GBI probing Gwinnett solicitor’s program involving charity donations

The GBI is investigating a pretrial diversion program run by the Gwinnett County Solicitor General’s Office that allowed people to resolve their cases by giving to charity.

At least two other solicitor generals in Georgia, including in Fulton County, have similar programs allowing people facing minor offenses to donate to charitable causes as a form of community service.

Still, the practice is unusual enough that one Emory University law professor, who has researched and written about prosecutor-led diversion programs in the U.S. and beyond, said she had never heard of any allowing donations until The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contacted her last week.

The professor, Kay Levine, said such programs could unfairly favor defendants who can afford to make donations, adding that “forced donations” could raise First Amendment concerns because donations are regarded as a form of speech.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation declined to discuss specifics about the probe of Gwinnett Solicitor General Lisamarie Bristol’s program. A GBI spokesperson said the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office asked the agency May 13 to “assist with an investigation into any violations of Georgia law involving a pretrial diversion program and charitable donations.”

Bristol’s attorney, Noah Pines, said his client is fully cooperating with the probe, which he said “lacks any legitimate factual or legal basis.” He also said the donations option is no longer being offered in Gwinnett “based on the current investigation,” though he emphasized the decision to stop offering it does not mean Bristol thinks it violated the law.

He said the program was voluntary and Bristol had wide discretion over it.

“The program she operated, which allowed people charged with minor traffic tickets to make a donation of no more than $175 per citation to the Georgia Wildlife Federation or the Gwinnett Coalition in lieu of prosecution, did not violate Georgia law,” Pines said in an emailed statement.

He added: “The Solicitor-General appears to have been singled out for scrutiny over her program, despite (there being) other similar programs ... operated by other elected prosecutors — a practice that has been widely and publicly reported for years.”

Pines declined the AJC’s request to interview Bristol.

The diversion program’s guidelines, obtained through a request under the Georgia Open Records Act, say it was designed to allow qualifying first-time and low-risk offenders a chance to make amends to the community and have their cases dismissed.

Participants typically perform at least 40 hours of community service. But defendants accused of county ordinance violations or minor traffic offenses could donate to the Gwinnett Coalition, which supports children, families and communities; and people accused of hunting or fishing violations could give to the Georgia Wildlife Federation.

An offender is ineligible for the diversion program if they previously have been sentenced to imprisonment or have been arrested or convicted of the same charge they are facing, or a similar one.

Other ineligible cases included DUI or other serious traffic offenses, domestic violence involving a “serious visible injury” and “the offensive use of weapons, or felonious conduct.”

Donations were “capped” at $175, according to a March 5 news release from Bristol’s office announcing a continued expansion of its pretrial diversion program.

Mike Worley, president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, said the organization has received about 49 donations of $75 each through the program since the partnership with Bristol’s office began a little over a year ago through Oct. 8. That’s a total of $3,675.

Worley said people involved in the diversion program made an online donation to the wildlife conservation nonprofit, which then generated an automated receipt.

“We never talk to either the solicitor’s office or to the person making the donation,” he said in an interview, adding the program helped the solicitor’s office clear court cases.

A spokesperson for the Gwinnett Coalition asked the AJC to email her questions but did not respond to them. The coalition’s website says it has, for more than 35 years, “brought together nonprofits, schools, healthcare providers, businesses, faith communities, and public agencies to strengthen the systems that support children, families, and communities across Gwinnett County.”

Bristol was elected in 2022 and easily won the Democratic primary election in May against Joseph Morales, a former assistant Gwinnett district attorney. She has no Republican challenger in next month’s general election.

Morales was on leave from his job at the DA’s office during his campaign for solicitor general and told the AJC he had nothing to do with the request for GBI’s assistance with investigating the program.

Morales said, however, that he criticized the donations portion of Bristol’s diversion program during his campaign.

“The law doesn’t allow it,” he added. “And we’re prosecutors. We have to uphold the law.”

The Gwinnett DA’s office declined to comment on the investigation.

Fulton County Solicitor General Keith Gammage said he is proud of his office’s Operation Feed Fulton program because it delivers meals to the needy.

The program allows people facing low-level traffic offenses to perform community service by donating $75 to the Atlanta Community Food Bank and have their cases dismissed with a warning.

“I think of the cases as traffic tickets that Aunt Bee would have gotten if we were in Mayberry,” Gammage told the AJC. “Someone rolls through a stop sign. Someone without a severe traffic or criminal history fits our criteria.”

He said more than 1,000 citations have been discharged through Operation Feed Fulton since the program started in 2021. People who cannot afford a $75 donation can perform traditional community service, he said.

Gammage said all prosecutors in Georgia are trying to do their best to protect the public and resolve cases justly, with limited resources.

In Douglas County, Solicitor General Sonya Compton has a program that allows some offenders in a pretrial diversion program to perform community service by donating gift cards. Each $10 contribution equals one hour of credit for physical community service. The cards are distributed to charitable groups, including one that takes needy children Christmas shopping at Walmart.

Compton said she applauds Bristol and anyone else who is helping their community.