Current Events > GOP bill aims to force Georgia prosecutors' hands

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https://boltsmag.org/georgia-bill-would-force-prosecutors-hands-deborah-gonzalez-interview/

Georgia Republicans are pushing through legislation that threatens to remove from office locally-elected prosecutors who wont charge certain types of cases, such as abortion or marijuana.

Senate Bill 92, which now sits on Governor Brian Kemps desk, adds to the GOPs nationwide crackdown against reform-minded prosecutors who have adopted such declination policies. Texas Republicans are in the process of passing a bill meant to force the hand of district attorneys who have ruled out enforcing abortion bans. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis removed Tampas prosecutor from office in August, pointing to statements hed made about protecting abortion. Similar moves are underway in other states.

The bill sets up a new board with the authority to oust DAs who dont fulfill their duties. It also redefines the duties of DAsand so what counts as grounds for removalto specify that they cannot categorically refuse to prosecute offenses that they are by law required to prosecute.

Criminal justice reformers have long aimed for increased oversight over DAs, frustrated that prosecutors routinely violate ethics and defendants rights with little consequence. In the wake of the shooting of Armaud Arbery and of allegations that a local DA blocked investigations into his death in 2020, Georgia Democrats proposed a bill that would have created a similar state disciplinary board. But their bill did not contain a mandate that DAs file charges based on all existing laws. Republicans added that language when they repurposed the proposal this year, motivated in part by the aftermath of Dobbs, and Democratic lawmakers opposed the resulting bill.

One of Republicans prime target is Deborah Gonzalez, the Democratic DA of Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties. Gonzalez won on a progressive platform in 2020 and quickly rolled out reforms that included ending prosecutions over marijuana possession, a charge that has been used in Athens to target Black residents. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in June, Gonzalez joined other Georgia DAs in saying she would not prosecute abortion.

Republicans have signaled that they want their new state board to kick Gonzalez out of her elected office over cases she is not charging. What do we do about these prosecutors who wont prosecute? asked Ed Setzler, a GOP lawmaker from Acworth, two hours west of Athens.

Bolts talked to Gonzalez about SB 92 after the bill passed the legislature. She denounced it as antidemocratic and said her critics want to override an election because they dislike its outcome. She also made the case that its appropriate for DAs to not prosecute certain casesincluding abortion. In fact, she said, this approach can be a boon for public safety.

Prosecutorial discretion has not been a problem for generations, she said, but because you have a new class of reform-minded prosecutors coming into power who can now use that same discretion to hold people accountable but in a fair and just way, now its a problem..

Gonzalez has survived other efforts to reduce her power. When she declared her candidacy, Kemp tried to altogether cancel the local DA race, part of a pattern of election cancellations in Georgia, but the state supreme court stepped in to restore the election, which Gonzalez won in a December 2020 runoff. Republicans then proposed a bill to cut her circuit in two. Gonzalez now also faces a lawsuit, filed by a business owner in Athens, that alleges that she is not doing her job and is refusing to prosecute certain offenses like drug cases.

The article continues, but you get the idea

Tldr?

Oh goodie watch this kinda law force DAs to enforce absurd old laws technically still on the books.

The bill sets up a new board with the authority to oust DAs who dont fulfill their duties. It also redefines the duties of DAsand so what counts as grounds for removalto specify that they cannot categorically refuse to prosecute offenses that they are by law required to prosecute.

Sounds perfectly Republican. Why are these fucks allowed to exist?

Good, so tired of DAs not prosecuting cases against violent old white people, former police, and the relatives of judges and politicians.

Undermining Democratic elections then turning around and pretending you aren't dirty traitorous fascists

No respect for these fucks or the people who vote for them.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

What? Those things do happen, a lot. The article literally cites the Ahmaud Arbery case for that very thing.

A_Good_Boy posted...

Good, so tired of DAs not prosecuting cases against violent old white people, former police, and the relatives of judges and politicians.

They still won't pursue those, they just want to lock up fetus murdering heretics and black people.

Cheat your way into office by undermining elections. If it's possible for you to not be re-elected, strip any power from those who would do so so their votes are not counted.
Pass laws without the public's approval that are specifically designed to cause harm to a group that you want to make a scapegoat and the promotion of your conspirators. Push absolutely zero reforms designed for the actual governance of the people. Block everything from the opposition, no matter how necessary and good it is.
Use your power as a hammer to take down any checks and balances in your way. Find any reason possible to oust or incarcerate all dissenters. Push propaganda that encourages violence from your supporters against anyone who speaks the truth.

The Republican Way in an nutshell.

If the GOP actually gave a shit about accountability and following the law, almost all their politicians would be in prison right now.