Gwinnett D.A. seeks special grand jury for county land deals

By Tim Eberly

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter on Monday requested a special grand jury to investigate questionable land purchases by the county’s Board of Commissioners.

Porter filed paperwork Monday for a “special purpose grand jury” — the first time he has made such a request since he became district attorney in January 1993.

Porter initially said in July that he planned to ask the county’s regular grand jury, which is being assembled this week, to investigate parkland purchases, after hearing the findings of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report on four of the questionable land deals. The AJC article was published on Aug. 2

But Porter decided instead to ask Gwinnett County Superior Court judges to empanel the special grand jury because it could focus solely on the land purchases and no other county matters. It also would not have a six-month time limit that regular grand juries have, Porter said.

“This seems to be the best legal tool,” Porter said. “It’s not a very commonly used legal device, but it’s the closest thing that Georgia has to an investigative grand jury.”

None of the five commissioners, including Chairman Charles Bannister, could be reached for comment Monday evening.

Gwinnett residents have not had a special purpose grand jury since 1989 or 1990, when one was empaneled to examine price-fixing of milk in county schools, Porter said.

Whether the special grand jury will be empaneled this time lies in the hands of Gwinnett County’s Superior Court judges. The majority of them would have to vote in favor of the grand jury for it to be created, Porter said.

If it passes, the special grand jury would be able to review any land purchases by the county commissioners.

But Porter said he is particularly interested in “five or six” purchases for parkland in the past five years.

Four of those were detailed in the AJC’s article.

Each land deal involved politically connected developers who had ties to county commissioners who pushed for the purchases, which were at inflated prices and based on questionable appraisals.

“I’m going to recommend that they do an in-depth evaluation of those,” Porter said. “The red flags, so to speak, are the relationships between the seller and a commissioner.”

Porter said he would recommend that the grand jury delve into the value of the properties and the county’s appraisals of the land.

The grand jury would have the power to subpoena documents, to compel witnesses to attend and to hire experts to assist in the review, Porter said.