COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The chief judge for Cobb County Superior Court says dozens of criminal defendants have failed to get notice for when they were supposed to show up in court. It’s all due to problems with the Superior Court’s Clerk Office.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne spoke with two judges about the impact of those problems.
“Our clerk’s office used to be an example throughout metropolitan Atlanta on how a clerk’s office should run. And it’s an example now, but it’s a different type of example,” Cobb Superior Chief Judge Greg Poole told Winne.
“For years, Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s Office was categorically the best in the state and it isn’t anymore. So it’s not only a concern, it’s an embarrassment to this county,” Superior Court Judge Vic Reynolds said.
Poole says many folks might not notice what a superior court clerk’s office does. But Cobb County Superior Court judges started noticing months ago that criminal defendants were not showing up in court.
Many of them judges discovered it was because the defendants didn’t get a notice to be there from the clerk’s office.
“So, would it be accurate to say at least dozens of criminal defendants have not gotten their notice from the clerk’s office to be in court?” Winne asked.
“Easily,” Poole responded.
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Poole says in normal times, judges would often issue a bench warrant for the arrest of a no show. But he has no confidence without extensively checking that defendants lately have known to be there.
For a while, Poole said even that checking was difficult because of the way Cobb County Superior Court Connie Taylor elected to change computer systems without sufficient testing.
Reynolds said he and the 10 other Cobb County Superior Court judges hope things turn around.
“To have all 11 judges agree with the Chief Judge for him to do an emergency order, he just didn’t do that on his own. All eleven of us unanimously supported him in that decision,” he said.
Poole issued a judicial emergency order that basically suspends certain deadlines for cases.
“If you have a case in the Cobb County Superior Court and the judge sets a hearing, but you don’t know about it, that’s an issue,” Poole said.
Poole told Winne that there are a lot of competent, hardworking people in the clerk’s office. But as of last week, about 35 of roughly 107 positions in the Clerk’s Office were vacant, according to the data has been given.
Poole said Taylor has hired a new deputy clerk with experience who has been helpful and responsive, but added “she’s drinking from a fire hose” and there’s a lot that needs to be fixed.
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