The wheels of justice turn slowly, even under the best of circumstances. Add to the customary legal hurdles the extraordinary challenge of a pandemic, and you end up with a backlog that local prosecutors are just now starting to dig their way out from under.
“We are doing the best we can,” says Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Christian. “We have had three confirmed cases of Covid-19 between our three offices and have had to quarantine from time to time and work from home.”
In a normal year, the Habersham County Grand Jury would have been seated on July 1. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the grand jury was only recently empaneled. Jurors met for the first time on November 9. They issued a flurry of indictments during their two-day session – the first indictments handed down in Habersham County since courts closed in mid-March.
While Grand Jury proceedings have just recently resumed, the courts have tried to keep up with what they can. Many bond hearings and probation violation hearings are held virtually. Still, it could be well into next year before prosecutors catch a break in their scheduling.
“What has happened is that those cases that were on a calendar from the January 2020 Grand Jury and those added ‘Accusation cases,’ for the most part, are still pending due to a lack of trial terms after the Georgia Supreme Court issued it’s First Judicial Emergency Order,” explains Christian. “What this essentially means is that we have that calendar and the new calendar (yet to be published) that will need to be addressed in 2021.”
Prosecutors anticipate the total number of cases on those two calendars will be twice as many as they normally address during the same time period. In addition, they’re working on cases for the January 2021 grand jury term. “Those indictments and other filed ‘Accusations’ will be on top of the [other] two calendars,” he says.
Despite the daunting task before them, Christian says everyone associated with the criminal justice system “is dedicated to continuing to perform our jobs under all of the in place guidelines and protocols.” Asked how long he expects it will take for grand juries and prosecutors in the circuit to catch up on pending cases, Christian says, ” I don’t know. There are too many variables.”
The current term of the Habersham County Grand Jury ends on December 31.
