Former magistrate Diane Busch and her friend, Kathryn Middleton, have reached agreements with a special prosecutor, who announced Friday that the cases would be resolved "without trial," and that both women would "acknowledge that they were at fault and did some things."

"There will be an acknowledgement of responsibility and there will be sanctions," special prosecutor Rick Malone said. "We're trying very hard not to make this less than it is, nor more than it is. Sometimes that's a really hard battle, especially under the scrutiny that this case has been placed under. We want to make sure we're fair to the county, the police, and to the defendants and to the other people in the community."

Malone would not disclose any details of sentences the women will receive, because the deal is not yet in writing. But he said the charges all remain the same and sentencing was set for the week of Oct. 26. The written agreement will likely be submitted to the court clerk next week, he said.

The two women were arrested March 5 on misdemeanor charges stemming from an underage drinking party police discovered at Busch's home in the wee hours of last Dec. 22. Ten teenagers were cited there for underage drinking.

Busch, 48, a lawyer and former municipal court judge in the city of Woodstock and elsewhere, is charged with a total of 21 counts: 10 counts of furnishing alcohol to a person under age 21; six counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor; four counts of possession of alcohol by a person under age 21; and one count of obstruction and hindering of a law enforcement officer.

Middleton, 47, who was the first adult to speak to police when they arrived at Busch's home about 3 a.m. on Dec. 22, is charged with a total of 20 counts that are identical to Busch's but without the obstruction charge.

Malone, director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, has taken over as the special prosecutor in this case. The original special prosecutor, Lalaine Briones, recently took another job and is no longer with the PACG.

A motions hearing had been set for 9 a.m. Friday before Senior Judge Jack McLaughlin of DeKalb County, who was brought in when the Cobb State Court judges recused themselves. Busch had sometimes filled in as a judge on the state court bench.

But McLaughlin did not take the bench Friday. Instead, he and lawyers for the defendants spoke behind closed doors until after 11 a.m., when Malone came out and addressed the media.

"I want to make it perfectly clear that this thing has become a celebrated cause, and I understand that," said Malone, who has been a prosecutor in Georgia for 30 years. "It's a serious matter, but we don't want to turn it into something more than that, either. That's how we're trying to balance this."

The agreement does require both women to do "several things" before the October sentencing, "but we haven't signed the papers yet, so I can't tell you what," Malone said. "I'll be happy to comment on this after it is done."

Jimmy Berry, one of the most prominent criminal defense lawyers in Cobb, is representing Busch. His client attended Friday's session, Berry said, but she was kept out of view.

Among the 15 motions Berry filed in Busch's behalf - and which would be moot if the case is resolved - were a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the charges that were brought ten weeks after the incident were motivated solely by news media stories; a motion for a change of venue, contending that extensive publicity makes it "impossible to secure an impartial jury in this county"; and motions to suppress statements and evidence, arguing that no one was read their Miranda rights and that the police search of the premises and persons "was done without a warrant, without probably cause and amounted to an illegal entry."

Another motion by Berry requests the judge to review the personnel files of all police officers to be called as witnesses, "for evidence of perjurious conduct or other similar dishonesty."

Berry also demands answers for each count of the indictment against his client. The questions he wants answered are: at what time did Busch supply any of the named juveniles with alcohol; exactly which juvenile gave information that Busch provided any alcohol; and exactly how did Busch provide a location for the teens to drink if she was unaware that they were drinking?

Middleton's lawyer, Joel Pugh, of the Marietta firm Pugh, Barrett, Canale & Leslie, also filed motions to dismiss the case and to suppress evidence. Middleton was excused from attending on Friday, Pugh said.

The case files

About 3 a.m. on Dec. 22, Cobb Police were dispatched to the Marietta Country Club neighborhood, off of Stilesboro Road in west Cobb, after a resident reported hearing what sounded like gunshots.

Upon investigating, police found lots of popped balloons in Busch's driveway, and an officer knocked on the door of her Hazeltine Lane home. Another officer checking the back of the house could see beer bottles and cans on a ping-pong table and in the hands of "numerous young looking individuals," according to the police report.

An officer then encountered a youth on the home's deck and asked if there were any adults home and for him to summon them, according to the police report. That's when Middleton appeared at the door with a beer in her hand and "appeared intoxicated," the police report notes.

Middleton returned a few minutes later with Busch, the homeowner, "who also seemed to be very intoxicated," according to the report. "She seemed to not comprehend and continued to ask why we were there. Our presence was explained to her multiple times. ... Ms. Busch stated that she had hosted an adult party earlier and that when it was over she went to bed. She stated that some of the children who had come with their parents were supposed to stay the night."

Busch allowed police to enter her home, where they began talking to the teenagers, the police report states.

State Sen. John Wiles, a Kennesaw Republican, arrived at Busch's home while the police were talking to the teenagers in the basement and using Alco sensors to check for alcohol consumption, according to the police report.

According to the police report, Wiles "stated that he had come to assist Mrs. Busch. Mrs. Busch made it known that Mr. Wiles was a former Cobb County prosecutor and is [now] a state senator. Mrs. Busch had also stated that she was a traffic court judge in Woodstock."

After police cited the teenagers and turned them over to their parents, Officer S. Walton realized one of the juveniles was unaccounted for. Although Busch stated that the teen had left with a parent, police called the teen's mother, who said the teen was not at home and was now very concerned, according to the report.

Solicitor General Barry Morgan's office usually prosecutes misdeameanor offenses, such as minors in possession of alcohol, but Morgan said he recused his office in this case and asked for an outside prosecutor because one of his assistant solicitors attended the Christmas party at the home earlier in the evening.

The teenagers

Four teenagers over age 17 and six juveniles were given citations for underage drinking after police arrived at Busch's home on Dec. 22. Juvenile records are confidential, so it is unclear how those six cases were resolved.

As for the four "adult minors," two had their cases dismissed as part of a diversion program, after they each performed community service, paid a fine, received counseling and passed three drug tests. Charges against one more individual are pending and may not be resolved until October.

The fourth teen, William Maxwell, originally was allowed to enter the diversion program, even though his blood-alcohol level of .171 made him ineligible. An assistant prosecutor had waived the community service requirement when Judge Nancy Campbell refused to allow his baseball practice at Rice University to count toward the requirement.

When his ineligibility for the diversion was discovered, Morgan's office refiled the charge, but a judge dismissed that case, Morgan said, and he did not appeal. Maxwell voluntarily completed 40 hours of community service, Morgan said.