Opinion: Chris Carr’s Inaction Threatens Public Safety

​​In the Augusta Judicial Circuit, several alleged members of the Loyalty Over Everything (LOE) gang await trial on gang-related charges including firearm violations, robberies, influencing witnesses, shootings, and murder.

Now, because Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr isn’t doing his job, three of these defendants may soon be released.

When a District Attorney in Georgia has a legal conflict, he or she can no longer prosecute a case. When this happens, the District Attorney notifies the Attorney General so that the AG can arrange for a new prosecutor to handle the case, known as “conflict counsel.” This is one of the most basic and straightforward duties of an Attorney General.

The Attorney General can either appoint a District Attorney from another circuit to handle the case, the AG can elect to have their office prosecute the case, or they can appoint outside counsel to handle the matter. Here, Chris Carr has failed to do any of the above.

This is not the first time Carr has failed at this basic function of his office. Perhaps the most egregious example occurred in Brunswick where after the local District Attorney recused herself from prosecuting the killers of Ahmaud Arbery, Carr appointed another District Attorney who had similar conflicts. This resulted in a complete failure to pursue the murderers of Ahmaud Arbery for four months until the video of the young man’s brutal murder was released.

One would have expected that after that near miscarriage of justice Carr would have gotten his act together. But this continues to happen time and time again. In the Augusta Judicial Circuit alone, over a dozen defendants are sitting in jail due to Carr’s inaction and with no trial date in sight.

This is wrong for multiple reasons. Not only are defendants left imprisoned while Carr idles, but public safety is threatened because, under Georgia law, if someone is accused of a crime and the government does not proceed with prosecuting the case, a court will have to dismiss the case for “want of prosecution.” And the criminal defendant walks free.

This worst-case scenario is happening right now in Augusta. Superior Court Judge Jesse Stone recently held a hearing in the LOE gang case and ordered Carr to appoint a new prosecutor by the end of March. If Carr fails to do this, the Court made clear that it will have no choice but to release the three alleged gang members and dismiss the charges against them.

We know that a lack of resources isn’t the problem. Georgia has a budget surplus and access to money to help prosecutors, yet Carr was conspicuously one of the only department leaders in the state who did not show up to present his budget priorities for the coming year to the legislature last month.

Georgians have a right to expect a basic level of competence from their elected officials. They aren’t getting it in Carr.

Jen Jordan represents Georgia’s 6th Senate District and is a Democratic candidate for Georgia Attorney General.