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. – A Carroll County defense attorney has been sentenced to 20 days in jail after a Superior Court judge found him in contempt for missing the start of a jury trial and later arriving impaired.
Judge Dustin W. Hightower issued the order against attorney Jason Swindle during the trial of State of Georgia v. Demonte Burke-Agan, which had been scheduled to begin Sept. 2 in Carroll County Superior Court.
Court records show that on the first day of trial, jurors were questioned, selected, and sworn in before proceedings adjourned for opening arguments the following morning. But when court reconvened Sept. 3, Swindle did not appear.
Deputies were sent to his home after 10 a.m. and found him there. He arrived at the courthouse about 15 minutes later. According to Hightower’s order, Swindle met privately with the judge, co-counsel, and prosecutors, and was determined to be “physically and mentally impaired, and unable to proceed with the trial.”
The order states that Swindle admitted in open court that his actions were contemptuous. Hightower wrote that Swindle had “willfully placed himself in an impaired state on the eve of a jury trial” and disrupted the orderly administration of justice.
Citing state law and precedent, Hightower ruled that contempt of court includes both failure to appear and conduct that interferes with judicial proceedings. He sentenced Swindle to 20 days in the Carroll County Jail.
Under Georgia law, judges may impose jail time or fines for contempt, depending on the severity of the disruption. In this case, Hightower found incarceration was warranted.
The trial in the Burke-Agan case was delayed as a result of the contempt finding.