New Cobb DA taking charge

City of residence: Marietta

Education: Bachelor of science from Georgia Southern University, law degree from Georgia State University

Experience: Law enforcement officer for four years in Floyd County, followed by six years as an assistant district attorney in Fulton and Cobb counties, and five years as Chief Magistrate Judge of Cobb County. For the past 13 years, Reynolds has been a private practice attorney.

Family: Wife, Holly, is a homemaker. They have two daughters, Lanie, 24, who lives in Texas, and Mackie, 20, who is attending college at Georgia State.

Cobb County's recently elected District Attorney Vic Reynolds starts his new job on Wednesday, replacing Pat Head, who retires at the end of the year. Reynolds, a former police officer, prosecutor, judge and defense attorney, has several new ideas for running the office, some of which he has already begun to implement. He sat down with a reporter a few days after being officially sworn into office on Dec. 17 to talk about some of the challenges, hot-button issues and priorities of his new job.

Q: You recently hired a new chief assistant district attorney and deputy chief district attorney from the DeKalb County District Attorney’s office, as well as five other lawyers. Are you planning to reorganize the office?

A: We will have a new chief assistant district attorney and three deputy chiefs who will be responsible for the supervision of the office (formerly, there were two deputy chiefs). We will be adding a fourth prosecutor to the Crimes against Children Unit. We will also be adding the additional responsibility of prosecuting elder abuse crimes to that unit.

Q. How do you feel about the recent push to expand accountability courts in Georgia and to create more alternative sentencing options to keep more people out of prison? Do you plan to be involved with expanding any sentencing alternative options in Cobb?

A: The Cobb DA’s office is in favor of accountability courts. We will be adding a mental health court in 2013 in addition to our existing drug court. We intend on expanding our pre-trial diversion program as well. Our goal is to utilize jury court time on cases that warrant tough prison sentences where an individual has been hurt or worse, sex crimes, cases where either children or the elderly have been victimized, residential burglaries, and drug trafficking or drug sales. We will also aggressively pursue white collar crime with a dedicated prosecutor assigned to that task.

Q: Will you defend Pat Head’s decision to allow Kennesaw State University graduate Jessica Colotl to complete a pretrial diversion program when the motion to dismiss her case goes before Superior Court Judge Mary Staley? (Colotl was charged with false swearing for lying to a deputy about her address when she was booked into the Cobb County jail for driving without a license. Head allowed Colotl to complete a pretrial diversion program instead of pursuing a criminal conviction, but Staley has so far refused to dismiss the charge. Colotl’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case that is still pending. The young student’s 2010 arrest fueled a national debate about illegal immigrants attending public colleges.)

A: I will review the Colotl case as soon as I take office. I intend on looking at the state’s file, interviewing the parties involved, and make a decision within the first two weeks of my administration.

Q: What is your view on the death penalty. Would you personally prosecute death penalty cases?

A: I am in favor of the death penalty sentence on the cases where there are statutory, aggravating circumstances and the facts warrant such a penalty. If the Cobb DA’s office asks for the death penalty sentence, I intend on being the prosecutor doing so in front of the jury. I believe strongly that the elected DA has the responsibility to do that.

Q: Do you see the need for a public integrity prosecutor or investigator in Cobb, given what has happened with high profile corruption cases against local elected officials in neighboring counties?

A: We have been fortunate in Cobb to have elected officials that are ethical, principled and law-abiding. I have no reason at this point to believe we need a dedicated public integrity prosecutor. If, during my administration, we believe there exists corruption within our county, I will not hesitate to conduct any level of investigation and bring indictments if called for. If such a need arises, I believe we have the staff to handle the problem. If I discover we don’t have the resources, I will take steps to remedy the issue.