THOU ART BANISHED

Among discretionary punishments authorized to Georgia judges is banishing an offender from the county in which he committed the crime. Complained driver Ricardo Riley (who as of February is barred from Walton County), “I didn’t commit no murder, I’m not a sex offender, I’m not a criminal. I just got a speeding ticket.” Judge Brad Brownlow, perhaps irritated at Riley’s request to reduce the original $250 fine, instead piled on punishments, including banishment. Walton County is just outside metro Atlanta, and Riley, from adjacent Gwinnett County, has friends and co-workers who live in Walton — but he can’t visit them.