In a new motion filing in the case of Raymond v. Raymond, noted attorney Lisa West who represents Tameka Raymond, ex-wife of singer Usher Raymond has filed a Motion for Recusal that essentially requesting that controversial judge Bensonetta Lane step down from handling any future proceedings as it relates to the custody case involving kinds of Usher Raymond and Tameka Raymond. In a very detailed and extraordinary sworn document, Attorney West points out some very serious concerns she has with the judge remaining on the case. On August 29th, Attorney West filed a Motion for A New Trial and in that motion filing she cited newly discovered evidence that had she or her client been made aware of they would have requested that a different judge preside over the original case in the very beginning. In her motion for recusal she cites the following:
1.) Attorney John Mayoue currently serves on Judge Bensonetta campaign reelection executive committee;
2.) In March 2008, John Mayoue (Usher’s attorney) held the biggest fundraiser for Judge Bensonetta Lane campaign history;
3.) During the three-month period immediately preceding Judge Lane’s reelection announcement period in 2008, John Mayoue garnered $9,628 of the $11,631.75 (82.7%) of the monetary and in-kind contributions made to judge Lane’s campaign;
4.) For Judge lane’s entire 2008 reelection campaign, John Mayoue garnered $9,628 of the $22,990.75 (42%) of the monetary and in-kind contributions made to the campaign;
5.) Despite the legal requirement that cases be randomly and evenly assigned to judges upon filing, since January 1, 2008, John Mayoue has, upon information and belief, inexplicably had a disproportionately high number of cases before Judge Lane’s court.
6.) John Mayoue (Usher Raymond’s attorney) has had all his high profile cases in front of judge Bensonetta Lane according to attorney Lisa West’s investigation.
If these facts are found to be accurate then this truly would be a reason an opposing party of John Mayoue would not want to appear in front of Judge Lane in matters that are this serious and sensitive. Why didn’t the judge reveal this fact at the beginning of the trial? According to legal experts who we have spoken with, they have stated that it is the responsibility of a judge to share that information with all the parties of a case and it is not the lawyer’s responsibility to discover this type of information. Was all this a coincidence or did the judge intentionally withhold this information? One other problem with case is that during the trial, attorney John Mayoue was questioned by a reporter about his possible involvement in the judge’s campaign reelection in the past and he denied involvement according to one of our sources.
At press time, Judge Lane nor attorney John Mayoue has filed a response to attorney West’s motions. Meanwhile we have provided the closing argument of attorney Lisa West in it’s entirety which took place on August 16th in Fulton County Superior Court.
