A four-year legal ordeal is over for a dozen defendants accused of improper
handling of absentee ballots—a felony—in South Georgia's Brooks County.
The state dropped the remaining charges against the "Quitman 12" in December,
following the acquittal in September of the first defendant to go to trial, Lula
Smart. Her acquittal came after two mistrials.
Defense attorney Tiffany Simmons said her clients were relieved, but she
questioned why the charges were brought at all. "This was, essentially, a case
to discourage absentee voters, as well as a case of voter suppression," Simmons
said. She and attorney Chevene King Jr. of Albany defended Smart in the
September trial.
Simmons called the prosecution a retaliation for a political shift in which
the first ever African-American majority was elected to the Brooks County Board
of Education. All the defendants are African-American. Some were school board
members—removed from office by the governor because of the indictment, then
reinstated when they were not convicted within the time limit of the law.
Francys Johnson, a Statesboro lawyer and president of the Georgia NAACP, said
the prosecution was unjust and politically motivated. After the Smart acquittal,
he urged the state to "end the nightmare" by dismissing charges against the
remaining defendants. "This victory was only after four years, a removal from
office of some of the defendants by the governor, two mistrials and millions of
dollars of wasted taxpayers funds," Johnson said last week by email.
"I made the decision as a prosecutor not to go forward," said Chuck Spahos,
executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council. He took over the case
after Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Miller recused because
one of his assistant district attorneys was a member of the school board's new
white minority. Miller said complaints of mishandled mailed ballots were
referred to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the secretary of state's
office.
As to reasons for dropping the charges, Spahos referred to his nolle prosequi
motion, signed by Senior Judge Gary McCorvey in December. That document said the
Smart case was tried first because it was the strongest of the 12. It disputed
the defendants' contention that they "did nothing illegal" by mailing absentee
ballots for able-bodied voters, pointing out that the Georgia Secretary of State
website states policies that require a voter be disabled to allow someone else
to handle a ballot.
"Nevertheless, the state anticipates the absentee voter witnesses in the
remaining cases will also recant, as they did in the Smart case," the motion
said. "Because the witnesses in the remaining cases were neither asked to
prepare handwritten statements nor were their interviews recorded via audio or
video tape, it will be difficult once again to impeach them."
The motion said the state has less evidence in the remaining cases than in
the Smart case. "Based on the outcome of the Smart case, the state believes that
it is unlikely to obtain convictions in the remaining cases. After three trials,
the state must consider the financial burden to Brooks County and weigh what is
in the best interest of the community."
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