Working more than 24 hours in a single day is an impossible feat. But an internal audit released Thursday found that a Gwinnett County Recorder's Court judge billed the county for just such a thing three times while he was a court-appointed indigent defense attorney.
Rodney Harris also would have had to work between 60 and 70 hours a week with no break to have rightfully earned the $1.1 million for which he billed the county between 2005 and 2010, the audit found.
Harris said Thursday "At this point I don't have any comments to make." He said he would make a statement in the future.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported that Gwinnett County was auditing Harris' bills in February. Harris was appointed to become the county's newest Recorder's Court Judge in January, but the bills in question were submitted while he was an attorney in private practice. The bulk of his cases were court-appointed ones where he was tapped to defend the poor in Juvenile Court. The county pays indigent defense lawyers $60 an hour for in-court work and $45 an hour for out-of-court work in juvenile cases.
The audit, obtained by the AJCafter an Open Records Act request, found many of Harris' invoices were so imprecise and illegible they could not be audited. The ones that were auditable "did not consistently provide reasonable support for charges incurred."
In a random sample of 14 days in 2007, there were three days where he billed more than 24 hours. Additionally, there were five days where he billed more than 21 hours.
Some said the audit raised concerns not only about Harris, but about how the county's indigent defense governing committee is handling bills.
"I have actually seen the bills, and they are so hard to read it's amazing they ever got paid, in my opinion," said Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Michael C. Clark. "I think that needs to be looked at. And I want [Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny] Porter to take a good look at this very seriously."
The four-page audit noted a few other irregularities, including a time when Harris billed the county for working on a Saturday in Recorder's Court. Another time, he submitted invoices for working on a Sunday in Recorder's Court and the same Sunday in Juvenile Court.
"There is not Saturday and Sunday court," said David Lipscomb, chairman of the Gwinnett County Indigent Defense Governing Committee. "It is possible there was a trial that was carried over, but it is unlikely."
Lipscomb said he hopes the county will conduct a fuller review of Harris' bills, so the committee can then cross-reference them with his cases.
The indigent defense governing committee consists of six lawyers who are volunteers. Lipscomb said they don't have enough resources to thoroughly review about 12,000 bills submitted by lawyers each year. However, the county has adopted a new electronic billing system that will help prevent similar problems in the future. The system flags improperly submitted bills.
The indigent defense governing committee met Thursday afternoon and voted to ask the county to perform a full audit of all the years between 2005 and 2010. The current audit only looked at 2007.
Porter has said he is awaiting the results of county audit before deciding whether to investigate Harris for possible criminal charges. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
As the newest Recorder's Court judge, Harris presides over cases involving traffic citations and county ordinance violations.
The only body that can seek to remove him from office is the Judicial Qualifications Commission by initiating a formal investigative process. The Supreme Court of Georgia has the final say.
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