District attorney candidates debate reform versus competence

District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez and Kalki Yalamanchili escalated their attacks on each other during two recent candidate forums, with Gonzalez calling her independent challenger an undercover Republican and Yalamanchili providing examples of serious courtroom missteps during her time in office.

One forum was held on Oct. 21 at the historic Black Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, while another was held on Oct. 22 before a predominantly Republican audience in a Piedmont Athens Area auditorium. In both cases, the candidates defined the race as one between someone who is experienced and competent in the legal field and someone who openly represents Athens’ political values.

While Gonzalez often spoke of pushing forward the progressive reforms she began over the past nearly four years, Yalamanchili said “we are taking steps backwards” in areas such as prosecuting violent crime and addressing mental health and substance abuse issues in the community . He said the incumbent “shows no consideration for the victims of serious violent crimes. “We have completely failed to do that.”

Gonzalez, meanwhile, said the main issue in the race is “the racism and discrimination within the system.” She defended her record by portraying herself as a victim of hostile or indifferent judges, law enforcement officials, defense attorneys, public defenders, county commissioners and others, and said that the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of funding had slowed her reform progress.

Political leanings: Gonzalez, a former Democratic state representative, described herself as a proud Democrat who votes blue everywhere on the ballot. She criticized Yalamanchili for accepting money and support from Republicans. “You take the money, join the people you took the money from,” she said. “And they will always, always expect something in return.”

She said that Yalamanchil will return the office to the philosophy of longtime former prosecutors Ken Mauldin and Harry Gordon, whom voters rejected in 2020, “she said.

Yalamanchili declined to reveal who he is voting for flagpole that he believes the office should be nonpartisan, and he certainly doesn’t want to alienate half the residents of the Western Circuit (the circuit includes both Clarke and Oconee counties). But he disagreed with Gonzalez’s claims that the options were reform or a tougher crackdown on crime. He said he would use pretrial diversion and accountability courts to get nonviolent defendants the help they need while securing convictions for serious violent crimes such as murder and sexual assault.

“Just because my opponent can’t do it doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” he said, adding that only about half of the available spots in special court programs for mental illness, substance abuse and military veterans are filled. Gonzalez blamed the vacancies on a review committee and uncooperative defense attorneys and public defenders.

When asked about specific policy issues such as abortion and the death penalty, Gonzalez reiterated that she would not prosecute anyone under Georgia’s strict six-week abortion ban and said her decision not to seek the death penalty against Jose Antonio Ibarra, Laken Riley’s alleged killer Applying for it came in consultation with Riley’s family. Yalamanchili did not want to take a blanket stance on either issue, saying it would invite the Attorney General’s Office to step in and take over these cases. He also pointed out that no one had been charged with a crime under the abortion law.

Gonzalez was asked about her decision to hire an outside prosecutor to handle the Ibarra case. “I’m Latina,” she said. “I didn’t want that to be a problem. I didn’t want it to become a distraction.”

However, Yalamanchili said the DA’s office should prosecute such high-profile cases itself so that voters can hold the DA accountable. He questioned whether Gonzalez was capable of handling the case and why she had not hired outside prosecutors for other murders. “This is not justice for all,” he said.

Test error: Yalamanchili cited several cases in which prosecutors under Gonzalez made serious errors that resulted in charges being dismissed and/or judges being reprimanded – facts that Gonzalez did not dispute but wanted to explain nonetheless.

In a case involving a man accused of abusing his daughter, an assistant district attorney dismissed the charges shortly before trial without notifying the victim’s family. A judge ordered the charges reinstated, and a prosecutor from a neighboring county secured a conviction after the jury deliberated for less than an hour. In another case, the wife of a hit-and-run victim was not informed of the decision to downgrade the charge against the driver from homicide to a misdemeanor; Gonzalez’s office argued that Marsey’s law did not apply because she was his common-law wife. A third case he discussed involved the murder of a homeless man, with Gonzalez’s office barring the two defendants from plea deals of three and five years. He spoke about a prosecutor who withheld evidence, resulting in a 14-year prison sentence for the defendant. And in one case, he said a defendant waited 13 months in prison before the DA’s office scheduled a hearing. In addition, local judges disrespected assistant district attorneys for fabricating evidence, withheld evidence from the defense and showed up in court unprepared, Yalamanchili said.

“It’s not getting better. They’re getting worse,” he said. “We need to make a change so we can have a district attorney’s office that we all deserve.”

Gonzalez said there is a lot of confusion among lawyers and judges about Marsey’s Law and that no one seems to be prosecuting violators except “one person who is pointedly bringing this up in hearings,” referring to Kevin Epps, an Oconee County attorney and regular lawyer critic. The 13-month wait for a hearing was because a judge did not schedule the trial, she said, and the ADA, which withheld evidence, lied during its interview. In other cases, she attributed mistakes to learning experiences. She said some cases were lost because “trainee cops” didn’t know how to testify and that Athens-Clarke County police refused to let them be trained in the rules of evidence.

“I will always hold my employees to the highest ethical standards,” she said.

Yalamanchili said he would promote better relations with law enforcement, saying police and prosecutors should work closely together when investigating a case while holding law enforcement accountable for wrongdoing.

Headcount: Yalamanchili criticized Gonzalez’s “failure.” He attributed their low conviction rate to a combination of inexperience — Gonzalez had never handled a criminal case before taking office — and staff turnover. He said her firm has lost more than 40 attorneys, and although it is now almost fully staffed, only 11 of 16 positions are filled by people licensed to practice in Georgia.

“It’s nothing new that turnover occurs when there’s a change in leadership,” Gonzalez said. The same thing happened to Mauldin in 2004, she said. In addition, she said, she faced the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, a backlog of cases when she took office and uncompetitive pay for ADAs.

Although the Western Circuit has never paid as much as the Atlanta metro routes, the Athens Circuit has never had such revenue problems either, according to Yalamanchili. “It’s very clear that it’s a leadership issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez said Yalamanchili has no experience with administrative tasks such as budgeting. “There is a difference between tryouts, which my opponent is talking about, and managing and running an office,” she said.

Yalamanchili worked as a prosecutor under Mauldin before leaving to open a private defense practice. “What I learned during that time was how to prepare for a case and try it in front of a jury,” he said.

He said he would use his contacts in the legal world and at UGA to maintain the pipeline of talented prosecutors.

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