Judge slain in courthouse shooting remembered as successor sworn

<p>A state court judge was sworn-in Wednesday to the seat formerly held by Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, one of four people killed March 11 in a shooting spree that began inside the Fulton County Courthouse.</p><p>Gov. Sonny Perdue, who picked 41-year-old Craig Schwall for the job, administered the oath of office, acknowledging that an occasion which should have been a happy one was tinged with bittersweet memories of a popular jurist whose widow was in the audience.</p><p>A man on trial for rape before Barnes is accused of murder, kidnapping and other charges in the courthouse shooting spree that claimed four lives. Besides Barnes, the dead were a court reporter, a deputy and a federal agent killed later that day.</p><p>"Not in any of our wildest dreams could we have possibly imagined or predicted a tragedy like the one that occurred just a few blocks from here," Schwall said after taking the oath. "Our city, state and the entire nation were shocked when four innocent lives were taken in a senseless assault on our civil justice system."</p><p>Schwall called Barnes "a fine man, a loyal friend and a great judge." He said he can't try to fill his shoes but "I will do my best to make him proud."</p><p>It is the second time Schwall has won a judicial appointment from Perdue, the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction.</p><p>The governor appointed him to the state court bench in Fulton County in 2003. Previously, Schwall had served seven years as a magistrate judge. Schwall also is a former chairman of the Fulton County Republican Party.</p><p>Two other judges also were given the oaths of office during the same ceremony Wednesday.</p><p>Jason Deal, district attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit and son of U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, was sworn in as a superior court judge.</p><p>Fred Eady, 49, of Atlanta, was given the oath of office to succeed Schwall on the state court bench.</p>