Some in Clayton County see the work of a special purpose grand jury as a witch hunt motivated by politics. Others cheer it as the hope that the panel may rid the county of government corruption.
Either way, Clayton District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson is pushing on and a final report is expected within months.
The special purpose grand jury doesn’t indict. Rather, it gives its findings to a sitting grand jury to decide whether charges are warranted. But already there have been indictments as a result of the investigations.
And there could be more.
On Thursday, finance director Angela Jackson, county manager Wade Starr and three commission members — who state in court filings that they are “targets” of the probe — asked a judge to disqualify Lawson’s office from working with the special purpose grand jury that was created in April 2011. The officials said Lawson used the investigation against them during her campaign to be re-elected Clayton’s DA.
The judge presiding over the special grand jury denied the officials’ request.
But on Friday, Jackson avoided a subpoenaed appearance before the special grand jury after she filed a motion to quash the subpoena and the judge signed a consent order.
County manager Starr, meanwhile, did appear Friday before the special panel, bringing an attorney with him.
Lawson has declined to discuss the special grand jury’s work, which by law is conducted behind closed doors.
Lawson won the July 31 Democratic primary with almost 59 percent of the vote, and since there was no Republican challenger, she is assured another term as Clayton’s DA. Yet debate continues to roil over whether politics — in the DA’s office or elsewhere — is behind the special grand jury probe.
“I’m not certain where it’s coming from but there is a political faction in this county that wants to see a different leadership,” said Clayton County resident Pat Pullar. “I don’t know if this is a witch hunt or something based on facts. I’m kind of leery. Are these folks political targets or are they people who have done something terribly wrong?”
Jerry Griffin, another longtime Clayton resident, sees the grand jury investigation as an attack on public corruption in a county that has long been seen as dysfunctional. He does not view it as political payback.
“It is a fact that there are a lot of things wrong out here and she [Lawson] wanted to … try to clean it up,” Griffin said.
“I think she wanted a special grand jury to look at the whole issue of public corruption and determine if it existed. A special grand jury has time to do this kind of in depth look.”
Though the grand jury has not finished its work, there have been some results from its findings.
- Twelve felony counts, including theft and forgery, were brought in May 2011 against Jonathan Newton, a one-time aide to former Sheriff Victor Hill. Newton is accused of working on Hill's campaign and a personal newsletter when he was supposed to be at work and of altering invoices so he could claim more money than he was due. He has pleaded not guilty but has not yet gone to trial.
- In October, Lovejoy Mayor Joe Murphy resigned and promised to never again seek elected office after he and five others, including three relatives, were accused of casting illegal votes in the 2007 city elections. No criminal charges were brought, however.
- Hill was indicted in January on 37 felony charges that include racketeering and theft by taking. He allegedly enriched himself with campaign funds, used county cars and credit cards for himself and assigned county employees to work during business hours on his failed 2008 re-election campaign. But despite the charges, Hill, who has said he is not guilty, won back the office in an August primary run-off. He is to reclaim the office on Jan. 1 if he is not convicted when his case goes to trial Nov. 26.
- Linton Herbert Etheridge, a former Clayton Water Authority manager, was sentenced in February to five years probation after he admitted he lied to a grand jury about awarding a landscaping contract to a company that employed his son.
- In April investigators seized computers and records from Jackson, Starr, retired fire Chief Alex Cohilas, the five county commissioners and five commission aides. The grand jury has not issued any findings based on that search.
- John Lampl, former Morrow city manager and one-time City Council member, was indicted in June on eight counts of making a false statement and conspiracy in restraint of free and open competition with regard to a failed Olde Towne Morrow development. He has pleaded not guilty and goes to trial Oct. 1.
“The people [in Clayton] are interested in cleaning up,” said Griffin, a resident. “It certainly sends a message we don’t tolerate this stuff out here.”
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