JONESBORO, Ga. — Clayton County’s District Attorney, Tasha Mosely, said the county is struggling to find enough jurors and bailiffs - and it is now impacting a backlog of court cases.
Mosely said she started working with the DA’s office back in 1998 and hasn’t seen jurors or bailiffs get a raise in all that time.
It’s a problem, she said, because the county is struggling to find enough people to fill those positions.
This month, she asked the county commission to approve a bump in pay for both roles.
“They’re here all day; the cost of living has gone up. Some employers are unhappy when they have to serve jury duty or grand jury duty. They kind of get real aggressive up here with us," Mosely described.
Right now, jurors make $25 per day. Mosely would like to see that changed to $50. For bailiffs, they’d move from $10 per hour to $15.
“There’s a shortage, and some of it is just the pay, for $80. Sometimes, they are disrespected as bailiffs. You’re giving them $80 to be disrespected," Mosely said.
She added that the court clerk is getting under 30% participation from juror summons that are sent out. That, coupled with a COVID shutdown, has led to a four-year backlog of cases.
“In the pipeline, there are cases where I’m seeing 2020 as the case number. It's 2024. Those are individuals, and some of those individuals are still in jail," Mosely said.
Mosely said she brought the request to county commissioners at the meeting on Feb. 6. She’s hoping the commission will allocate more funding to the courts for the 2025 fiscal year to pay for the raises.