Accused violent felons eligible for release in Georgia
Suspects who’ve been charged with crimes in Georgia are entitled to bond if they’re not indicted within 90 days, and though that law was suspended during the pandemic, it was reinstated over the summer.
That means hundreds of defendants accused of crimes, many of them violent, are now eligible or soon will be eligible for release.
Willis said her office is prioritizing sexual predator and other serious cases. But the reality, she said, is that “there’s gonna be four or five-hundred defendants that we don’t make the clock on and they, without having the proper evaluation by law, a judge will be mandated to give them a bond.”
Willis said her office worked “around the clock” to make sure murder cases were indicted before the September 28 deadline. Of the 224 murder defendants who’ve been charged but not indicted, more than 50 had to be indicted by this week to remain in custody.
“Today I am happy to announce not one individual in Fulton County will be released charged with the crime of homicide because a lawyer or an investigator failed to work up the case and failed to get it indicted timely,” Willis said Wednesday at a news conference. “Nor will one get released for a sexual offense, nor will our defendants with the most violent criminal histories.”
Willis said the county is running two grand juries for the first time in its history — the panels seated four times instead of twice a week. She said the office hopes to begin indicting no fewer than 200 cases a week in the coming months.
“That is the only way we can catch up,” she said.
Willis told reporters Wednesday that the “crisis is by no means over” but that $5.7 million in county funding this year and next will bring an additional 55 employees to her office, including 15 investigators and 15 attorneys.
Some victims of violent crime and their loved ones say they no longer have closure.
Critics of the District Attorney say that no matter what a person is charged with, they still have a right to be proven guilty without languishing behind bars.
“We cannot afford to let violent criminals out,” Ramsey said. “People with gun offenses, people with aggravated assault, robbery, things of that nature.”
CNN’s Maria Cartaya, Jade Gordon and Peter Nickeas contributed to this report.
