MACON, Ga. — The resignation of veteran prosecutor Sandra Matson earlier this month follows a list of other assistant district attorneys that have left the office this year.
In September, we reported six prosecutors in the Macon District Attorney’s Office resigned and returned to the Houston Judicial Circuit, but according to records from the county Human Resource department, there have been more than those seven that have left this year.
This month, we asked DA Anita Howard’s office for an official roster of assistant district attorneys.
Her spokesperson, Keisha Carter, said their office did not keep a list and told us to request the roster through Bibb County Human Resource department.
Based on the Human Resource department’s roster, a total of 18 prosecutors have left the District Attorney's office since January 2021.
They include the following:
Dorothy Hull (resigned January 5, 2021)
Brian Huckaby (resigned March 12, 2021)
Kimberly Schwartz (resigned March 12, 2021)
Benjamin Conkling (resigned March 26, 2021)
April Herbert (resigned March 26, 2021)
Jonathan Gordon (resigned June 4, 2021)
Jason Knowles
Graham Thorpe (resigned June 30, 2021)
Justin Duane (resigned August 24, 2021)
Rodrigo Silva (resigned September 15, 2021)
Greg Winters (resigned September 17, 2021
Michael Smith (resigned September 17, 2021)
Brian Granger (resigned September 17, 2021)
Eric Edwards (resigned September 17, 2021)
Thomas (Cliff) Woody II (resigned September 30, 2021)
Ryan Auer
Sandra Matson (resigned October 18, 2021)
Cara Fiore (resigned October 29, 2021)
Half of those listed have taken jobs in the Houston Judicial Circuit.
To put into context the turnover the office is seeing, we pulled the roster from January 2020-- a year prior to when DA Anita Howard took office. A total of 22 assistant district attorneys were on staff, according to the county roster in January 2020.
So why do these numbers matter? Because any district attorney needs a full roster of assistants to investigate cases, indict them, and take them to trial. Other Bibb County elected officials have questioned whether the shortage of bodies in DA Howard's office has caused a logjam in court, but she says that's not so.
In a statement, District Attorney Anita Reynolds Howard blamed the exodus of prosecutors on a lack of cooperation from her predecessor David Cooke during their transition in January. Her statement doesn't give any details.
But Cooke said Howard was allowed to interview “every single employee of the DA’s office prior to taking office.” He said Howard told many of them that they weren't welcome to stay.
So, how short-staffed is the office now?
County records say Howard's office has hired at least six ADAs from the start of this year to the beginning of October. Those records say they still had seven vacant assistant district attorney positions as of October 21.
We asked the DA's office for comment on the county records. They say they've hired more since October.
According to their Facebook, Jessica Rock, Dan Bibler, Vanessa Flournoy, Jarrod Baskin, and Dawn Baskin have all been sworn in.
After those hires, the DA's office says they have three vacant prosecutor jobs.
“When we got here, there were seven openings for ADAs. Now, we only have three. We don't have a lack. We have more today than what we did in January,” said Keisha Carter, spokesperson for the Macon District Attorney’s office.
We asked if those departures have created an experience gap in the DA's office.
Carter would not answer but said Howard's staff is more diverse now.
“What is important to DA Howard is that we had diversity in all of our hires. Meaning diversity of experience, diversity in age, diversity in perspective,” Carter said.
But how has the turnover of prosecutors impacted the backlog of cases? In February, Howard said they had 936 cases ready to go to trial. We asked the DA’s office multiple times for an updated number of backlogged. We also asked for an estimate on cases waiting to be indicted.
Carter said they could not provide us those numbers or a rough estimate. Carter claims the office does not have a database that keeps record of backlogged cases, indicted cases or cases waiting to be indicted.
DA Anita Reynolds Howard's full statement:
“A productive transition of power is what this community deserves from one administration to the next. After multiple requests this administration was not afforded that opportunity. The door must be opened from the inside so a vision can be laid out and past administration employees can retire, stay, resign, or be terminated. Because that did not occur, my administration has been in transition since taking office.
Outside of the ADA's who recently chose to return to their previous jurisdiction once the tumultuous leadership suddenly transitioned out, this office has had only one resignation from attorneys who were directly hired by me. Through it all, we currently have 3 available vacancy ADA positions compared to the 7 when I arrived.
I am proud of the team we are building. Our attorneys and staff are dedicated and diligently executing the vision that I promised to the people of the Macon Judicial Circuit. We have improved facilities, technology, and training to better serve this community.
We have overcome and we will continue to thrive and promote public safety."
Former DA David Cooke's full statement:
"Ms. Howard was afforded the opportunity to interview every single employee of the DAs office prior to taking office. Many resigned prior to taking office because she let them know that they were not welcome despite years of exemplary service. The current state of the DAs office rests upon one person’s shoulders and that is the elected DA."