Jury selection for the trial of Howard Gregory Cordell, 44, of 127 Mitchell Ave. in Cartersville, was set to begin to-day.
U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy recused himself last week after Cordell made the request.
Judge Charles Pannell has been assigned as the judge in the trial.
The defendant was indicted on multiple fraud changes in February 2009 and accused of taking out a $937,000 loan from Washington Mutual Bank to purchase the residence in March 2000. The defendant then obtained another mortgage in August 2004 in the amount of $1,000,000 to refinance the purchase of the same home. Cordell is accused of falsely inflating his annual income to obtain these loans.
He was released on bond after pleading not guilty but was placed back in jail last month after law enforcement authorities said Cordell told his doctor he was consuming 10 alcoholic drinks a day and felt stressed about his up-coming trial — and wanted to kill the people involved in prosecuting him. U.S. marshals said they arrived at his home to find a shooting blind erected in his front yard. He was later arrested during a traffic stop when officers found a loaded semi-automatic weapon and $7,800 cash in his vehicle.
Cordell’s bond was revoked when Atlanta Magistrate Judge Christopher Hagey found that Cordell threatened the life of Judge Murphy, a prosecutor and officers in Rome in retaliation for the treatment he was receiving. According to court documents, Cordell threatened to “slash the throats” of those involved in his prosecution.
Cordell filed a motion last week requesting Murphy recuse himself because “impartiality might be reasonably questioned.”
Murphy filed a response the following day. He did cite that a defendant “cannot use death threats to force the recusal of a judge who has detained him in hopes that an-other judge might rules differently.”
But, Murphy also said that the court has no “hard and fast” evidence indicating that the alleged threat was an at-tempt to force a recusal and delay the trial.
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