Former Georgia House District 117 Representative Deborah Gonzalez and Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney James Chafin are pictured. On Dec, 1, a special election for the Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney will be held between Gonzalez and Chafin. Photo by Valeria Garcia-Pozo and fair use of James Chafin for DA, graphic by Micah Shannon
Former Georgia House District 117 Representative Deborah Gonzalez, D, and Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney James Chafin, an independent, will face off in a special election for Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney on Dec. 1.
This election is being held after no candidate received a majority of the votes in the Nov. 3 general election.
Candidate Overview: Deborah Gonzalez
Deborah Gonzalez has positioned herself as an outsider who will bring new leadership and justice reform to the DA’s office.
“As I was researching (running for DA), I discovered that we’ve only had two DAs in the last 48 years here in Athens, and our last DA was there almost 20 years, and 16 of those years, he was there, he ran unopposed,” Gonzalez said. “One of the problems that we have when we see these races that go unopposed year after year after year is that then the community doesn’t have an opportunity to have conversations about what that position does, its importance.”
Gonzalez decided to run for DA as a way to continue serving her community after losing re-election to the Georgia House of Representatives.
“Unfortunately I did not win re-election (to the state house), but I knew that I wanted to keep serving the community, so I had to figure out what was I going to do next, and looking at the judiciary since I am an attorney, was brought the idea about the District Attorney,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez believes the juvenile justice system is important and has proposed several methods of improving it, such as assigning a permanent Assistant District Attorney to the juvenile system.
“I want to make sure that we’re doing all that we can in terms of juvenile justice, so for example, assigning someone permanently to the juvenile court system. Right now ADAs are sort of rotated through,” Gonzalez said. “I want an ADA prosecutor who this is going to be a passion of theirs so that they know that this is what (they’re) going to be doing, and I want to see how (them) help these kids.”
What is Accountability Court?
Accountability Courts aim to reduce the prison population by providing alternative sentences to non-violent offenders.
Gonzalez hopes to expand the Accountability Court program to include juvenile offenders.
“If we do want to end the school-to-prison pipeline, we’ve got to deal with the preventative measures: investing in our youth, bringing in a drug and treatment youth court (etc.). We have six accountability courts but they’re all for adults,” Gonzalez said. “We don’t do anything with teens who are dealing with drug addiction or mental illness– we need to address that too, because what I don’t want is to see young kids get stuck in a system that perpetually cycles them through.”
Gonzalez also hopes to bring in a full-time grant writer to find new funding for juvenile justice programs.
“One of the first things that I want to do is bring in a full-time grant writer, to help us find funds from federal grants and from private foundations that we can bring in and help invest in our youth,” Gonzalez said.
A key issue in this race has been the candidates’ respective experience. Chafin has worked with the DA’s office as a criminal prosecutor for nearly 14 years, while Gonzalez has never prosecuted a criminal case or defended someone charged with a crime.
Gonzalez acknowledges Chafin’s experience but noted that experience isn’t necessarily a positive quality.
“Not all experience equals good results. We all know people who have been in a position for a very long time and have not been good at it or have not given the positive results that the community needs,” Gonzalez said.
“What this office needs is new leadership to go forward, to implement criminal justice reform.”
— Deborah Gonzalez,
Former Georgia House District 117 Representative
Gonzalez says that the DA is not a technical role, but a leadership role, which she believes she is well equipped to perform.
“I’ve been the Associate Vice President (at Georgia Perimeter College), I have run multiple businesses, I’ve been in organizations where I have been managing people, and what this position is is a leadership role, what they need is not more people who know the technical aspects of the courtroom, there are 18 attorneys for that, our last DA (tried) one trial in seven years,” Gonzalez said. “What this office needs is new leadership to go forward, to implement criminal justice reform, because if not, what we’re going to have is somebody who’s been there for the last 14, 15 years doing the same thing over and over and over again and have absolutely zero incentive to do anything different.”
Gonzalez has advocated for shrinking probation sentences, which she believes creates cyclical incarceration.
“After Governor Nathan Deal put in all of these criminal justice reforms, there were actually less people in jail but there were even more people on extended community supervision, which is probation,” Gonzalez said. “They were serving smaller sentences in jail, but now they were getting 10 years on probation which meant that for 10 years, they had this cloud hanging over them and for any moment for any technicality they can actually end up in jail, and so the recidivism rate actually grew.”
What is probation?
Probation is a sentence which allows an offender to live outside of a prison while following certain rules and under the supervision of an officer.
If elected DA, Gonzalez would institute new training programs that aim to inform prosecutors about the consequences of their sentencing recommendations.
“One of the things I have been looking at is this special training that is actually being done in Virginia that’s a training for prosecutors and judges about sentencing and part of that is sentencing with probation,” Gonzalez said. “Having awareness of what the consequences are with certain types of sentencing and what are the options that you might have (is) something that I want to bring into my office. That kind of training, it’s just a way of being more aware of what happens when you make a certain decision.”
Gonzalez hopes to advocate for lower cash bail in the courtroom as DA, which she believes is ineffective. Bail is set by a judge after taking into consideration several factors, including the prosecutor’s opinion.
“When I talk about cash bail, it’s (as) being an advocate — knowing that the justification for cash bail is that it will make sure that people will come back to court, and what we’ve seen is that is not that effective at all,” Gonzalez said.
What is cash bail?
Cash bail is an amount of money set by a judge before someone goes to trial. A person charged with a crime will remain in jail until they pay bail or go to trial.
