Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez has been the target of heavy criticism from many attorneys and even Gov. Brian Kemp who say she is unfit for office. In fact, insiders say she will probably be the first DA to be the subject of a complaint to the new prosecutor’s oversight board that is being established in October.
The latest criticism of Gonzalez comes from Athens Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens.
Writer Joe Johnson of the Classic City News reports that frustrations sparked by a staffing crisis in the DA’s office came to a tense head in an on-the-record courtroom exchange between Gonzalez and Stephens.
Gonzalez on September 21st told Stephens “that his treatment of one of her assistants caused him to resign from her already short-staffed office,” according to Johnson. “The judge fired back, telling Gonzalez to ‘look to yourself before you blame other people.'”
The Classic City News story continues: “A high turnover rate of prosecutors has led to such problems as serious felony cases being dismissed due to a lack of trial preparation, failure to have witnesses available to testify, cases not being presented to the grand jury in a timely manner, among other issues.”
A letter authored by Stephens and the Circuit’s three other judges reads, ‘With so many cases waiting to be tried, it is imperative that the Court not be further delayed by the State’s lack of preparation and/or failure to follow proper procedures.”
Johnson’s article continues, “An attorney who resigned in March from the DA’s office told Classic City News that at that time there were only three prosecutors in an office that is budgeted for 17 assistant district attorneys. The attorney said people have left to take jobs that actually paid less because they were unhappy with the way Gonzalez ran her office. She cited Gonzalez’s inexperience with criminal law as a significant reason. Prior to being elected DA in November 2020 Gonzalez was an entertainment lawyer. When attorney Tab Hunter abruptly quit on Sept. 20 it left Gonzalez with no prosecutors being assigned to Stephens’s courtroom and just five to handle cases in the judicial circuit that consists of Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties.”
