Lawsuit demands Skandalakis step down as special prosecutor of Lt. Gov. Jones

Atlanta - The question of who will prosecute Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in his election interference case had seemingly been resolved. 

After a long delay, state Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council Executive Director Pete Skandalakis appointed himself to the job earlier this month. 

Now, the same critics who wanted him to hurry up and pick someone are demanding he bow out of the case.

"He has a conflict of interest, and that conflict of interest is a financial conflict of interest," Fayetteville attorney Wayne Kendall told the FOX 5 I-Team. "We’re asking the judge to make a ruling that that discretion was improperly exercised and is a gross abuse of discretion."

In what he called "public interest litigation," Kendall sued Skandalakis in February on behalf of four law colleagues, saying the veteran prosecutor was taking so long to name someone to handle the case against Jones, the statute of limitations was in danger of running out. A grand jury recommended the lieutenant governor be indicted for his role as a so-called fake elector in an alleged scheme to throw Georgia’s electoral college votes to Donald Trump in 2020.

But a Fulton County judge disqualified District Attorney Fani Willis from indicting Jones because she hosted a fundraiser for his Democratic opponent for lieutenant governor. By law, that thrust responsibility for naming a new prosecutor on PAC chief Skandalakis.

Twenty-one months passed while he mulled a decision. Last year, in an interview with the FOX 5 I-Team, Skandalakis cited difficulty finding a prosecutor with enough resources to take on the case. 

"Most of them – I know from my personal knowledge – that Pete has asked have refused," former Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter told the I-Team. "What I suspect has taken time is that Pete has been searching for someone to take the case, and nobody wants to touch this case. It’s radioactive to DAs, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans."

Kendall said he became concerned partisan politics could be behind the long delay. He filed a mandamus petition – a legal attempt to force a public official to perform a nondiscretionary duty – in Clayton County, where the Prosecuting Attorneys Council is based.

That case seemed like a dead issue after Skandalakis announced he would take on the case, and he asked a judge to dismiss the petition, calling it moot. But Kendall fired back in a court filing that Skandalakis still hasn’t done his job, saying he can’t be objective in prosecuting one of the state’s most powerful politicians because he has reason to fear him.

"I don't want to see Burt Jones walk above the law," Athens attorney Kenneth Dious, one of Kendall’s clients, said. 

"If people lose their respect for the law, then it doesn’t work anymore," another client, Elberton attorney John M. Clark, said. "Then you’ve got chaos."

Their argument: The budget for the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, including Skandalakis' salary, is determined by the Georgia General Assembly. Lt. Gov. Jones, as the president of the Senate, wields tremendous influence over the budget process. So if the special prosecutor pursues an indictment, he could be asking for trouble.

Kendall pointed to a written statement Jones issued to the news media this month, saying, "Fani Willis has made a mockery of this legal process, as she tends to do."

"Mr. Skandalakis cannot be unmindful of the fact that Burt Jones has expressed extreme vitriol toward Fani Willis because of her indictment of his Fake Elector compatriots," Kendall said in an April 16 court filing. "Skandalakis would be risking his job to validate the Willis initiated investigation of Jones with an indictment of Jones."

Jones, considered a leading contender for the governor's office in 2026, was referred to as "Unindicted Co-Conspirator Individual 8" in the Fulton County indictment that charged former President Trump and 18 other defendants with election interference. Three of his fellow alternate electors, David Shafer, Cathy Latham, and state Sen. Shawn Still, are accused of impersonating a public officer, first degree forgery, false statements and writings, and filing false documents.

"If Pete is smart, and he wants to avoid conflict," Kendall said, "he is going to do what’s in his best interests financially, and that is not to prosecute Burt Jones."

Though not part of their legal argument, Kendall and his clients expressed other qualms with Skandalakis in an interview with the FOX 5 I-Team, including his handling of the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot in 2020. 

At the request of the state Attorney General, Skandalakis took over the prosecution of Atlanta police officers Garrett Rolfe and Devon Brosnan, after Fulton DA Willis recused herself due to the way her predecessor, Paul Howard, handled the case. 

Skandalakis spent more than a year reviewing the evidence, then dismissed all charges. Kendall alleged he "has a history of not prosecuting individuals who are public officials." 

Skandalakis said he couldn’t comment for this story because it concerns pending litigation. The state Attorney General's office, which represents him in the mandamus case, also declined to comment.

Porter, who assisted Skandalakis in the Rayshard Brooks case, called the implication that they mishandled it "insulting."

"I mean, we had a detailed press conference where we laid out the facts of the case," Porter said. "Those officers were justified in using force."

Porter also said that if Skandalakis has a conflict of interest in the Jones case, then every district attorney in the state would too, because they all get paid through the PAC. Regardless, he said that wouldn’t cloud Skandalakis’ judgment.

"Pete Skandalakis is about the most ethical person I’ve known – I’ve known him for 30 years," Porter said. "Pete's not afraid of anything in terms of prosecuting cases, if he believes he’s doing the right thing." 

Kendall and his clients conceded they're not expecting Clayton County Superior Court Judge Aaron Mason to do anything but grant the motion to dismiss. They say they're ready to appeal.

Asked if that might only slow down the timeline on the Jones prosecution further, they said that's how much they want the special prosecutor removed. And once the right prosecutor is assigned, they said, it won’t take long to indict, since two grand juries have done much of the work already.

"This is an easy prosecution," Dious, the Athens attorney, said.

The I-Team reached out to Lt. Gov. Jones about this story, but he and his office didn't comment.