Putnam County is now saving money in its court system, specifically in the state court, according to authorities.
Until now, Putnam County State Court cases were prosecuted by an elected solicitor general. But as of January, that duty has been taken by the district attorney’s office.
“All of my counties in the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit except Putnam and Baldwin are without a state court, so we were handling all the misdemeanor cases anyway in those other counties,” District Attorney Wright Barksdale said. “I think it’s more efficient because when we have defendants with more than one case, it’s saving court time and money.”
Barksdale explained that if a person was arrested for DUI and burglary, that person had to go to two different courts with two different prosecutors.
“But now it can all be handled at the same time, so it’s more efficient,” he noted.
There are 71 state courts in Georgia, according to the Judicial Council of Georgia. They were primarily created to help with the caseload of large urban areas’ court systems. Of those, Putnam County is most likely the smallest county with its state court, opined Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.
Of Georgia’s six classes of trial-level courts, the state court exercises limited jurisdiction within one county. The state court judge – Putnam County’s is Judge Michael Gailey – hears misdemeanor cases, including traffic violations, civil matters not reserved for superior court, preliminary hearings in criminal cases, and appellate review of magistrate court civil cases, according to information from the Judicial Council of Georgia.
Putnam and Baldwin counties are the only two of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit’s eight counties with state courts. They were established in 1997, according to the Georgia Legislature that year. Russell Thomas was serving as the most recent solicitor, but he resigned to take a job with the district attorney’s office in Milledgeville. Attorney Steve Morris, of Morgan County, was the interim solicitor to fill out Thomas’ term, according to Sills.
House Bill 1411, co-authored by State Rep. Trey Rhodes (R-Greensboro) and State Sen. Ricky Williams (R-Milledgeville), and passed by the House and Senate in May 2022, revised Putnam County’s law and “provides that on and after Jan. 1, 2023, the district attorney of the judicial circuit within which Putnam County is located shall represent the state in all criminal prosecutions brought in the State Court of Putnam County and shall perform the duties of the office of solicitor-general of the state court.”
Barksdale said his office receives the same funding from the county as the solicitor’s office, so he could keep a clerk to handle all the paperwork.
“Putnam County has always been a helpful community to the D.A.’s office, and I do appreciate that,” he said.
Newly-sworn-in Assistant District Attorney Carter Harwell will be handling 90% of the state court duties under the supervision of Chief A.D.A. Allison Mauldin, Barksdale said.
“Now Wright has two A.D.A.s and it is much better because the right-hand knows what the left hand is doing in the superior and state courts,” Sills said. “My deputies were having to sometimes go to pick up a prisoner from state prison two different times for the two courts. So, this is saving money and time.”