When the dust settled after sine die, the Georgia General Assembly would not be adding a sixth judge to the Augusta Judicial Circuit this year.
Area judges as well as legislators were optimistic the legislature would agree to the addition, after the legislature in 2021 allowed Columbia County to form its own circuit. The move claimed the three judges who live there and left the Columbia Circuit with slightly more judges than it needs, and Augusta judges doing the work of nearly one-and-a-half judges each, based on state criteria.
“Our need for a new judgeship was unique, in that it came about as a result of the legislature dividing the Augusta Judicial Circuit and creating a single-county Columbia Judicial Circuit without consulting the Judicial Workload Assessment Committee,” said Chief Augusta Superior Court Judge Danny Craig.
Sens. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, and Harold Jones, D-Augusta, authored Senate Bill 5, which created a sixth judgeship. If it had passed, Gov. Brian Kemp would have made the initial appointment of a judge to serve until voters chose one next year.
Instead, the bill remained fourth in line behind three other Georgia circuits seeking another judge based on their growing caseloads.
During the session, those three – the Atlantic, Coweta and Dougherty circuits – each were approved and funded. Funds for each consisted of $214,069 for the judge, $75,344 for an additional assistant district attorney and $75,322 for another public defender.
Jones said the Senate initially agreed to fund the positions for Augusta but in conference committee, nthe House would not. There remained a chance Augusta’s judge could be added to another bill before the session ended, but it still lacked funding.
“Sen. Burns and I tried to push it through this year and we gave a very good effort, but we were unable to get it to the finish line,” Jones said.
The Augusta Circuit split cost Augusta three of its four longest-serving judges – James Blanchard, Wade Padgett and Sheryl Jolly – and left the Augusta Circuit with only a single judge, Craig, having served more than two terms of the superior court bench. It also removed Blanchard from his longtime oversight of the circuit’s felony drug court.
With COVID-19 a major contributor, case backlogs show themselves in gang defendants getting credit for six years of time served in the county jail awaiting trial or plea deal, and lawyers calling to drop murder charges after a seven-year wait.
Numbers show need for seventh judge
The Augusta Circuit judges’ caseloads are only expected to grow, with the Judicial Workload Assessment Committee’s latest report demonstrating the circuit actually needs two additional judges.
At the start of 2022, Richmond County Superior Court had approximately 3,000 pending criminal cases. Despite the judges disposing of nearly 700 cases during the last 16 months, there are now more than 4,000 pending criminal cases.
This year, the Richmond County grand jury, which meets nearly every week, has returned 614 criminal indictments and, at that rate, will likely exceed last year’s 2,181.
The judges preside over much more than criminal cases, and their caseloads have expanded in superior court civil and domestic cases as well.
Currently the judges have between 709 and 940 pending criminal cases each, with Judge Amanda Heath having the most. They have between 165 and 396 domestic cases each, with Heath the least and Craig the most, and between 233 and 292 civil cases each.
Burke County comprises about a tenth of the circuit’s workload. It has seen 63 criminal indictments and 23 new domestic cases this year.
Since the legislature funded the three judges, Craig was optimistic it will follow suit next year with the fourth. But an even larger challenge than Augusta’s judge shortage looms in the statewide shortage of qualified lawyers needed to present cases to them.
“Those challenges are that Georgia’s metropolitan-area prosecutors and public defenders cannot attract attorneys to join their staffs. Having sufficient numbers of qualified lawyers to present the current caseload is absolutely essential,” Craig said.
