COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County's next top prosecutor, Chief Magistrate Judge Joyette Holmes, will make history as the county's first African-American and first female district attorney next month.
Holmes will be sworn in July 2.
Holmes talked exclusively to Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Aaron Diamant about how it felt to get appointed and what her priorities are in her first interview since her appointment.
Holmes remembered the flurry of emotions she felt when Gov. Brian Kemp named her Cobb's next district attorney.
"When I first got the call, it just kind of knocked me off my feet," Holmes said.
"She is certainly one of our best and brightest in Georgia," Kemp said.
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Holmes, a former prosecutor and defense lawyer, said her number one priority is public safety.
From taking on gangs and drug rings, to better balancing which defendants deserve a second chance rather than prison, Homes said she takes every decision she makes seriously.
"We deal with people's lives here, and so we have to make sure that we are doing the right things in the right way," Holmes told Diamant.
Diamant also asked Holmes where she stands on Georgia's controversial "heartbeat" law. Signed by Gov. Kemp last month, it would ban most abortions in Georgia beginning in 2020, unless it gets hung up in court.
"I know for a lot of people, they want to hear the hard-line answer. I'm going to (prosecute violators), I'm not going to. But I think my responsibility as the district attorney is to prosecute crimes according to the law," Holmes said.
Either way, once she is sworn in, Holmes will make history as both Cobb County's first female DA, and the first African-American to hold the position.
"That means the world to me," Holmes said.
Holmes ran for dhief magistrate judge as a Republican in 2016. She fills a vacancy left by former Cobb DA Vic Reynolds, who Gov. Kemp tapped in February to lead the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Cox Media Group
