Veteran prosecutor in Bibb County DA’s office resigns amid wave of departures
Longtime assistant district attorney Sandra G. Matson, Macon and Bibb County’s most veteran criminal prosecutor, resigned unexpectedly Monday.
Matson’s resignation comes weeks after six other lawyers in the DA’s office stepped down for similar roles in neighboring Houston County.
Matson, who was Bibb County’s chief of court operations, had worked for the office for two-and-a-half decades since graduating from Mercer University’s law school in 1995.
Reached by telephone Monday afternoon, Matson declined to discuss why she was stepping down. She said she was “looking around” for another job and that she hoped to “land on my feet.”
Her departure comes in the 10th month of DA Anita Reynolds Howard’s tenure. More than a dozen assistant DA’s have left for other jobs since she took office in January.
In a statement late Monday afternoon, Reynolds Howard said that her office had in recent days “instituted an organizational leadership restructuring” and noted “an increase in talent departures” both at the DA’s office and the Bibb Sheriff’s Office.
The statement said the changes in her office were “based on need and vision with the anticipation of staff changes” and quoted Reynolds Howard as saying she appreciated Matson’s service and wished Matson well.
The DA said in the statement that her office “has actively been recruiting and hiring” and that the “Wheels of Justice will continue to turn in the Macon Judicial Circuit,” which includes Peach and Crawford counties.
Reynolds Howard’s statement said that as of early September, her office had hired five assistant DAs.
By The Telegraph’s count, 17 assistant DAs in the office — which employs about 22 such lawyers — have stepped down since the first of the year.
This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 12:47 PM.