Candidates for district attorney make final appeals
Incumbent District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez and challenger Kalki Yalamanchili are facing each other in the 2024 general election to become the district attorney for Clarke and Oconee counties. The two candidates gathered for a third debate at Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Services in the auditorium on Oct. 22. Debate moderator and former WGAU radio journalist Tim Byrant hosted the 90-minute discussion. The debate highlighted topics like abortion, Marsy’s Law violations, and a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Georgia that Gonzalez failed to provide open records requests.
Abortion law
Early on, Bryant pointed out Gonzalez’s stance on not prosecuting abortion cases and mentioned how the law obligates a prosecutor to at least merit the facts in the case and try to prosecute it. Gonzalez argued she and her staff are committed to do their diligence and review the case, but are not obligated to prosecute every single case. Yalamanchili encouraged anyone who wants to see a difference in the law to advocate for change at the legislative level.
“If you believe the law is leading to the death of individuals seeking health care, then you should advocate at the legislature for a change,” Yalamanchili said.
“I respect that women may need to see reproductive health care, and that I would not prosecute them for that, nor their providers,” Gonzalez said.
Marsy’s Law violation
Byrant brought up the issue of Marsy’s Law Violations, mentionings Gonzalez has been found in violation multiple times. Gonzalez acknowledged the violations but argued that past staff members in the Western Judicial Circuit inherited a system with no clear guidelines and are working to improve it. Yalamanchili provides specific examples of Marsy’s Law violations, including cases where victims were not informed of plea deals and cases dismissed without consultation.
“One that occurred was a child who was being raped by her father. The district attorney’s office dismissed the case, saying that there wasn’t enough evidence for guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and they did it without really consulting with the victim or the victim’s family, which led to another Marsy’s Law violation,” Yalamanchili said.
Outside prosecutors
Yalamanchili questioned the decision to bring in an outside prosecutor for the Laken Riley case. Gonzalez explains the decision was made to avoid political implications and to ensure the best prosecutor (Sheila Ross) was handling the case. Yalamanchili criticized the decision to bring in other outside counsel for high-profile cases while other victims lacked competent prosecutors and emphasized his commitment to delivering justice for all.
“Why is it that one case that’s more high profile gets a competent prosecutor brought in from the outside when there are a lot of other victims, including families who’ve lost a loved one to a murder who were not getting a competent prosecutor brought in to handle their case. That is not justice for all,” Yalamanchili said
Georgia Supreme Court ruling on open records request
In a recent case, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that Deborah Gonzalez failed to make an open record request and is now facing an Open Records Act (ORA) lawsuit by Athens businessman Jarrid Miller, who requested records to investigate whether problems in the district attorney’s office were leading to high caseloads or staffing storages. The lawsuit also alleges that Gonzalez asked a former assistant district attorney to delete messages between them. However, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the lawsuit may proceed because Gonzalez has not shown reversible error. Yalamanchili stated he hasn’t previewed the case in detail but to his understanding the Supreme Court of Georgia said Gonzalez has a fundamental misunderstanding of the separation of powers in Georgia. Additionally, he added how it’s unacceptable that Gonzalez doesn’t follow and respect the law because she doesn’t like how it applies. Gonzalez argued that open requests are constantly being made to her office, with around 60 in 30 days, including a series of unserious requests that weren’t not about getting relevant information to the community. For example, a request was made wondering if she had any communication with Fani Willis and her supposed person who was in an affair with her naked wave. She mentioned that answering these particular open records causes her office to be slow and busy, consuming human and financial resources.
“Many of these open records requests were actually not very serious in nature at all and were not about getting information that was relevant to the community, but slowing down my office,” Gonzalez replied. “If you read the actual decision, what you will see is that the Supreme Court kept some of the immunity in place. They clarified something that hasn’t been clarified in years,” Gonzalez said.
Yalamanchili waits for Gonzalez to conclude her closing statement. “Anything worth doing needs time, needs resources, needs people to champion it on but if you want to go back to tough on crime, you want to go back to punishment is the only way that we can deal with it. And then my opponent is the person for you,” Gonzalez said. Photo by Kenia Gonzalez-Chavez
