Attorney Profile

During the course of twenty-five years, J. Richardson Brannon has spent the majority of his career as an actual in-court trial lawyer. In over 150 jury trials, Mr. Brannon has served as lead counsel in all but three. His jury trial experience includes U. S. District Courts in the state of Georgia, many Superior Courts across the state of Georgia and many State Courts across northeast Georgia. Mr. Brannon has an excellent success rate of obtaining favorable results before juries in both civil and criminal trials. Some of the cases that he successfully handled received news coverage and are as follows:

Mr. Brannon has successfully concluded numerous cases for clients in amounts ranging from $500,000.00 to nearly $4,000,000.00 dollars in the areas of: medical malpractice, personal injury and wrongful death.

• In 1989 The Brannon Law Office won the largest case ever against a particular governmental entity in the State of Georgia, at that time, resulting in a $1.75M decision. This dealt a heavy blow to the doctrine of sovereign immunity. As a landmark case it received extensive media coverage in both newspapers and televisions across the state of Georgia. The coverage lasted for a period of five and one-half years until the cases' conclusion. This case involved a high-speed chase that has been written in various legal periodicals. It also prompted new legislation being passed in the State of Georgia; which was an attempt to reinstate "blanket sovereign immunity" for governmental entities within the state in response to the victory.
  
  
• In 1992, Mr. Brannon was co-counsel with two other attorneys in a case against a major tire manufacturer, which resulted in a $3.7 million dollar settlement prior to trial. At the time the case concluded, this was the largest settlement that ever been resolved in that particular court.
  
  
• Two of his most recent cases were a wrongful death case resulting in $955,000.00, and $2,000,000.00 dollars in a medical malpractice case. This settlement was the largest medical negligence verdict ever tried in the history of the Superior Court in the county in which it was tried.
  
  
• One recent personal injury case was for a woman who suffered a broken femur (largest leg bone) and other lacerations in an automobile accident near metropolitan Atlanta. The case settled prior to trial for $185,000.00.
  
  
• The latest personal injury case by Rich Brannon was a victory in which our client, a long-haul truck driver from Virginia, was injured in a car-truck collision. The truck went off the roadway, but there was little damage to the truck and no damage to the tractor. Rich was able to prove through the use of three physicians in different specialties that our client suffered a "diffuse axonal injury" (D.A.I.) of the brain. This injury causes stretching and tearing of axons and tissue within the brain. It resulted with a slight disequilibrium for our client which cannot be remedied by surgery or medication. After nearly two years of pursuing justice against one of the largest insurance companies in the country the case settled on the eve of trial for $365,000.00. This was an outstanding result in a mild brain injury case. As a beginning trial lawyer and during only the first eighteen months of his law practice, Mr. Brannon was appointed by the Superior Court to defend a death penalty murder case. In this case the defendant had made admissions and there were two witnesses to the murder. Although only eighteen months out of law school Mr. Brannon successfully persuaded the jury to give the defendant life imprisonment; as opposed to the death penalty.
  
  
• In 1981 Mr. Brannon defended a "civil rights activist" from northeast Georgia who was charged with an aggravated battery; that was hailed by the government prosecutors as an attempted murder. The government contended that a martial artist's hands were "lethal weapons", but the case still resulted in a not guilty verdict.
  
  
• Mr. Rich Brannon was co-counsel in a highly publicized "double homicide" case in 1984 that was held in Superior Court. In spite of confessions by the defendant and eyewitnesses who had also been attacked during the murders Mr. Brannon assisted in successfully negotiating life imprisonment sentences.
  
  
• In one of Rich Brannon's earliest jury trials, he defended an older man charged with aggravated battery/attempted murder. The victim had molested the defendant's young daughter. Later on the victim was shot while standing inside the screen door at his own residence. The expended shot shell casings were found on the steps of the victim's front porch. In spite of this evidence, Mr. Brannon continued on and was successful in his defense. After an emotionally draining trial, the client went home.
  
  
• The 1982, high profile trial held in Superior Court in Georgia was another victory for Mr. Brannon. He had represented three brothers indicted on 15 felony counts each, and still walked away with a not guilty verdict on all 45 counts.
  
  
• The "Blairsville Cocaine Trial" received extensive publicity both in the newspapers and on television in 1983. It's also known as the "Snow in the Mountains" trial, this was reputed by the prosecution to be the largest drug conspiracy case ever tried in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia at the time of trial. The trial of this case extended to one and a half months, and the first trial resulted in a mistrial at the end of three weeks. The second trial resulted in our client receiving the lightest sentence of all convicted defendants by virtue of a plea negotiated during trial.
  
  
• In 1983, Mr. Brannon tried the most highly publicized vehicle homicide trial (at the time it was tried) in the history of the Superior Court in the county in which the case went to trial. A child was killed in this case causing the case to receive extensive media coverage both in the newspapers, and on television. Mr. Brannon's client was found not guilty.
  
