8A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, September 7,2022
Backlog of court cases is central topic
of Dawson County budget hearings
Julia Fechter Dawson County News
Northeastern Judicial Circuit Court Administrator
Jason Stephenson speaks to the Board of
Commissioners about the rising caseload in
Dawson County Superior Court during an Aug. 24
budget hearing.
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
Note: This article is the
first in a series of articles
about the proposed
FY2023 budgets for differ
ent Dawson County gov
ernment departments.
Felony cases in Dawson
County Superior Court are
up 105% since before the
COVID-19 pandemic,
court administrator Jason
Stephenson told the Board
of Commissioners at an
Aug. 24 budget hearing.
The announcement fol
lows the Northeastern
Judicial Circuit, which
includes Hall and Dawson
Counties, receiving $1 mil
lion in state American
Rescue Plan Act funds ear
lier this year to address
case backlogs in both coun
ties.
A surge wasn’t entirely
unexpected, but the uptick
still surprised Stephenson
and his colleagues.
“There have been more
felony fdings in Dawson
County in the first six
months of this year than all
of 2021, or at any previous
year that we’ve been track
ing,” said Stephenson, “so
we’re going to blow
through historical case
numbers.”
Since the start of 2022,
875 new cases-a 30%
increase-were filed in
Dawson County Superior
Court, and about half of
those are felony ones,
which is an unusually high
ratio, Stephenson said.
While Dawson County
Superior Court has also
closed a record 804 cases
as of June, he said there’s
also 2023’s pending casel
oad to consider.
Going into next year,
there will be 1,333 crimi
nal, civil and domestic
cases, with the criminal
ones already being indict
ed. That would be manage
able given the court’s typi
cal benchmark of 1,500-
odd cases.
But add in the pre-indict
ment cases, and the casel
oad doubles.
“And that pending pre
indictment caseload is real
ly the truest picture of
what’s coming in 2023,”
Stephenson said.
“It’s just mind boggling
to me,” said District 1
Commissioner Sharon
Fausett. “It’s just snow
balled on you, hasn’t it?”
“We’re trying to plan for
a 2023 that’s going to be
even busier than this
year...so as we move
through the budget request,
that’s the reason for it,” he
added.
Budget items
Stephenson presented
operating and salary bud
gets of $235,123 and
$516,700, up 15.36% and
10.22% respectively over
2022.
New requests include
$12,000 for 280 total bailiff
days, an increase of 43%.
Stephenson clarified with
Fausett that increasing the
bailiffs’ pay to $85 per day
earlier this year did not fac
tor into the need for more
bailiff money.
Also proposed is
$17,955 for a 5% cost-of-
living adjustment for the
court’s three full-time
employees and 36 supple
mental ones.
“We don’t want to fall
behind,” Stephenson said,
“and given inflation of
8-9% over the last year, our
wages are falling behind if
we don’t address that, and
we don’t want to wait years
to do it.”
Dually, $17,955 is sug
gested for merit increases,
an idea Stephenson said
County Manager David
Headley mentioned in pre
vious BOC meetings.
The judicial circuit also
wants to redeploy $37,120
from ARPA funds in the
last quarter of 2022
Of that amount, $20,000
would go toward more bai
liff days and $17,120 to
pay three additional judges
for helping preside over
Dawson County plea deals.
The Superior Court was
not alone in requesting
budget increases.
On Thursday morning,
District Attorney Lee
Darragh requested $46,500
for a new legal assistant
position, citing the need to
free up his prosecutors’
time.
Supervising Assistant
District Attorney Conley
Greer, who oversees cases
in Dawson County, dou
bled down on the need for
a legal assistant.
“If we can maintain
admins around that level
[of pay], we can retain
them. Once they see they’re
making a difference, they
don’t look at it like work
anymore,” Greer said.
“[They] fall in love with
this place. It’s worth fight
ing for. That’s what we do.
I’m targeting that person
that wants to be here.”
Circuit public defender
Brad Morris requested
$45,890 to fill a Dawson
County assistant public
defender position.
Similar to the prosecu
tors, Morris said his offic
es’ caseload has doubled,
from 306 open cases to 800
this year in Dawson
County. His lawyers repre
sent defendants in HELP
Court, DUI, misdemeanor,
juvenile and felony cases.
Morris recognized that
the “huge shortage of law
yers” isn’t unique to the
Northeastern Judicial
Circuit but mentioned that
the starting salary for a
public defender in Atlanta
is $104,000, a little over
twice what individuals are
paid in Dawson County.
