‘Crushing’ backlog of murder cases will hit another snag when trials resume in GA
When murder trials resume in Georgia, the logjam of cases piling up in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic will likely be further slowed by a matter of sheer volume.
There are 159 counties in Georgia, which are divided into 49 judicial circuits, each overseen by a district attorney and prosecutors.
Meanwhile, there are just 13 state medical examiners who conduct autopsies and testify in court about homicides and the fates that befell victims.
Key witnesses
As murder trials unfold, medical examiners are invariably key witnesses.
When courts resume jury trials at some point in the coming months, possibly early next year, cases will be heard across Georgia and medical examiners will be in high demand as judges look to move cases along as expediently as possible.
So when the all-clear is given to begin trying cases, there could be conflicts statewide as examiners are called to the witness stand.
“It’s just gonna take some judgment and coordination to make it work. I mean, it can be made to work, but it’ll take a lot of coordination,” said Tim Vaughn, the district attorney in Middle Georgia’s Oconee Judicial Circuit, which includes Pulaski, Dodge and Bleckley counties. ”If you start up multiple murder prosecutions around the state and they’re all going on, with your limited number of medical examiners, they may have difficulty, it may cause some delay. ... The bottom line is that it’s a lot more complicated than it appears.”
All told in Vaughn’s largely-rural, six-county circuit alone, 15 or so murder cases are ready for or nearing trial. Even in the best of circumstances, arranging court appearances by medical examiners, who are often dispatched to testify across the state any given week, can be a chore.
“It’s quite common that we have them subpoenaed the same week that somebody else does, but we try to coordinate that and work out those conflicts,” Vaughn said.
A spokeswoman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in recent days that the medical examiners’ office is “very busy right now” and no one was available to comment on a potential bottleneck when trials resume.
Long-lasting impact
District Attorney Jonathan Adams of the Towaliga Judicial Circuit, made up of Monroe, Butts and Lamar counties, thinks the coronavirus crisis could impact the court system for the next couple of years.
“Even if we get the vaccine and are able to, quote, return back to normal, the challenge is gonna be catching up,” Adams said.
As for the strain put on medical examiners, he said, “We have always been limited by their schedule and when they’re available to testify. ... So, yeah, that’s absolutely going to be a continuing challenge.”
Court via Zoom
Like some other court circuits, while jury trials won’t likely resume for some time, Adams said courts in his counties have used videoconferencing and socially-distanced proceedings to take pleas and have hearings.
“It’s helped us try to keep the caseload from being crushing,” he said, “because that’s what we’re worried about when we get back post-COVID is a crushing caseload.”
Though there aren’t as many murder cases in his area, an avalanche of other criminal cases looms.
“Where I would normally expect to have 200 cases, you may have 300 or 400 cases because you weren’t able to close out a case either in plea or a trial,” Adams said.
He said his circuit has done its best to reduce the number of defendants in jail awaiting trial. Efforts have been made for nonviolent and misdemeanor cases to make sure reasonable bonds or no bonds were so defendants can get out of jail.
“Especially if it’s a case that we are really only looking for probation anyway, then we certainly don’t want to keep those folks in jail any longer than we have to,” Adams said.