Savannah leaders question Chatham district attorney’s performance

Three Black elected officials, including Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, have publicly chastised Jones in recent weeks. Several other current and former officeholders have held their criticism but say they won’t endorse her in the November election. One high-profile leader, state Sen. Derek Mallow, has spoken out on her behalf.

Hyosub Shin/AJC

Hyosub Shin/AJC

The concerns center on Jones’ prosecutorial record, a long-standing issue that has drawn renewed attention in recent weeks since she dismissed five murder cases she said were “compromised” because they were investigated by fired Savannah police officers accused of lying. In June, she dropped charges in another murder case involving the detectives and reached plea deals in three more.

Johnson acknowledges Jones and other district attorneys have a difficult and complicated job but said there should be a “North Star” they follow.

“In the city of Savannah, it should be clear that if you pull a trigger or sexually abuse someone or victimize someone, you will face a clear and distinct penalty,” Johnson said. “I’m for restorative justice and second chances for nonviolent offenders, but the cases we’re talking about should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Jones has frequently been criticized for offering plea deals to defendants accused of violent crimes, a practice she defends as a way to assure a measure of justice for victims’ families and to get convictions without putting them through the lengthy ordeal of a trial. In 2021 and 2022, 27 of the 40 murder cases prosecuted by Jones’ office resulted in convictions on lesser charges or acquittal, according to a review conducted by The Savannah Morning News.

Jones notes that eyewitness testimony that is often crucial in getting a conviction in violent felony cases can be unreliable. She countered criticism by pointing to her office’s success in more recent cases. Since May 2023, Jones’ office has secured convictions in 26 violent crimes cases, with 19 defendants receiving life sentences. Three more convicted murderers await sentencing.

“We are trying these cases,” Jones said. ”People complain about how long it takes to get to trial, and we can only try so many at a time, so when a defendant asks for a plea, and the victim or their family is OK with that plea, we will go that route.”

The DA’s perceived poor performance prompted city government leaders to partner with the U.S. attorney in 2022 to hire their own prosecutor to pursue gun crimes that could be charged at the federal level. In two years on the job, the special assistant U.S. attorney has issued 32 indictments, handled 28 plea agreements and is currently managing 44 active criminal cases.

Rather than embrace what the city says it intended as an additional criminal justice resource, Jones challenged the legality of the arrangement. She noted that the “vast majority” of gun-related felonies are state crimes, not federal.

Jones has also been accused of not forcefully challenging judge-issued bond agreements for those charged with violent crimes and for her office’s poor communication with the families of victims.

Critics point to her ongoing staffing issues as proof of poor leadership. Jones has struggled to retain assistant district attorneys throughout her tenure, and she currently employs about half the number of her predecessor, Meg Heap. Heap, who now sits on the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, had 26 prosecutors assigned to felony cases when she left office.

Jones has also been sanctioned by a federal judge for evading a deposition in a lawsuit against her and disciplined by a state ethics board for improper handling of campaign finance disclosures.

“We send the Police Department out to do a job, gather information, and it’s up to the DA’s office to finish the job and make sure that we bring people to justice,” said Alderman Detric Leggett, who got into politics in 2019 after multiple family members were killed in gun crimes. “My confidence in the ability of the DA’s office at this point isn’t there. I know we can do better.”

Photo courtesy of the city of Savannah

Photo courtesy of the city of Savannah

Leggett’s criticism has increased in volume since the dismissal of the five murder cases, which included a triple homicide that killed his mother’s neighbors, men he’d known since childhood.

“When you have a tire that keeps going flat all the time, you know to change it,” Leggett said. “That’s how I feel about the district attorney.”

Another Savannah City Council member is more blunt. Alderwoman Linda Wilder Bryan is actively campaigning for Jones’ opponent in the November general election, Republican Andre Pretorius.

“If Mickey Mouse was running, I’d vote for him instead of her,” said Bryan, whose son was shot and killed in 2015. “At least he can make people laugh without people dying. She’s a joke now.”

Doubts in Savannah’s Black community

Calls for Jones’ ouster are widespread among Black constituents, the council members say.

