District Attorney's Blog
Congratulations to the ACC for Successful Fundraiser
My staff and I were pleased to participate in the Appalachian Children's Center's Wii Triathalon tournament fundraiser last Friday night.The ACC performs a vital service to the children of this community and to law enforcement by assisting investigations of child abuse through conducting forensic interviews of child abuse victims and by providing follow up counseling and therapy to abused children. The ACC plays a vital role in dealing with the problem of child abuse in our circuit.
Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Permalink
Attorney General and District Attorney speak to Gilmer County Tea Party
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I was pleased to give the introduction to Attorney General Sam Olens to the Gilmer County Tea Party last Tuesday. The Attorney General spoke about the fight against Methamphetamine and dealing with the problem of illegal immigration.
Posted: March 31st, 2011 | Permalink
2010 Summer Interns Make Significant Contributions to Appalachian Judicial Circuit
This summer my staff and I had the privilege of working with some promising young college students.Chase Queen, who after completing 2 years at Southern Polytechnical College will be transferring to the Univeristy of Georgia this fall, spent the summer assisting us with a wide variety of projects. He has been assisting his father, retired District Attorney Roger Queen (I'll be writing more about that later) in working on a number of cases, preparing them for grand jury and also working on victim assistance issues.
Leia Clement, a senior at Emory University from McCaysville, spent the entire summer with us, primarily in the Fannin office. She assisted with all aspects of the victim services program, the juvenile court unit, and two projects. For the first project, Leia skillfully analyzed statistical data from domestic violence prosecutions in Pickens County. For the second, she compiled information about the criminal backgrounds of defendants sentenced to imprisonment in the Appalachian Circuit. Leia’s work was exemplary, and we are very lucky that she spent her summer with us.
Melody Bailey, a senior at Georgia Tech from Ellijay, spent the month of June interning for victim services in the Gilmer office and assisting with the juvenile court unit. Melody helped gather information in juvenile cases and accompanied victims and witnesses to court. The hard part about Melody’s time with us was that she had to return to school after only four weeks with us. Melody’s potential is unlimited, and her work ethic and collegiality set a high standard for future interns.
Scott McKinnon, a third-year student at Mississippi College School of Law, provided assistance with legal research and writing in the Pickens office. He mostly worked on preparing accusations, which are the charging documents in misdemeanor and certain felony cases. Drafting charges is fundamental skill for prosecutors, and the prosecutors in Pickens office are excellent teachers. Scott has a bright future as an attorney, and we are glad we got to know him.
Our communities should be proud of these intelligent and talented young people. If you are a college student or law student interested in interning for one of our offices, please contact Victim Services Director Cory DeBord by email to cdebord(at)pacga.org.
Posted: September 14th, 2010 | Permalink
Welcome To Our New Web-Site
Welcome to the new home on the Web for the District Attorney's Office for the Appalachian Judicial Circuit. I hope that this web-site will provide the citizens of Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin Counties with important information about the criminal justice system in our community. Please check back often as we will continue to improve the site and will provide updates on what is happening in our court system.The web-site will also function as an important component in in our victim services program. Now crime-victims may fill out their victim impact statements, request for notice and restitution form online. This feature will greatly improve the speed at which victims can get information about their case and will improve the efficiency of our Victim Witness Assistance Program.
I want to thank our Victim-Witness Assistance Program Director Cory Debord for taking the lead in developing this web-site. Also, a word of appreciation to Full Media for their hard work as well. I am proud of the work they put into this project and know that it will well serve our community in the future.
Please check back with us as I will be providing updates on the criminal justice system in the Appalachian Circuit. Thanks again for visiting our web-site.
Posted: September 1st, 2010 | Permalink
