The premature release of Gregory Favors, charged Tuesday in the murder of state trooper Chadwick LeCroy, underscores a "serious crisis" in the operation of Fulton County's Non-Complex Criminal Court Division, according to a letter signed by District Attorney Paul Howard, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and APD Chief George Turner.
Favors, arrested three times this year after trying to flee police, obtained bond in Fulton County each time against the recommendation of a pretrial services officer. Such inconsistencies are not uncommon within the division -- the so-called "rocket docket" -- that was created to expedite "low level" felonies, wrote the three local leaders in a missive addressed to Fulton Chief Judge Cynthia Wright.
Reed, Howard and Turner want Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol Hunstein to oversee a commission that will study whether the Non-Complex Division's philosophy of "moving cases" squares "with the best interest of public safety." In the meantime they want the division's operation temporarily suspended and case responsibility turned over to 16 superior court judges, "as is done in every other jurisdiction in Georgia," the letter asserts.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Doris Downs on Thursday defended the Non-Complex Division, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the felony fast-track calendar that handles nonviolent cases has helped reduce by almost half the court's pending case load.
"It's not designed to make sentencing less severe," she said. "It's designed to get these cases resolved in a timely manner. Justice that is not timely is not justice."
The system also allows the more serious felony cases involving violent crimes to receive greater attention, Downs said.
"It was a tremendous undertaking," Downs said. "Across the board, it has been very successful."
Nonviolent drug and property crime cases account for about 75 percent of the Superior Court's case load, Downs said.
The rocket docket works to resolve such cases in nine weeks from arrest to disposition. In the past, similar cases could linger for years to the point where witnesses could no longer be found, resulting in dropped charges, Downs said.
Conversely, Reed, Howard and Turner's letter pointed to a recent report from the DA and Fulton's police chiefs which they say confirms the court's habit of meting out lenient sentences.
The report, detailing 50 of the most recent burglary defendants disposed in the Non-Complex Division through non-negotiated pleas, revealed "that despite the defendants' records and despite the District Attorney's recommendation that defendants serve at least one year, the magistrate sentenced half of the defendants to either six months or less of jail time or probation," the letter said.
Consequently, Fulton County burglary defendants received less jail time than those sentenced in Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties despite a 43 percent increase in Fulton burglary offenses.
One of those cases involved habitual offender Shamell Stroud, arrested Aug. 26 for theft by receiving. Already under a suspended sentence for the same crime, Stroud was sentenced to 10 years probation despite a recommendation of 10 years in prison.
Two days after his sentencing, Stroud fatally stabbed Wayne Jackson in his Union City apartment.
Both Jackson and LeCroy died because of "a failure in the system," the letter concludes.
"It is our belief that what happened with the Favors case is not an isolated event, but occurs regularly," Reed, Howard and Turner wrote.
"Had Mr. Favors received even half the recommended sentence, he would still be incarcerated today instead of facing charges of murder and aggravated assault a law enforcement officer," they wrote.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Wright said the judges were “saddened” by the shooting but declined further comment. She said the court is currently reviewing information related to Favors and his history in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit.
--Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this article.
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