Special grand jury to look at Gwinnett land purchases

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gwinnett County Superior Court judges decided this week to create a special grand jury to investigate questionable land purchases by the county's Board of Commissioners.

District Attorney Danny Porter requested the special purpose grand jury last week, and received the judges’ order on Wednesday.

“Now we have a tool to get to the bottom of this – wherever it takes us,” Porter said Thursday. “I think that’s important. So I’m glad they did it.”

The special grand jury comes after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a series of stories detailing five questionable land purchases for parkland, and one purchase that was scuttled.

Porter initially planned to ask the county’s regular grand jury to investigate parkland purchases, but decided to request a special grand jury so it could focus solely on the purchases and not be restricted by a six-month time limit, as other grand juries are.

Porter said he expects the jury to be impaneled in the next 30 to 45 days.

It’s the first time in Porter’s 16-year tenure as district attorney that he has asked for a special grand jury. One was formed in 1989 or 1990 to examine the price-fixing of milk in county schools, Porter said.

While the grand jury will have the power to investigate any land purchases, Porter is particularly interested in five or six purchases for parkland that have occurred in the past five years – most of which have been detailed in the AJC’s recent articles.

Each deal involved politically connected developers who had ties to county commissioners who pushed for the purchases.

Superior Court Judge Michael Clark has been appointed to supervise the grand jury, which will have the power to subpoena documents, compel witnesses to attend and to hire experts to assist in the probe, Porter said.