Fulton County to put elected judge in charge of ‘rocket docket'

Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard, in a letter co-signed by Atlanta's mayor, Kasim Reed, and police chief George Turner, called for a suspension of the division after it was revealed Favors -- charged in the murder of state trooper Chadwick LeCroy  -- obtained bond multiple times against the recommendations of pretrial services officers. Those cases were all handled by non-elected magistrate judges.

Reed applauded the decision to have elected judges hear non-complex cases in brief remarks to reporters following a speech to the Atlanta Kiwanis Club.

"You cannot have an unelected person with that kind of power. A magistrate should not have the power to release a violent offender," said Reed, adding that 20 percent of all people murdered in Atlanta are killed by offenders on bail or out on parole. "If they were not out, people would be alive."

Plummer reiterated Fulton Chief Judge Cynthia Wright's recent assertion that the two-tiered system works.

"National experts have endorsed our system," he said. "It is an appropriate and proven way to handle low-level, non-violent offenders in a timely and cost-effective manner so that the jail can house those accused of serious offenses."

In their letter, the mayor, district attorney and police chief also called for the creation of a special panel, chaired by Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol Hunstein, to study whether the non-complex division's philosophy of "moving cases" squares "with the best interest of public safety."

The trio singled out a recent report from the DA and Fulton's police chiefs which, they claimed, confirmed the court's habit of meting out lenient sentences. Despite a 43 percent increase in the burglary offenses in Fulton, defendants received less jail time than those sentenced in Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, the officials wrote.

"Hindsight is often the first tool reached for in an effort to provide an easy answer," Fulton Chief Judge Cynthia Wright responded in a letter released Monday evening.

Favors last appeared before the magistrate Dec. 13 facing charges of entering an auto, possessing tools to commit a crime, possessing cocaine and two counts of obstructing a police officer. Magistrate Roy C. Roberts granted Favors a $19,000 bond and he was eventually released on a signature bond, meaning he put up no bail money, court records reveal.

"When [Favors] appeared before the magistrate [Dec. 13] no warrant had yet been obtained and the arresting officer was not present," Wright said. "Under those circumstances the magistrate before whom Mr. Favors appeared had no alternative but to comply with Georgia law and the Constitution. For that reason, Mr. Favors was released."

The law requires a defendant to be brought before the magistrate within 48 hours.

Asked whether superior court judges will be overburdened by adding the non-complex cases, Plummer replied, "We have too few judges, too few prosecutors [but] that's a case that  can be made in almost every other jurisdiction."

A request for comment from D.A. Howard has not yet been answered. Return to ajc.com for updates.

--Staff writer Ernie Suggs contributed to this article.