Georgia Senate approves prosecutor oversight legislation
State Senate approves bill which could remove prosecutors
The state Senate approved a bill that supporters say would create more oversight for district attorneys and solicitor-generals in Georgia. It would create the "Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission" with the power to remove prosecutors from office. Some detractors say the bill is politically motivated.
ATLANTA - Members of the state Senate approved a bill Thursday to form a panel to watch over district attorneys and solicitors-general in Georgia.
State Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, sponsored the bill, which creates the "Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission." The commission would have the power to discipline, remove or involuntarily retire prosecutors for several reasons:
- Mental or physical incapacity interfering with the performance of their duties
- Willful misconduct
- Willful and persistent failure to carry out their duties
- Conviction of a crime of moral turpitude
- Conduct that brings the office into disrepute
- Knowingly authorizing or allowing an assistant prosecutor to engage in any of the above
State Sen. Randy Robertson urges fellow senators to vote for the prosecution oversight bill on the Senate Floor on March 2, 2023. (FOX 5)
Speaking about the bill on the Senate floor, Sen. Robertson mentioned the case of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, where former Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson is accused of telling police not to arrest the men who were later convicted in Arbery's murder. She lost her re-election bid in 2020.
Robertson and other senators also brought up the decision by District Attorney Deborah Gonzales of the Western Judicial Circuit to not prosecute drug possession cases.
"We have in a community near our state university where somebody who's an elected D.A. says they can choose, not based on evidence, but based on how they feel and what their political leanings are as to who they will prosecute and who they will not and in order to solve this problem, there needs to be oversight," said Sen. Robertson.
State Sen. Hosh McLaurin asks senators to not vote for the prosecution oversight bill on the floor of the Georgia Senate on March 2, 2023. (FOX 5)
State Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Atlanta, however, argued that district attorneys are political positions and the people who serve in those roles must "be responsive" to the voters who elected them when it comes to what policies they support.
Sen. McLaurin told his colleagues that he voted for a similar bill after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, but said "the moment has changed" and expressed concerns that the commission could be used as a political tool.
The Georgia Senate votes on the prosecution oversight bill on March 2, 2023. (FOX 5)
"We're going to use a commission like this, potentially, to harass or put the fire under prosecutors of a certain party in certain urban areas, metro areas that don't align with what state government wants," said Sen. McLaurin. "And I think it's dangerous."
The Senate approved the bill 32 to 24. It now needs approval from the House of Representatives.