Superior Court Judge Jason Deal of the Northeastern Judicial Circuit has been selected to serve in place of Chief Justice Carol Hunstein to hear the appeal in City of Decatur v. Dekalb County.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case yesterday in Atlanta. The appeal in the case stems from a dispute between four cities in Dekalb County and the county government over the distribution and the expenditure of tax revenues.

Deal will also participate in the court’s decision.

Deal, 43, was appointed to the bench in 2005 by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

A veteran of the U.S. Army, he is the presiding judge of the Dawson County Treatment Court, a hybrid DUI and drug court, and the Hall County Felony Drug Court.

Previously, he served as District Attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, which covers Dawson and Hall counties.

Deal also served as a Hall County Magistrate Court Judge, county attorney for Dawson County and was an associate with the law firm of Thompson, Fox, Chandler, Homans, Hicks and McKennon.

He is active in the Council of Superior Court Judges, serving on several committees. He also serves on the Judicial Council’s Grant Committee of the Standing Committee on Drug Courts.

Deal and his wife Denise Fallen Deal live in Hall County and have three children.