Superior Court Judge Doris Downs said she is "seriously considering" a run for District Attorney in Fulton County next year. Downs told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she is up for election in 2012 and weighing whether she wants to tackle reforming the backlogged court system from the chief prosecutor's seat.
Downs, who was chief judge from 2004-2010 and a 13-year prosecutor, has been on the bench since 1996 and is a force behind both the drug court, which deals with hard-core addicts rather than first-time offenders, the mental-health court and the "rocket docket," which quickly moves low-level felonies from arrest to trial.
As a prosecutor she obtained a death sentence against Norris Speed for the execution-style murder of a police officer, 32-year-old Niles Johantgen in 1993. The last trial she prosecuted was the five-week Doom Gang trial that involved the torture-murder of a 15-year-old girl by nine co-defendants.
District Attorney Paul Howard, who was first elected DA in 1996 and has easily defeated all challengers, "definitely" plans to run next year, a spokeswoman said.
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