From homicides to youth violence, Bibb County’s new DA speaks out on the issues
Editor’s note: Anita Reynolds Howard, the Macon Judicial Circuit’s newly elected district attorney, took office at the first of the year. In an interview with The Telegraph, Reynolds Howard, who is the first woman and the first Black person to serve in the position which covers Bibb, Crawford and Peach counties, discussed a range of topics and her aims for the office.
Q. Bibb County had a record number of homicides in 2020 and nearly 100 total for the three years prior. While all those cases will not lead to murder trials, what plans or approaches do you have to handle the pandemic-caused backlog when trial court resumes?
Reynolds Howard: Well, especially dealing with the violent crime, in those cases the first thing that I did as district attorney was to bring back some of the (prosecutorial) talent that had left our circuit. Some very experienced prosecutors, career prosecutors, bringing them back so that we can deal with these cases, the violent crimes. Specifically, Greg Winters, who is a previous DA, he’s back here as a senior assistant district attorney. We have Kimberly Schwartz, who is back. We have Clif Woody, Cindy Adams. The talent that left this circuit, that lives in this circuit. You know, this was their office where they grew from baby prosecutors into career prosecutors, and they are now back. And so we are fully staffed. That was one thing that we needed to get done. ... So that when we do get the green light from the Supreme Court of Georgia (to resume jury trials and other proceedings) ... we are ready to go.
Q. Describe some of the challenges you face taking office during a pandemic?
Reynolds Howard: The major challenge is not being able to have in-person court. There is only so much that you can really do and accomplish via Zoom. ... It’s just difficult because you don’t always get the participation from the folks who are out on bond to come. There’s not a lot of bench warrants that are being issued. ... You don’t know if these people aren’t (coming to court) because they have COVID or they’ve been exposed to COVID, and if someone calls and says, ‘I think I’ve been exposed to COVID,’ if we have 50 people on a (court) calendar and 30 of them call and say they’re exposed to COVID, then for safety precautions we’ve got to tell them ... not to come. And then on Zoom, you talk about the fact that you’ve got to have some kind of internet to get that accomplished, and with Bibb County having a poverty rate of 27 and a half percent, you can’t assume that everybody has access to the internet. So I’m really looking forward to just getting back when we can, safely, into court so we can have face-to-face hearings.
Q. The problem of youth violence affects many places and in Macon we have our own issues with it. Under your guidance, how will the DA’s office look to address youth violence? Are there projects you have that might help some of our young people?
Reynolds Howard: Absolutely, and the number-one job of the district attorney should always be, and mine is, public safety. ... We’ve already had three meetings about some different initiatives. I will be meeting with the chief judge, Judge Howard Simms about an initiative that they were kind of talking about last year, never got kicked off. ... But just talking about how do we better identify at-risk youth, how do we work with already existing community organizations? There are a lot of them out there. ... What I was able to see and I have seen living here as well as during the campaign, there are a lot of organizations doing a lot of good. But sometimes those organizations just need someone to spearhead their organizations with others. ... We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. There’s already good work being done. We were talking about that in a meeting. ... There are already organizations that have grants that are doing the work but they don’t have the, they don’t know how to get the population of the youth in that they need to service. And so we will help with that. I have created a new position I’m really excited about: director of outreach engagement and diversity. ... Her main job is going to be spearheading these individual organizations into one collective effort so that we can do more to benefit the community.
Q. What do you see as the greatest change the public will notice in your circuit’s three counties now that you are in charge?
Reynolds Howard: Accountability and transparency and engagement. Those all are so important. Accountability as far as we’ve been creating ... a district attorney accountability council. We have identified some individuals who we want to be members of that council from Bibb, Peach and Crawford counties. The council will be nine individuals. We still have a few more slots to fill, but we are in the process of doing that. We will make an announcement to the community about that council so that we can deal with the disparities that are experienced in the criminal justice system by individuals of color and individuals from impoverished communities. Your sentence should not be based on the color of your skin or your financial status. ... It should be based on what has actually occurred. And so many times we find disparities in the criminal justice system and so we are going to be looking at that with the council. ... (Also) the district attorney’s office has access to funds. These are typically forfeiture and RICO funds. Typically those have, the law allows the district attorney unilaterally to decide — based on certain guidelines, but once those guidelines are met — where those funds go, what organization gets those funds. That will no longer be the case in my administration. That will go through the accountability council. ... Organizations that we have had relationships with that want to continue that relationship, and ones that want to create a relationship, they are able to come to the council, present ... this is what they want, this is what they’re requesting of the DA’s office, these are the projected outcomes based on this data, and then the council will be able to make a recommendation with information so that they can make an informed recommendation to me so that I can make an informed decision.
Q. As the first woman district attorney and the first Black person to hold this office, what are your thoughts on being a pioneer here in those respects?
Reynolds Howard: I am so excited, because I am the first. But through our leadership and through our commitment to this community, I know that I won’t be the last. We will leave an example of excellence, of really just being transparent and accountable to the community that we serve. ... I have two deputy chief assistant district attorneys, both of those are female. I was able to make some promotions from within for senior assistant district attorneys. ... One is an African-American female, one is an African-American male. I’ve recently hired two African-American attorneys. Diversity is not only essential to this process, the criminal justice process, but it’s also intentional.
Q. What can prosecutors do on the social justice front to ensure the public that justice is being done?
Reynolds Howard: I think what we’ve already done so far is, we have met with law enforcement in Peach and Crawford (counties) — we do have a meeting coming up with Bibb — just to talk to with them about offering what trainings (they) need. What trainings can we facilitate for you all? ... We can even get someone in on a national level to come in and do trainings, we’ll send you to training. ... So that’s what we really are focusing on is the training aspect. ... We know that we have some really good officers, but sometimes because of budgets and things of that nature there is a lack of funding when it comes to training; or a lack of funding when it comes to body cams or everyone having proper equipment. ... And having the body cams and the best equipment to make sure that the person that is charged is in fact the person that did commit this crime, that kind of thing. All of those things, I believe, relate back to social justice, making sure that we get it right the first time.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.