Morris also brought up
$6,000 in supplemental sal
ary funds that his office lost
access to after 2018 and
said that putting it back in
the budget would be help
ful as far as “rewarding and
encouraging” employees.
He said that adding back
this lawyer position would
be very beneficial for
Senior Assistant Public
Defender Sarah Willis.
“I think Sarah’s done a
good job over here. I think
she’s really energized
things a lot,” Morris said.
“It’s a busy court. It’s a
busy county. It’s getting
busier all the time.”
Dawson County Sheriff
Jeff Johnson, who also pre
sented Thursday, asked for
$351,689 to fund five more
positions for E911’s GCIC
unit, with a $70,337 salary,
including benefits and
equipment, allotted for
each position.
This unit’s duties include
but aren’t limited to check
ing warrants’ statuses,
inputting time-sensitive
information on missing
persons or juveniles and
pulling criminal histories.
Additional staffing would
also allow for there to con
stantly be a person present
at the jail’s front window,
providing 24-hour cover
age, Johnson said.
He also requested adding
two patrol deputies at
$90,059 each and four
unfrozen jail officer posi
tions at $70,553 each.
“I could fill my patrol
positions tomorrow should
I be able to fill my jail posi
tions, and that’s our stick
ing point with it right now,”
Johnson said.
The sheriff’s office is
also requesting funds to
support national training
for jail officers, at a cost of
$6,820 for the first year and
$4,475 for each subsequent
year.
“Our jail captain has the
desire-and I fully support
that-to have our jail headed
in that direction,” Johnson
said. “We look at it as an
insurance policy.”
Similarly, Fire and
Emergency Services had
several notable asks, as pre
sented by outgoing Chief
Danny Thompson on Aug.
24. One of Fire & EMS ’
main requests is to transi
tion all but one part-time
position to six full-time
positions. That change
would cost $497,759 with
benefits and equipment for
three firefighter-EMTs and
three firefighter-paramed
ics. The county would save
more than $500,000 by
eliminating the part-time
positions.
The additional positions
would also allow other full
time Fire & EMS employ
ees to more easily coordi
nate taking time off around
the holidays, Thompson
added.
There are five vacancies
across the stations now.
Three of the four new
employees for Fire & EMS
were hired under the new
recruit title and grade
approved a few weeks ago
by the BOC, interim direc
tor Jason Dooley said in
follow-up comments to
DCN.
“We’re starting to fill
vacancies, so hopefully that
will factor into their deci
sion to fill the budget
request,” Dooley said of the
BOC.
Fire & EMS is also ask
ing for six lieutenant posi
tions, each at $92,063
including benefits, which
would cost a cumulative
$552,379. These positions
would allow Fire & EMS
to put a company officer,
akin to a frontline supervi
sor, at stations 3 and 8,
Dooley said.
Security upgrades have
also been proposed at each
of the department’s eight
fire stations. Funding of
$105,000 would outfit all
of the stations with either
badge access and/or video
camera surveillance.
These proposed upgrades
would be part of an ongo
ing plan to sequentially
update the stations one at a
time, Thompson told the
board. Upgrade costs
would be spread out over
the next four fiscal years,
with $30,000 proposed in
FY2023 and $25,000 pro
posed for each of the fol
lowing three years.
Volunteer stations 4 and
5 are due for a rebuild as
part of the department’s
five-year plan, so the
increased security mea
sures can be implemented
into the new building plans,
he added.
Jason Dooley pointed to
break-ins to firefighters/
EMS personnel’s vehicles
four to five years ago as
part of the reason for the
desired upgrades. He also
called the July 2019 killing
of Amy Gibson in front of
Station 7 “a huge factor.”
“We want them (the fire
stations) to remain public
buildings, but there also has
to be control of who has
access,” the interim director
said. “We don’t mind peo
ple coming in as long as we
know that they’re there for
the right reasons.”
Backlog causes
Stephenson elaborated
that while felony cases are
driving a lot of what’s seen
in the courts’ budget
requests, that’s not the only
factor to consider.
“Is it more people? Are
more people doing more
[criminal] things?,” Fausett
said to Greer on Thursday.
Greer, who oversees
Dawson County cases, said
that it’s a combination of
things.
Johnson noted Thursday
that the area’s population
growth in recent years and
an expected 35% increase
in call volume over 2020
and an unsettling 33%
uptick in family violence-
related calls by the end of
this year. Those calls often
require more officers and
time to address, and they’re
often some of the most
dangerous calls an officer
can go on, Johnson said.
DCSO’s almost two-
year-old H.E.A.T.
(Highway Enforcement of
Aggressive Traffic) Unit
has also made a difference,
Judge Clint Bearden said
on Tuesday.