Leggett and Bryan hear complaints that the district attorney’s approach has made their communities less safe. In her 2020 campaign against Heap, Jones emphasized her belief in restorative justice, such as diversion programs and sentencing alternatives. She was backed by national criminal justice organizations, including those funded by restorative justice champion George Soros.

The messaging resonated within Savannah’s Black communities. Heap was well-respected as a victims advocate, as well as for her hard-charging style — she’s often still described as a “pit bull in a skirt and heels.” But she’s also a white Republican, and in an election with Trump as the top Republican on the ballot, Jones and the political action committees supporting her painted Heap as a candidate who was out of touch with minorities.

On Election Day, Heap lost, along with every other Republican who faced a challenger in countywide races.

Black Savannahians embraced the Black candidate, Bryan said.

“We have to stop making this about color and start making this about death,” she said.

A consistent complaint about Jones involves a lack of communication. Brenda Johnson, whose son was killed in 2015 in a still-unsolved case, said the district attorney’s office has stonewalled her. Fatima Davis, whose daughter was gunned down in July 2023 outside a convenience store, said the last communication she received from the DA’s office was an email telling her the suspect charged in the case was being released on bond. She said she was not consulted before the bond hearing, a courtesy many district attorneys extend to families of victims.

The accused in that case, a 17-year-old male, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. He is scheduled to appear for a mental competency hearing in September.

“It’s really like a slap in the face. We look at the justice system to serve justice, and when that doesn’t happen it now looks like justice is on the accused’s side,” Davis said during an emotional phone interview. “I’m depressed. I have anxiety. I really miss my daughter. I just don’t know what to do.”

Jones said her office follows the law in terms of communicating with victims, which requires notification of a case status change and when there is a potential resolution. As a prosecutor who began her career in a special victims unit, she said she has insights into what victims and their families go through. Jones bemoaned the fact that federal funding for staffers who work as victims advocates was cut during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not been restored.

Opponent aims for ‘restoring trust’

Jones’ opponent in November, Pretorius, is one of her former assistant district attorneys and has worked for Chatham County since 2013, both in his current role in the county government attorney’s office and for the district attorney.

His campaign platform reflects the criticism lobbed at Jones by the elected officials, with a focus on restoring justice for victims and their families. He said he would push to revoke bonds for those charged with felonies, would limit plea deals for violent crimes and would improve the relationship between prosecutors and law enforcement investigators.

“It’s about restoring trust,” he said. “You have to build trust in the justice system, and that’s dependent on holding the DA’s office to the highest ethical standards.”

Jones has alleged unethical practices by Pretorius, including misrepresenting his role with the county to another lawyer on one occasion. She’s also suggested his employment with the county is a conflict of interest because he’s using part of his salary to fund his campaign.

Pretorius took unpaid leave from his county job the day after he qualified to run for office in early March and is currently working part time as an assistant district attorney in a neighboring county and as a prosecutor for the city of Tybee Island, a municipality located within Chatham County. He challenges Jones’ allegations of misrepresenting himself as an active county employee in a case involving an asset forfeiture, saying he made clear to the parties involved that he was on leave and only offered a legal opinion and acted as a relay to another attorney.

“I was literally caught in the middle,” he said.

Pretorius faces more obstacles than those alleged by Jones. Like Heap, the DA unseated by Jones four years ago, Pretorius is a white Republican in an election with Trump on the ballot. Democratic turnout is expected to be high.

Bryan, the outspoken alderwoman, is stumping for him and is encouraging more Black community leaders to voice their support — or at least their dissatisfaction with Jones. Mayor Johnson, a prominent Democrat who has statewide influence, has hinted he may endorse Pretorius, if asked.

“I hold a nonpartisan office, and I do not play in local elections typically, but I might consider an endorsement in this race because it is so important to our community,” he said. “Our mission statement starts with ‘Savannah will be safe …’ and the district attorney’s office affects everything we do.”

Jones voiced no concern over the mayor’s criticism.

“To make our justice system better, we all have to work together,” she said, “and stop worrying about our political posterity.”