Gov.-elect Nathan Deal on Friday said that W. Travis Sakrison, a DeKalb County prosecutor, would be the next executive director of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council. Read more »

A federal judge has approved the settlement over a botched raid of an Atlanta gay bar last year, in which plaintiffs will collect $1 million and the Atlanta mayor has apologized and promised changes in police procedures.

Here are the press releases from the parties–first from Mayor Kasim Reed, then from the plaintiffs.

Statement of Mayor Kasim Reed on Calhoun Settlement

ATLANTA – On behalf of the City of Atlanta, the Atlanta City Council, and the Atlanta Police Department, I am pleased to announce that our settlement with the Plaintiffs in the Atlanta Eagle lawsuit has been approved by the Federal Court.

The allegations made by the Plaintiffs, that certain Atlanta Police officers engaged in inappropriate conduct at the Atlanta Eagle on September 10, 2009, have been a matter of serious concern to me for some time.  

I believe that what occurred that evening should not have happened and should not happen again.  As Mayor of Atlanta, I feel pain for anyone mistreated in our city and apologize to each Plaintiff in the Calhoun case.  

This week’s settlement agreement is a step forward, and I hope, the beginning of a healing process, part of a number of steps I’ve taken since becoming Mayor of the City of Atlanta. The Plaintiffs and the City of Atlanta, as part of the settlement agreement, have agreed upon clear steps which will strengthen and improve our law enforcement capabilities and help ensure that an incident such as this will not happen again in our city.  These reforms include training, education, and revising applicable policies and procedures.

I believe that the lessons learned here, and the resulting reforms, will have a positive impact on future relations between the Atlanta Police Department, the LGBT community and the residents of the City of Atlanta, and that the rights of all of our citizens will be better safeguarded as a result.

I would like to acknowledge the members of the Blue Ribbon Commission who counseled me and volunteered their time to assist with the mediation process: Lawrie Demorest, Burt Tillman, Jeremy Burnette, Lee Schreter and Lawrence Ashe.  Thank you for your service and commitment to the City of Atlanta.

I also want to express my personal appreciation to our City Attorney, Cathy Hampton, whose leadership was instrumental in settling this case.

Our diversity is our strength.  As Mayor, I look forward to working with our entire community to ensure we are a more caring and compassionate city.

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A former office manager for the Chatham County District Attorney’s Office has sued DA Larry Chisolm in federal court, alleging age and gender discrimination, according to an article in the Savannah Morning News.

Gwendolyn Roberts, 60, managed the office during the tenure of Chisolm’s predecessor, Spencer Lawton Jr., but when Chisolm took over the office, he reclassified her job to one with no management or supervisory responsibilities, the paper reported. Read more »

Javoyne Hicks White has been sworn in as the acting district attorney in DeKalb County.

She took on the job Sept. 3, after District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming announced she was stepping down to accept a position as a regional district administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Read more »

Whoever wants to be the next DeKalb County district attorney has just 62 days to make his or her case to the voters.

Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office said Thursday that a special election to fill the DA job vacated this week by Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming will take place on Nov. 2, when races for governor, attorney general and a host of other positions also take place.

According to Matthew Carrothers, spokesman for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, which oversees elections, qualifying for the DA’s race begins on Wednesday of next week, ending at noon on Friday. The qualifying fee, he said, is $3,430.61—3 percent of the job’s $114,353.76 salary. Read more »

Larry Chisolm, the Chatham County district attorney, is being investigated for alleged sexual discrimination, WSAV-TV in Savannah reported.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating Chisolm after a complaint was filed by a former criminal investigator in Chisolm’s office. The former investigator, Jonathan Drummond, said Chisolm made inappropriate comments to him and required Drummond to stay in the same hotel room as Chisolm to keep his job, WSAV-TV said. Read more »

The Georgia Public Defender Standards Council has retained the former president of the State Bar of Georgia to investigate whether an affair between former Griffin Superior Court Chief Judge Paschal English and Kim Cornwell, a Griffin Circuit public defender, compromised any of Cornwell’s cases that were adjudicated by English.

Mack Crawford, the council’s executive director, said that after consultation with Gov. Sonny Perdue’s executive counsel, Nels Peterson, and the Georgia Attorney General’s office, he asked Bryan M. Cavan to conduct an independent investigation.    Read more »

Gov. Sonny Perdue announced the appointments of district attorneys in the Alcovy and Brunswick Judicial Circuits Tuesday afternoon.

Layla Zon was appointed district attorney for the Alcovy Judicial Cirucit. The vacancy was created when former DA Ken Wynne was appointed to the Superior Court bench in the Alcovy Circuit.

Jackie Johnson was appointed district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit. That vacancy was create by the appointment of Stephen Kelley to the bench in that circuit’s Superior Court. Read more »