GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Prosecutors say they are seeing higher conviction rates, which means more criminals are off the streets and serving time.
Courtney Randle says he has waited five years for a conviction after his sister, Cheryl Loving, was killed inside her Lawrenceville home in 2018.
“I found my sister at 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon and I would wake up at 3:30 a.m. in the morning and after we got the guilty [verdict,] I slept through the night,” Randle said.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson says Loving’s case is one of several showing great progress in the last eight months and is helping get murder conviction rates up.
“We are at an 80% conviction rate and that includes our murder jury trials also,” said Austin-Gatson.
In 2022, Gwinnett County only secured 12 convictions for a conviction rate of 57%. In DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb counties last year, they saw conviction rates between 87% and 100%.
“I think what we have to look at, is the whole picture, all that was considered in that stat, was the jury murder trials, and when you just cherry-pick little things like that you’re not going to get the whole picture,” Austin-Gatson.
Thursday, Austin-Gatson told Lincoln she blames COVID-19-related delays, staffing turnover, undertraining and skeptical jurors for low convictions.
“We’ve gotten a raise for our ADA’s because they were being poached from different jurisdictions,” Austin-Gatson said.
Deputy Chief John Melvin told Lincoln that Fulton County has more than 100 attorneys and Gwinnett County has 58.
Austin-Gatson says they’ve hired 24 employees since January and have implemented more training.
“We have really worked hard, we’ve done the training, we’ve made sure they’re fairly compensated compared to other jurisdictions,” Austin-Gatson said.
Austin-Gatson says the County approved funding to purchase new technology to help with court cases.
“Once that technology is used in court, they can walk through a crime scene and actually see it,” she said.
The DA’s office has requested two new ADA positions as part of their 2024 budget they hope to get approved by county commissioners.