Prosecutor oversight bill clears Georgia Senate despite criticism it thwarts local control

Trenton Republican Sen. Colton Moore questioned Tuesday whether his fellow party members should cede more legislative control over investigating district attorneys for improper conduct. Moore opposed Senate Bill 332, which would allow a new prosecutors oversight commission to adopt rules. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

The Georgia Senate approved a version of a bill Tuesday that would enable a new commission to investigate complaints against prosecutors.

With a 29-22 vote in favor of Senate Bill 332, the Professional Attorneys Qualifications Commission moves a step closer to begin reviewing allegations of misconduct filed against district attorneys and solicitor generals across the state. The bill would allow the commission to operate under rules that it adopted without requiring a final review by the Georgia Supreme Court.

Last year, Republican legislators passed a law establishing statewide investigation and hearing panels to supervise local prosecutors. However, the commission has been at a standstill since a state Supreme Court ruling in November expressed “grave doubts” about the original legislation authorizing the justices to give final approval of its rules and guidelines.

The legislation, sponsored by Republican Sen. Randy Robertson, was passed Tuesday mostly along a party-line vote. The bill now advances to the House, giving the two chambers the opportunity to agree on a final version before the session is scheduled to end on March 28. A similar rulemaking measure was passed by the House late last month.

Opponents of the new oversight panels contend it could become overly partisan since the members are appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House and other majority party leaders.

Sen. Colton Moore, a Trenton Republican, questioned the decision to farm out duties when the Legislature already has the authority to investigate district attorneys. If Democrats regain power in the state Capitol, the process of appointing commission members may come back to haunt the Republicans, he said.

“Unfortunately, we may have a different party in leadership one day and when we do and they start reestablishing who’s on this commission, then what’s going to happen to the district attorneys back in northwest Georgia,” said Moore, the lone GOP senator to vote against SB 332 on Tuesday.

Supporters of the bill say that the commission will provide more recourse against local district attorneys who blanketly refuse to pursue cases involving lower-level offenses such as marijuana possession. They also argue the commission gives victims the option of challenging plea deals they deem too lenient and gives residents the ability to lodge complaints that open up investigations into allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

Several Democratic legislators and criminal justice organizations have criticized a proposal that they contend greatly limits the discretion of district attorneys in running their offices after being elected by residents who live in their communities.

Under the law, prosecutors are required to decide the merits of every individual case in which probable cause exists.

Sen. Rick Williams, a Milledgeville Republican, said that there are public safety risks when DAs refuse to prosecute people for illegally possessing marijuana.

Williams said his family did not receive justice when an assistant district attorney struck a plea deal for probation with a driver who was under the influence of marijuana when Williams’ father was killed in a car wreck in 2006. 

“The next time it could be some of your family members killed by someone under the influence after the district attorney decides it’s OK that they smoke some dope and get high,” Williams said during Tuesday’s debate.

The latest movement on the House and Senate prosecutors’ oversight bills comes around the same time as the Senate voted to open an investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump and his GOP allies for allegedly interfering in the 2020 election. The Senate panel would be responsible for determining whether Willis improperly used taxpayers’ money to pay a special prosecutor with whom she admitted to having a romantic relationship on Friday.

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