  
• Mr. J. Richardson Brannon was lead counsel in another highly publicized death penalty murder case in 1986. In this case the defendant had confessed to the crime, and Mr. Brannon's attack on the confession during trial led to the government's offer of a negotiated plea. This was accepted by the court and considered an outstanding success even by the prosecution.
  
  
• In 1987, Mr. Brannon defended a well-known personality for the crime of rape in a rural area trial held in Superior Court. The case resulted in a hung jury (11 to 1 to acquit) with the client entering a negotiated plea to a misdemeanor and paying a fine of $150.
  
  
• In 1988, Rich Brannon defended a very popular and renowned businessman in the Superior Court of one of Georgia's rural counties. This was a double victim case, with several counts of child molestation. The client was acquitted on all counts.
  
  
• Mr. Brannon represented a well-recognized, elderly man in one of the most emotionally draining jury trials of his career. This case received news coverage and was hailed by the government as a case in which there was "no defense." In the face of what the government contended as overwhelming evidence; Mr. Brannon's client was found not guilty of rape in the year of 1990.
  
  
• The son of a well-known public person was tried on numerous counts of child molestation in one of Georgia's rural courts in 1990. The state introduced two confessions against the defendant at this trial, but in spite of these confessions and testimonies by the two alleged victims, Mr. Brannon acquitted his client on all counts.
  
  
• In 1993, Mr. J. Richardson Brannon defended a law enforcement officer. It was held in a rural county in Superior Court because of 24 counts, including rape, aggravated child molestation, and cruelty to children. After cross-examination of the three victims and other state's witnesses the government offered a negotiated plea to a misdemeanor charge. Mr. Brannon's client accepted, and entered a "no contest plea". The client received a probated sentence and a small fine, and went home.
  
  
• Mr. Brannon was one of the defense attorneys in the trial of the "caseworkers" in the "Miracle Children Case Workers Trial". This case received extensive media coverage with live television cameras in the courtroom, and local radio coverage of the trial. Mr. Brannon's client was found guilty of only one felony count to which the client had admitted. After an extensive sentencing hearing in which twenty-eight witnesses were presented, some live and some by affidavit, the client was sentenced as a first offender with probation and a fine. After the lengthy trial the Atlanta television news media stated they were amazed at the outcome .The defendant would not spend a minute in jail and there would be no criminal record.
  
  
• The murder trial of a young man who was charged with killing his wife in the presence of six eyewitnesses, in an "execution-style" manner was another victory for Mr. Rich Brannon. After a grueling cross-examination of the government's witnesses for five days the prosecution offered a negotiated plea. Our client accepted the plea and served only 13 months in custody.
  
  
• In one of J. Richardson Brannon's most recent criminal trials he defended a well-known law enforcement officer, who was charged on numerous counts of child molestation in Superior Court. Mr. Brannon's client had been the political opponent of the sheriff of that county in a previous election. After the election results in which the incumbent sheriff was re-elected, the client was arrested and the case subsequently went to trial. Closing arguments were broadcast live over various radio stations. The case received extensive news coverage. The jury found Mr. Brannon's client not guilty on all counts.
  
  
• In a more recent trial Mr. Brannon located one piece of "surprise evidence" that proved his client was not guilty. He presented this evidence to the jury during the course of this trial, and was successful in convincing the jury that this one piece of evidence proved the defendant to be not guilty. The client was acquitted of arson.
  
  
• Rich Brannon's most recent criminal trial was the case of a forty-one year old woman charged with aggravated battery/attempted murder in a rural North Georgia community. Our client shot her own brother during a verbal dispute because the brother had threatened and choked their seventy-two year old mother. When the great uncle intervened the brother attacked him too. The next evening during a heated argument between the siblings our client shot her brother repeatedly with a small caliber handgun. The last shot was from the rear as the brother/victim ran out of the house. Two eyewitnesses testified that the brother was unarmed and never touched our client. The brother/victim recovered from multiple wounds. Rich located twenty-three third party witnesses who had been threatened by this alleged victim. At trial Rich won the argument before the Court allowing him to call each of these witnesses to the stand to testify on behalf of the defense. The government "caved in" and quit after only a few of these witnesses offering a plea to a misdemeanor charge. Rich allowed our client to plead guilty to the crime of "pointing a gun at another." She paid a very small fine and was relieved to go home. Rich was mobbed by the client, her family, relatives, and witnesses at the end of the trial. It was an emotional trial and one of Rich's favorite courtroom battles.
  
  

The number of successfully litigated criminal and civil cases by The Brannon Law Office is voluminous as it covers twenty-five years of law practice.

The J. Richardson Brannon web site is designed to provide educational information only and is not intended to offer legal advice. Information contained in this website is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship, nor does it constitute legal advice to any person reviewing such information. No electronic communication with J. Richardson Brannon, on its own, will generate an attorney-client relationship, nor will it be considered an attorney-client privileged communication.

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