Cobb Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor rejected a plea deal Monday, Aug. 3, choosing to fight seven felony charges rather than resign and plead guilty to a misdemeanor.
The deal from Attorney General Chris Carr's office would have let Taylor plead to unprofessional conduct and serve 12 months' probation. Instead, she now faces a minimum of two years and a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted.
Taylor, a Democrat elected in 2020 and reelected in 2024, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege she ordered her accounting manager, whistleblower Maya Curry, to delete a computer folder titled "Passport" containing financial records after the clerk's office received an open records request about passport fee income. Curry alleged Taylor told her, "We're just going to Donald Trump this thing."
Prosecutors say Curry deleted the records but quickly realized it was unlawful and worked with other staff to recover them. Defense attorneys argue no permanent destruction occurred and the records were ultimately furnished to media outlets.
$1.1 million in passport fees
At the heart of the case is a now-defunct Georgia law that allowed court clerks to pocket a $35 processing fee on each passport application as personal income. Taylor collected more than $425,000 in passport fees in her first two years alone, on top of her $170,000 salary, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. Her total passport income since taking office reached roughly $1.1 million.
She stopped collecting the fees in late 2022 after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported how lucrative the arrangement had been. A whistleblower complaint followed, prompting a GBI probe later transferred to the Attorney General's office.
Courtroom arguments
At Monday's hearing in Marietta, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, who leads Taylor's defense team, summarized his strategy in two words: "So what?"
Barnes told the court the indictment fails to allege a crime, arguing that collecting passport fees was legal under state law and that the records were never permanently destroyed. He accused the Attorney General's office of prosecuting Taylor for political reasons.
Prosecutor John Fowler compared Taylor to Richard Nixon, arguing that the cover-up is what creates legal jeopardy. He said the dollar amount of Taylor's income is critical to establishing why she would have ordered records destroyed. Defense attorney Craig Gillen countered that revealing the figures would unfairly prejudice jurors against Taylor.
What's next
Senior Superior Court Judge David Emerson, a retired Douglas County judge presiding because all Cobb Superior Court judges recused themselves, did not tip his hand Monday. He told the parties he hopes to issue rulings on pending pretrial motions by the end of the week.
No trial date has been set.
Gov. Brian Kemp suspended Taylor without pay in August 2025 after her initial indictment, according to 11Alive. She remains suspended until the case is resolved. If convicted, she will be permanently removed from office.
