CORONAVIRUS

Augusta leaders question judge’s COVID order

Susan McCord
smccord@augustachronicle.com
The old Law Enforcement Center at 401 Walton Way will be the site of filiming for  the "Suicide Squad" movie sequel Oct. 15-16.

Augusta commissioners say they were blindsided by Chief Superior Court Judge Carl C. Brown’s judicial emergency order Friday demanding they spend millions to renovate the former Joint Law Enforcement building at 401 Walton Way to address COVID-19 concerns.

Brown’s order demands a 330-day renovation project at the facility, a plan reminiscent to most on the commission of his prior one to convert it to a juvenile justice center.

“We are completely blindsided to the plan to try to use COVID to get what the request was,” Commissioner Brandon Garrett said. “The request seems very underhanded.”

Brown’s order cites a “serious judicial emergency” where those involved in the court system – inmates, staff, judges, juries – are at a “high risk of infection” with COVID-19.

He said the system has a backlog of 3,500 criminal and 21,000 civil and domestic cases, while 520 criminal cases are unindicted.

There are 727 felony inmates and 50 misdemeanor inmates being housed at the Charlie B. Webster Detention Center at a cost of $54 per day, the order said.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that seven of nine inmates tested at Webster were positive. All 22 in the inmate unit were quarantined.

Under the state COVID-19 judicial emergency order for reopening the courts, circuits are encouraged to “locate additional space” and “provide more room,” particularly for jury trials, Brown’s order said.

Doing so without the Walton Way facility plus a second courthouse annex – at the nearby former Craig Houghton school on Fourth Street – will create a hardship for the courts, Brown said.

The project will enable the rendering of justice “to all citizens, including juveniles,” the order states.

Brown has pressed for years to convert the former law enforcement center and county jail into a juvenile justice center, and had a committee determine it was safe and feasible. The commission agreed to the center but not to place it at the former jail.

The commission recently agreed to swap city property by T.W. Josey High School with Richmond County Board of Education for Houghton, although the transaction has not been recorded.

Commissioner Dennis Williams, the school board liaison on the commission, said he’d not been apprised of any use for Houghton or about the need for the swap, for the “new or remodeled school.”

Williams said he won’t know anything about Brown’s order until the commission discusses it behind closed doors at a 10:30 a.m. called meeting Tuesday.

“I don’t know the legal aspect of it. There hasn’t been any discussion to get a real clear understanding of it,” he said.

Commissioner Ben Hasan said he had no comment “because we haven’t had a chance to see what our legal team has to say.”

Commissioner John Clarke said he wondered if Brown’s order is legal.

“I’m just saying that I think that it’s an awful ambitious undertaking, and I think that it’s a possible judicial overreach,” Clarke said.

“Our coffers right now are stretched kind of thin,” for Brown “to have a hissy fit and have y’all spend a bunch of money,” he said. "I’m sure before any money is spent on it, it will be looked into to make sure that it’s legal,” he said.

Clarke said there are various ways Brown could address space shortages, including holding night court or using the commission chamber, which was built to serve as a court annex with an inmate entrance, holding cell and gun port for deputies to store their guns.

To date, Brown has not requested the chamber for use.

Asked to respond to the commissioners’ concerns, including Garrett’s statement the order “seems underhanded,” Brown’s judicial assistant Kelly Campbell said it is a “pending matter” on which the judge “can’t comment.”

Commissioner Marion Williams said Brown sent commissioners a copy of the order but he thought it referenced the school.

Williams said he supports Brown’s call to address the needs of youthful offenders, but the commission has already committed 401 Walton Way for use in film productions.

The current courthouse which opened in 2011 has 16 courtrooms and cost taxpayers $67 million. It provides courtrooms and office spaces for Superior, State, Magistrate and Probate courts, court clerks, the district attorney and the solicitor.

At the time it was built, there was an agreement that juvenile court couldn't move into the building, to keep families and juveniles separate from the adult courts.

If commissioners disagree with Brown's order they must file a protest by Aug. 24 or they lose the ability to challenge the order, according to prior Georgia cases.

Brown’s order on uncertain legal ground

A case Judge Carl C. Brown noted in his Friday order to add two courthouse annexes is the basis for his mandate that could cost city taxpayers millions.

In the 1990 Georgia Supreme Court case, McCorkle v. Judge of Superior Court, four superior court judges wanted to hire two clerks but the county refused to pay for the positions.

The court sided with the judges, finding the superior court judges they have the power to issue a "certificate" demanding payment for what is essential and necessary for the court's continued function.

The superior court has the "inherent power to ... compel payment of those sums of money which are reasonable and necessary to carry out its mandated responsibilities," the court ruled in a 1982 case.

But in the 1990 ruling, the Supreme Court warned "the inherent power is not a sword, but a shield."

Five years after the McCorkle decision, DeKalb County won its challenge of the superior court's certificate of need for a fire safety sprinkler system for the courthouse.

In that case, the finding was that fire safety wasn't a unique concern for the judiciary and that there was nothing inherently judicial about fire safety.

If the judge believes the county failed its job to maintain a public building, the remedy is a writ of mandamus -- a legal action to force a government to do its duty under the law.

According to the Georgia Court Reopening Guide, the court needs 113 square feet for every person in the courtroom. Jury selection requires the questioning of more than three dozen people at one time.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton’s Judicial COVID-19 Task Force is working to develop procedures and guidelines on restarting jury trials, but it is expected to be after September before jury trials will resume.

Brown references the capacity of 401 Walton Way -- abandoned by the sheriff's office in 2012 -- as having 29,000 square feet with four courtrooms, but the courtrooms are a fraction of the total space. There's still the problem with space needed for safe social distancing for participants and jurors. Current jury deliberation rooms will also be useless because they are too small for social distancing.

– Sandy Hodson, staff writer