Since H.E.A.T. ‘s start in
Dawson County, Bearden
pointed out that the DA’s
Office has been “proactive”
in charging more people
with traffic, drug trafficking
and misdemeanor offenses.
By the DA’s Office filing
accusations before cases
had to be taken before a
grand jury, prosecutors
avoided letting the backlog
become “an even bigger of
a tsunami” later down the
line, the judge said.
Greer said that while
processing more cases has
proved difficult, it has
“made everyone’s life here
safer,” later adding that the
increase in cases due to
H.E.A.T. was indicative of
a “problem that was always
there.”
“They’re not out there
going, ‘I just want to arrest
people,”’ Greer said of dep
uties. “That ain’t it. These
aren’t those kinds of cases.”
District 4 Commissioner
Emory Dooley wanted to
know how many of the
people committing crimes
in Dawson County are
local. Probate-related
crimes are mostly commit
ted by people living in
Dawson or adjacent coun
ties. Locals commit most
misdemeanors, with family
violence being a third of
those offenses.
“Probably less than half’
of the people committing
felonies live in Dawson
County, Greer said, adding
that “virtually none” of the
people committing thefts at
North Georgia Premium
Outlets or trafficking drugs
reside in Dawson.
“That doesn’t make it
any less our problem,”
Emory Dooley said.
While the pandemic
worsened the backlog of
superior court cases, the
assistant district attorney
said the rise in cases pre
ceded the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2017, Greer said the
superior court took in 652
criminal cases and 713
defendants.
When 2020 hit, the supe
rior court was shut down
by judicial order but still
managed to take in 919
cases and 1,006 defen
dants. By the end of 2021,
those figures were 1,029
cases and 1,128 defendants.
Before the end of last
year, the judicial circuit
planned for Judge Jason
Deal to help with misde
meanor trials and for Judge
Bearden to handle Dawson
County’s criminal docket.
“And then the tsunami
came,” Stephenson said.
As an example, during
the July 29 calendar call,
Bearden stayed at the
courthouse until about 10
p.m. to help sheriff’s office
deputies close out cases.
“We are on pace to be
right around 1,200 defen
dants this year. That is a
49.7% increase in the num
ber of criminal cases in
superior court since the cal
endar year 2017,” Greer
said.
The assistant district
attorney added that this was
more so due to a level of
“crimes against persons”
cases that he “isn’t familiar
with” in his 15 years work
ing in Dawson County.
The heavy caseload has
meant 100-plus defendants
scheduled for calendar calls
and more than 300 set for
recent trial weeks.
Greer later added that at
the same time, staffing
shortages across the judi
cial circuit have contributed
to attorneys working on
more matters an admin
could handle, costing tax
payers since lawyers are
paid higher rates.
And that work dynamic,
plus the pandemic’s
impact, can make it diffi
cult to recruit assistant dis
trict attorneys, though
another one isn’t currently
needed in Dawson.
“People want to be here,
but with the amount of
work asked to be done.. .no
human being with the num
bers I just told you could
keep up,” Greer said to the
board.
Of particular concern to
Greer are three open mur
der cases in Dawson
County, more than the
county has had in a 10-year
period, and 26 sex crimes
against children cases “of
such a serious nature that
the defendant could get a
life sentence.”
With the massive time
crunch come very difficult
decisions about which
cases to pursue.
“My concern with the
administrative problems is
I might miss something
and am missing something,
I don’t accept that as a pos
sibility in our world. We
don’t miss things,” Greer
said. “I’m actually having
to look at cases for the first
time and saying... ‘We
can’t deal with that case.
We’ve got to just let it go
because of the more serious
offenses.”
For example, child
molestation cases must be
prosecuted before thefts by
shoplifting.
“It’s priorities, and chil
dren are priorities in my
book, every time,” Fausett
said.
Like others at the hear
ing, Emory Dooley agreed
that more important cases
have to be taken care of
first, and he also had con
cerns about theft-related
crimes against businesses.
“If word gets out that
we’re behind on [prosecut
ing] that, then people are
going to say, “Let’s come
up here, and we know they
may give us a break if we
do get caught,”’ he added.
“That’s not what we
want to happen, and that is
a very legitimate concern,”
Greer said. “We want
strong relationships with
our business partners and
our citizens. That’s what
we work for every day, pro
tecting both.”
The Board of
Commissioners is sched
uled to hold a presentation
on its FY2023 budget as a
whole on Oct. 6, followed
by a series of required
hearings on Oct. 20 and
Nov. 3.
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