Dougherty DA's office struggling with COVID backlog, shortage of prosecutors in taking felony cases to trial

Sep. 20—ALBANY — "Where have all the layers gone?" is a rarely asked question for most people, and the first question asked at a restaurant when a diner faints isn't "Is there a lawyer in the house?" although, depending on the quality of the food, could be the second query uttered.

The United States would seem to have no shortage of attorneys. There are some 1.3 million in the nation, with roughly one in four of those living in the two most populous states, California and New York, with 43 and 92, respectively, for every 100,000 residents. Washington, D.C. has the most attorneys per-capita at nearly 760 for each 100,000 residents.

But in Dougherty County and other smaller Superior Court jurisdictions around the state, there is a personnel shortage for some of the most vital legal work, prosecutors and public defenders needed to adjudicate a backlog of court cases that was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, District Attorney Greg Edwards' office is about one-third short of being fully staffed at 16 assistant district attorneys, with five vacant positions as of last week.

"Other circuits are having kind of the same issue with getting lawyers in," the district attorney said. "There's always turnover in DA's offices, people coming in and out. Recently I'm having people moving out, but nobody's coming in."

While five is a small number, there are some much larger numbers that are in play due to the issue. There are some 10,000 outstanding felony cases in the county, and of those 2,500 or so involve some of the most serious, from murder and armed robbery to aggravated child molestation and aggravated rape.

Chief Superior Court Judge Willie Lockette gave those numbers in a recent appearance before the Dougherty County Commission during which he asked for backing in seeking a fourth judge for the circuit that comprises only Dougherty County.

A couple of hundred people have been waiting in jail for more than two years, either because they cannot afford bail or were denied bail due to the severity of the charges against them.

Lockette estimated the cost of incarcerating those people is about $6 million annually for county taxpayers.

Smaller court circuits have traditionally been a training ground for younger attorneys, Edwards said, but now many are choosing to bypass that route.

"One, the metropolitan DA's offices are able to pay better than us in the rural areas," he said. "Also, as far as other practices of law, the ability to practice civil law, you can do far more things remotely than you can as a prosecutor or even a public defender. In the civil practice you can do a lot more remotely, at home.

"I don't have that flow of new applicants that I used to have from law schools, from new attorneys."

Recently, two ADAs who had been working in Albany for some time both left for Brunswick, and then both put in notices and moved on to Atlanta.

"People move for various reasons, for pay, things like that, but they also move for marriage and other reasons," Edwards said. "Since the pandemic, just about everybody is having the same issues. The Atlanta circuit, the big-city circuits, are able to offer them the benefits of city life plus better pay."

The district attorney pledged that his office will work through the backlog of cases. The court system received a federal grant, part of COVID relief funds, last year that will help pay for extra court and security personnel for trials, and renting larger venues to try cases that have multiple defendants.

During his presentation to county commissioners the chief judge indicated there are several murder cases with up to 10 defendants. One super-sized case involves 38 members of the Purps street gang indicted last year in a racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) case.

Courts across the state were closed for months during the pandemic, and during that time the empaneling of grand juries to hear cases for indictment and trial juries to hear cases was prohibited. Some hearings were held via the internet during that time, but much of the legal processes were halted.

The County Commission increased salaries this year, and Edwards said he thinks that should help locally in attracting and retaining attorneys for his office. The state attorney general's office and Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council also has assisted and given support.

"We lost time with COVID," he said. "Then we lost time because of people leaving and needing to get replacements.

"We will get it done. My obligation, this office's obligation, is to get them to trial. I am determined to get that done."