ATLANTA – A suspended Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit district attorney has pleaded guilty to four felony charges.
Mark Preston Jones will serve one year in prison and four years on probation, according to the sentence handed down Monday by Superior Court Judge Katherine Lumsden.
Jones also has resigned his position as district attorney.
“Public servants are trusted to discharge their duties ethically and honestly and when they do not, we will hold them accountable for their actions,” said Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.
“By abusing his power and abdicating his responsibility as district attorney, Mark Jones did a disservice to those he was elected to protect and put our very justice system at risk. This outcome is a victory for integrity in prosecutions and the rule of law.”
Jones pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted violation of oath by a public officer, one count of violation of oath by a public officer and one count of influencing witnesses.
Jones was indicted after being accused of trying to convince a law enforcement officer to testify that the defendant in a Muscogee County case, Elijah Farrel, believed deceased victim Sara Holtrop was cheating on him. That would have provided a motive allowing Farrel to be charged with murder.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
President Joe Biden has nominated Ryan Buchanan to serve as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, a move that has drawn the praise of the state’s two Democratic U.S. senators.
Buchanan has served as assistant U.S. attorney for the district since 2013.
“Ryan Buchanan’s extensive experience as a federal prosecutor makes him a stellar nominee for this important post,” Sen. Raphael Warnock said. “He has dealt with everything from organized crime to foreign terrorist organizations over the course of his accomplished career, and few people in our state can match the scope of his legal expertise in securing justice and keeping Americans safe.”
“I am pleased that President Biden has accepted my and Sen. Warnock’s recommendation for this key federal law enforcement position,” Sen. Jon Ossoff said. “I expect and am confident that Mr. Buchanan will perform his duties with impartiality and professionalism, guided by commitments to truth, integrity, and justice.”
Buchanan has served as deputy chief of the Violent Crime and National Security Section since 2018 and as national security and anti-terrorism advisory council coordinator since 2017.
He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2010 to 2013.
From 2006 to 2010, Buchanan was an associate at the law firm McGuireWoods LLP, in Charlotte and Atlanta, where he focused on labor and employment litigation.
Buchanan succeeds Byung J. “BJay” Pak, a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives who served as U.S. attorney during the Trump administration. Pak resigned last January after being pressured to back then-President Donald Trump’s election fraud claims.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA — The state Senate took another step Friday toward completing the once-in-a-decade task of redrawing Georgia’s legislative and congressional districts, approving a map drawn by the House of Representatives.
The Senate’s Republican majority prevailed 32-21 in a vote that fell nearly along party lines.
Earlier this week, the Senate approved a map that redraws its own districts. The House has not yet approved the Senate map, though. as state Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, said Friday, there is a longtime understanding that neither chamber will alter or change the other’s proposed maps.
With Republicans holding majorities in the House and Senate, both maps were drawn by GOP legislative leaders. Democrats continued to complain the Republican-led map-drawing processes have been rushed and have not allowed sufficient public input.
Kennedy, who chairs the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, said the process of drawing the maps has been fair and devoid of any political gamesmanship or partisanship.
Democrats including Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, vehemently disagreed.
“All Georgians want are fair maps,” James said. “These maps are rushed and are not fair.”
State Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, was the only Republican who voted against the House map after his GOP constituents from northern Coweta County packed committee hearings to complain about the map.
The new House map essentially draws incumbent Republican Rep. Philip Singleton of Sharpsburg out of his district and instead moves northern Coweta into two new districts that include enough of Fulton County to allow Democrats to pick up those seats.
“They’re loud, obnoxious, crazy,” Brass said of the Coweta voters who showed up at the state Capitol. “But they’re my crazies. They’re mine. I’m theirs. One of my constituents back home who’s not happy about his new district told me, ‘Sometimes you have to lose it all to gain something worth having.’ ”
“There’s nothing crazy about the city of Decatur wanting fair representation,” countered state Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta.
Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett appeared before the Senate redistricting committee on Thursday to protest her city’s new legislative district lines.
The House map, which now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk, likely would result in Democrats gaining up to six seats in the House, according to an independent analysis, reflecting minority population growth during the last decade. Currently, Republicans outnumber Democrats in the lower legislative chamber 103 to 77.
But Democrats and civil and voting rights advocates complained as the map went through the legislature that a fairer map would have set the stage for larger Democratic gains.
While the Senate map is still awaiting House approval, the final step in the redistricting process is redrawing Georgia’s congressional districts.
For Republicans, the key question will be whether to try to regain one of the two congressional seats in Atlanta’s northern suburbs lost to the Democrats during the last two election cycles or go for broke and try to take back both seats.
A congressional map Georgia Senate Republicans released in late September goes after the 6th Congressional District seat Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, won in 2018 by moving heavily Republican Forsyth County into the district and removing portions of North Fulton and North DeKalb counties more friendly to Democrats.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA — A Georgia Senate committee approved a controversial bill Thursday to almost double the size of the Gwinnett County Commission, one day after it came under heavy fire from Democrats.
