ATLANTA — A group of concerned residents in Buckhead is hoping the new year brings a new investigation into the court system in Fulton County.
The administrator of the "Fighting Crime in Buckhead" group said she is fed up with repeat offenders being let out on bond or probation and has asked the federal government to intervene.
Amber Connor said she sent the letter in the first minutes of 2020 hoping to see real change within the Fulton County Court System. But former Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Darryl Cohen thinks it will take more than a letter to make a difference.
"All of us are frustrated," Cohen said. We are frustrated with the number of gangs, shootings, muggings and, yes, I do understand," he said.
Cohen works as a criminal defense attorney and sees the problems with the court system up close. The letter Connor sent to U.S. Attorney General William Barr alleges that the district attorney doesn't go far enough to curb crime in Atlanta and that he's intentionally keeping the court system in chaos.
But Cohen said he doesn't think it's District Attorney Paul Howard's fault.
"This allegation that Paul Howard is part of a conspiracy, that's ridiculous," Cohen said. "He's going to prosecute every case that he can. He can be accused of being a politician, which he is, a district attorney, which he is. But his job is - he does it and his people do it to his orders - is to prosecute and to prosecute heavily, which he does."
While Howard told 11Alive he had read the letter, he said he would wait to comment on it until the U.S. attorney general responds. However, over the summer, he expressed frustration that judges in Fulton County grant bond to violent offenders - even when the district attorney's office opposes it.
"This has happened over and over in our system," he said in our previous interview.
Atlanta Police, too, have called the judges out for being too lenient on offenders. The Atlanta Police Department was particularly vocal after a teen out on bond for allegedly shooting up an apartment complex with an assault rifle was arrested for a shooting near Clark Atlanta University's campus after getting out on bond in the other case.
"We are very strong in our position that the court system needs to stand up, we need to do better with this," one Atlanta officer said.
An Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Jeff Glazier called out the Fulton County court system after Christian Broder was killed during a robbery attempt outside a Brookhaven wedding reception a year-and-a-half ago. The accused gunman was a teen who had been released on probation in another armed robbery case even though prosecutors had asked the Fulton County judge to sentence him to prison.
Cohen agrees this is a problem but thinks it should be the problem of people here in Atlanta and not Washington.
"There is not an easy answer," he said. "There are a number of small answers and maybe you can put them together to make a crime system to make a difference."
A spokesperson for the Fulton County Superior Court said they have reviewed the letter but have no comment on the call for a federal investigation. 11Alive is awaiting comment from the attorney general's office.
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