Gonzalez does think that certain people should remain incarcerated pending trial but doesn’t believe that cash bail is the way to accomplish that goal.
“If somebody is a danger to society, they shouldn’t be able to get out because they can pay $50,000. In fact, if they can pay $50,000, they’re probably more of a flight risk than the person who can’t even bring up a hundred. So I think that whole system is wrong,” Gonzalez said.
Candidate Overview: James Chafin
James Chafin has emphasized his 14 years of experience as a prosecutor with the Western Judicial Circuit DA’s office as a key reason that he should be DA.
“In many ways, I think it was a natural progression (to run for DA). I worked my way up from being a new prosecutor to the community and as I’ve been in the office, I’ve taken on more responsibilities, I’ve dealt with more complex cases,” Chafin said.
Although Chafin has worked in the DA’s office for many years, and believes it functions well in many areas, he sees room for improvement.
“I really feel called to do this work. I think there are things that we do very well in the District Attorney’s office, but I also see that as we move forward that we need to be forward-thinking about where are we going with criminal justice, how are we working within our community, what are we providing to our community (and) what does our community know about what we do,” Chafin said.
Similar to Gonzalez, Chafin emphasizes the importance of juvenile justice.
“I want us to put time and really try to make a difference in dealing with young people. We want to make sure that our children are able to stay in the classroom and not wind up in the courtroom,” Chafin said. “What I want to look at is how do we make sure that if a person has made a mistake, especially a young person has made a mistake, and they want to take responsibility for that and move forward, how do we make sure that that mistake does not continue to be a barrier for their future success?”
“We want to make sure that our children are able to stay in the classroom and not wind up in the courtroom.”
— James Chafin,
Western Judicial Circuit Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney
One opportunity for improving juvenile justice that Chafin sees is in expanding awareness of Georgia’s retroactive first offender program.
“If a person is convicted of something in the past, they can actually come back later and apply for a retroactive first offender, which means they have successfully completed whatever punishment they got and they can retroactively ask for first offender, which would be a dismissal of that charge because they’ve successfully completed it,” Chafin said. I believe the District Attorney’s office should be out in our community, using some of the programs we already have to let people know ‘you may be eligible for this.’”
Chafin also sees expanding the pre-trial diversion program as a way to prevent people from having a criminal history in the first place.
“We have a pre-trial diversion program already, but I want to make sure we’re expanding that program. I want to make sure we’re removing any barriers to people being able to enter that program,” Chafin said. “Because what pre-trial diversion can do is when a person is successfully completing it, it can keep them from having a criminal history on their record.”
Chafin hopes to increase awareness of various helpful programs through the already existing legal pop-up clinic program.
“In our community already we have what’s called the legal pop-up clinics, where lawyers go out to work with people who may have legal issues, to volunteer their time. I think the District Attorney’s office needs to be there with applications with these programs,” Chafin said.“(Private) lawyers would actually be at these pop-up clinics who can give them advice about what would be in their best interest.”
The main contrast Chafin has drawn between himself and his opponent is his 14 years of experience in criminal prosecution.
“Many people don’t realize lawyers are kind of like doctors, we have our own specialties, and Ms. Gonzalez’s specialty has been in entertainment law, my understanding is that she’s an excellent entertainment lawyer, that is a specialty that I don’t work in,” Chafin said. “I work in criminal law, specifically in criminal prosecution, that is also a specialty, that’s what I spend every day working on.”
Chafin thinks that experience in criminal prosecution is vital to a good DA both in the courtroom and as the leader of the office.
“It’s important to have someone with experience because not only does the District Attorney try cases, but the District Attorney also hires, trains, mentors and evaluates trial attorneys,” Chafin said. “I think it’s vital to have someone with experience to do that, because you have to evaluate a person, are they on the right track, are they analyzing their cases properly, do they have the experience that we need in the office?”
“That’s what I think the difference (is), the knowledge and experience base that I have from 14 years in this particular office and 21 years in this field of work.”
— James Chafin,
Western Judicial Circuit Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney
Chafin believes that his 21 years of experience in criminal prosecution and 14 years in the DA’s office make him the preferable candidate.
“I know what the challenges that we already have are, I know what areas we need to improve on because I work in the office. I know what areas that people find challenging doing this type of work, I know how to mentor younger attorneys than myself on some of the challenges that they’re going to face,” Chafin said. “That’s what I think the difference (is), the knowledge and experience base that I have from 14 years in this particular office and 21 years in this field of work.”
Chafin sees probation as a way to allow leniency to people who want to make amends while also holding those who commit new offenses accountable, and believes the state already has programs to support this.
“If a person is a non-violent offender who needs treatment or needs certain supervision to make sure that they’re on the right path, we want to have those things in place. If they’re doing everything well, they’re going to get their probation terminated early. Those programs are already in place,” Chafin said. “I think the issue comes in when people are not on point when they’re not following their rules, when they’re committing new crimes then that affects them getting off probation early, but it’s because they’ve committed new crimes.”
Chafin does not believe people should be kept incarcerated due to an inability to pay but does believe that cash bail should be used for certain offenders.
“Should people be held because they can’t afford (a) bond? No. That should not be the deciding factor of whether someone is incarcerated pending trial or not,” Chafin said. “There are factors that should be weighed, and those are factors set out by law– is the person a threat to others, is the person a threat to commit future felonies, is that person a threat to intimidate witnesses and is that person a threat to flee– and those are the things that judges are considering when we’re talking about bond or no bond.”
