In 2013, Maurice Jimmerson was charged with homicide. Ten years later, he nonetheless hasn’t obtained a trial. Regardless that two of Jimmerson’s codefendants had been acquitted in 2017, Jimmerson—who pleaded not responsible—nonetheless languishes in jail in Dougherty County, Georgia, with little hope of a trial anytime quickly. Making issues worse, he hasn’t had a lawyer since final summer season.
In line with Gregory Edwards, the native district legal professional, a number of elements have led to Jimmerson’s absurdly lengthy wait time for a trial. Edwards informed Atlanta Information First (ANF), a neighborhood information station, that the COVID-19 pandemic, a 2021 courthouse flood, and the choice by the earlier decide to strive Jimmerson and his codefendants individually prompted the delay. Making issues worse, Edwards additionally says the county has been unable to discover a public defender for Jimmerson, which has lengthened his time behind bars.
“Jimmerson’s case, it is a uncommon state of affairs,” Edwards informed ANF “We need to get to trial ultimately.”
Whereas these latest points have significantly slowed down Jimmerson’s path to a trial, it isn’t clear why he was not tried earlier than 2020.
Jimmerson has been left with out an legal professional for the previous eight months as a result of a very Kafkaesque string of bureaucratic errors. In line with ANF, Jimmerson’s outdated legal professional, Benjamin Harrell, filed requests in July and August of final 12 months to be launched from the case, citing that he would wish to journey incessantly to acquire crucial medical take care of his toddler daughter.
Nonetheless, the native county clerk’s workplace misplaced a judicial order formally releasing Harrell from his place as Jimmerson’s legal professional. When Jimmerson despatched a request for a brand new legal professional in September 2022, it went unnoticed, in keeping with one judicial assistant who spoke to ANF.
As a result of court docket staff misplaced Harrell’s request to be launched from Jimmerson’s case, he was technically listed as Jimmerson’s legal professional till April 12 of this 12 months—seemingly solely after ANF journalists requested one decide why she by no means signed an order releasing Harrell. Although Jimmerson by no means obtained precise authorized assist from Harrell throughout this time, the Georgia Public Defender Council insists that Jimmerson has had entry to authorized counsel throughout the previous eight months, regardless of the error.
“A court docket error, if one passed off, doesn’t obviate Mr. Harrell’s duties or illustration,” stated Thomas O’Conner, the Public Defender Council’s communications director. “In regulation and actually, Mr. Harrell was Mr. Jimmerson’s legal professional till April 12; assertions on the contrary are intentionally deceptive.”
ANF notes that Georgia’s public defender system is plagued with points, primarily understaffing and issue retaining attorneys. One decide insists that “We now have too few public defenders for the work to be finished,” including that “The dearth of public defenders slows down the judicial course of.”
Nonetheless, the director of the Georgia Public Defender Council disputes this, saying, “We now have extra staff than we have ever had within the historical past of the company. We now have extra funding than we have ever had within the historical past of the company and that is the final two years.”
Whatever the supply of the problems, it is clear that one thing may be very incorrect. When sloppy bureaucracies go unchecked, defendants like Jimmerson—who can not afford their very own legal professionals and should depend on public defenders—are in peril of being successfully denied their Sixth Modification proper to a speedy trial.
“To assert that Mr. Jimmerson was ‘represented’ below these circumstances makes a mockery of the appropriate to counsel,” Maya Chaudhuri, an legal professional for the Southern Heart for Human Rights, informed ANF. “That is actually not the kind of ‘illustration’ anybody of means would pay for.”