Senate Bill 6EX is sponsored by state Sens. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, and Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown.
The Senate State and Local Governmental Operations Committee approved the bill along party lines after a more than 90-minute hearing Thursday morning.
Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to table the bill for more discussion.
State Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, said Dixon’s bill is designed to dilute minority voting power in one of the state’s most diverse counties.
“Choosing to draw maps behind closed doors and rush past any public processes unjustly silences nearly one million Gwinnettians,” the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition said Thursday.
“We understand Sen. Dixon’s push to diminish the voices and votes of Gwinnett to be yet another instance of racist backlash against diversity and inclusion in this county. The interests of one politician should not come before those of our communities.”
But Sen. Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, said expanding the commission’s size is a task that should have been completed years ago.
“There were no shenanigans involved in creating these new districts,” Dixon said.
More than a dozen people spoke against the measure, including Phyllis Richardson, policy and engagement manager for Common Cause Georgia, whose father and husband both served in the military.
“I should be with my husband attending events and parades in honor of all those who have served,” Richardson said. “Shame on you for holding a hearing on this sacred day. Instead I’m here to speak against a Republican attempt to gerrymander our communities of color.”
Along with Dixon, state Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, said the maps are legal and consistent with all federal voting rights laws.
Democrat Nicole Love Hendrickson, chairman of the Gwinnett County Commission, said her county is a model of efficient representation and asked the committee to reject the proposal.
“At their core, the bills targeting Gwinnett County represent a blatant, unprecedented attempt to break up communities of color after record voter turnout in 2020 changed the makeup of the county’s governing bodies,” said Poy Winichakul, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“The bills violate both state and federal law. If passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Kemp, these manufactured new districts will take decisions out of the hands of Gwinnett voters and put them into the hands of politicians who would implement agendas based on falsehoods about education curriculum and elections.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA — A move to expand the size of the Gwinnett County Commission came under heavy partisan fire Wednesday in the Georgia Senate.
Senate Bill 6EX is sponsored by state Sens. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, and Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown.
Dixon and Anderson also have introduced a bill — Senate Bill 5EX — that would make Gwinnett school board elections a non-partisan affair, a move the Senate State and Local Governmental Operations Committee approved along party lines.
The General Assembly is holding a special session to redraw Georgia’s legislative and congressional district lines. Time constraints Wednesday tabled discussion of Dixon’s bill to expand the commission.
Both of Dixon’s bills came under fire from House and Senate Democrats, who decried the moves as Republican power grabs in a metro Atlanta county that has become more aligned with the Democratic Party.
“This is an overarching abuse of power and an example of meddling in local affairs with total disrespect,” said Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, who is also critical of a proposed city of Buckhead that would be carved out of the city of Atlanta.
“We have people introducing bills who aren’t part of the communities that are being influenced,” Orrock said. Having a majority vote in this chamber is not a license to abuse power.”
Dixon said making the Gwinnett board of education non-partisan is the top issue in his district.
“Some of the proposed curriculum in my county includes the teaching of critical race theory,” Dixon said. “My constituents are very concerned about radical agendas such as these being taught in our schools.”
Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Grayson, was highly critical of Dixon’s moves.
“In 2018 and 2020, Gwinnett County voters chose to elect Democratic majorities to our delegation, county commission and school board,” Merritt said.
“Republicans are showing their belief that local governments only exist to serve their party. They are weaponizing local legislation to force an unprecedented power grab that is attempting to take over Gwinnett, one of the most diverse counties in our state.”
Dixon conceded to Sen. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, that he has not brought his measures to either the Gwinnett Board of Education or the commission.
“This is not a new issue, and I’ve had numerous discussions with my constituents,” Dixon said.
The Georgia Redistricting Alliance opposes expanding the Gwinnett commission.
“Quietly dropping a bill that calls for major changes to the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners map shows blatant disregard for any process whatsoever,” the group wrote in a prepared statement.
“We have and will continue to demand that Georgians have opportunities for meaningful input toward the redistricting process at all levels of government. It is unfathomable to us that broad changes to the most diverse county in Georgia would be undertaken only in a language that a large percentage of its residents do not prefer.”
State Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, vice chairman of the Gwinnett legislative delegation, said no Democrats in her delegation were even aware of Dixon’s proposals and called the process an attack on people of color in Gwinnett.
Dixon defended expanding the commission as a way to keep pace with Gwinnett’s growth.
“Gwinnett is one of the most rapidly growing counties in the state,” he said. “Right now, we have four commission members representing about a quarter million people each.”
Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, said Dixon’s legislation didn’t include maps of the proposed new districts.
“I can’t tell what I’m being asked to vote on,” Jones said.
Dixon said new Gwinnett commission maps have not yet been developed but will be drawn with the assistance of state officials if the bill passes.
“Republican legislators are rushing through bills that directly impact Black and Brown communities without adequate public notice or public input,” said Common Cause Georgia Executive Director Aunna Dennis. “These bills are an insult to the voters of Gwinnett County. They are completely contrary to the principle that Gwinnett County voters should be able to govern themselves.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
