ICYMI: From Appearance of Conflicts of Interest to Delayed Justice, Attorney General Chris Carr Comes Under Fire

A string of recent local news reports has raised troubling questions about Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s record, from the appearance of conflicts of interest to concerns that Carr’s office is delaying justice in dozens of court cases across the state. The bad press comes as a new, Trump-backed challenger entering the race for Attorney General, ensuring another nasty Republican primary that will bring Carr’s terrible record into sharper focus.

“It ‘smells bad and looks bad'”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this week that Carr received thousands of dollars from the drug lobby while he was negotiating a settlement with pharmaceutical companies over their role in the national opioid crisis. As Carr participated in the negotiations, pharmaceutical lobbying group PhRMA maxed out on its contributions to Carr’s primary campaign, giving him the most money of any candidate in Georgia. 

• “When asked, his campaign did not answer how Carr reconciles fighting for those suffering from the opioid crisis while receiving money from a lobbying firm that represents opioid manufacturers.” (AJC)

“’All we are asking him to do is his job’”: The Augusta Chronicle also reported frustration with Carr from local district attorneys who say that Carr’s office has failed to appoint prosecutors for dozens of cases, leaving some Georgians waiting years for a trial and delaying justice for victims.

• “‘Nobody is doing anything; it doesn’t matter who they sent you to. They sent me to three to four different people, nobody is doing anything…It is Attorney General’s constitutional duty, he is the only one that can do it. It’s his job. That is what is frustrating, all we are asking him to do is his job.’” (Augusta Chronicle)

“It’s the attorney general’s duty to ensure justice for all Georgians, but Chris Carr has failed to meet some of the most basic expectations of the job. Georgians shouldn’t have to wonder whether our state’s chief law enforcement officer is letting court cases languish or prioritizing campaign cash over justice, but those are exactly the concerns these reports raise,” said Rebecca Galanti, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “The last thing we need is an attorney general we can’t trust to put the people first – Georgians deserve better from their top legal advocate.”

Read more about why Attorney General Chris Carr is coming under fire:
 

Georgia attorney general takes campaign cash from drug lobby while negotiating opioid agreement 
Atlanta Journal-Constitution // Maya T. Prabhu // March 21, 2022

• At the same time that Chris Carr was working to negotiate the details of a settlement with Johnson & Johnson, the attorney general received thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the organization that lobbies for the pharmaceutical company.
  
• Johnson & Johnson — as well as Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen — last summer announced that it had reached a $26 billion settlement agreement with local governments to help pay to fix a nationwide opioid addiction and overdose crisis.
  
• When asked, his campaign did not answer how Carr reconciles fighting for those suffering from the opioid crisis while receiving money from a lobbying firm that represents opioid manufacturers.
  
• Carr has received $8,600 this election cycle from PhRMA, which lobbies on behalf of Johnson & Johnson and several other drug companies, with $7,600 designated for his primary campaign and an additional $1,000 for his general election. The state ethics commission caps campaign contributions at $7,600 from a single donor for a primary election.
  
• While PhRMA has donated to about three dozen elected officials in Georgia on both sides of the aisle, Carr is the candidate the group has given the most money. 
  
• Both Democrats seeking to challenge Carr in the November election said accepting the campaign donations “doesn’t look good” and that they would put policies in place, if elected as attorney general, to deny contributions that could create the appearance of a conflict of interest.
  
• “In campaign contributions like this, whether there is something untoward going on or not, they at least raise the perception that maybe there’s some backroom stuff going on that isn’t good for the state,” said state Sen. Jen Jordan, an Atlanta Democrat and attorney.
  
• Christian Wise Smith, a former member of the Fulton County district attorney’s office, said he would want the public to know he was remaining impartial.
  
• “I think that the office of attorney general has to be one that is above corruption and that you have to assure people that you care more about protecting the citizens of Georgia than you care about protecting your campaign contributors and donors,” Smith said.

‘Nobody is doing anything’: Frustration grows over inaction on conflict cases
Augusta Chronicle // Jozsef Papp // March 13, 2022

• Some defendants at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center have been waiting for years to have their day in court,  but one problem remains: there is no prosecutor to argue the state’s side and the District Attorney’s Office have their hands tied. 
  
• Some Augusta court cases that were sent to the Attorney General’s Office for assignment of a conflict prosecutor last year, remain unassigned, causing delays in justice for those in jail and any of their alleged victims awaiting their day in court.
  
• After he took office in January 2021, Augusta District Attorney Jared Williams submitted to the Attorney General’s Office a long list of cases for which he cited a conflict of interest because of his previous employment with the Hawk Law firm. Over a year later, a lot of these “conflict cases” remain without a prosecutor assigned to them, something only the AG’s office is allowed to do. 
  
• Defense attorney Jacque Hawk doesn’t think any work is being done by Attorney General Chris Carr or his office to resolve these conflict cases and assign a prosecutor. Hawk is the defense attorney for Kevin Hanna, one of the conflict cases that remains unresolved. Hanna has been held without bond since his arrest in April 2016. He has pleaded not guilty to charges in relation to a massive gang activity prosecution but hasn’t been able to get a trial. 
  
• “Nobody is doing anything; it doesn’t matter who they sent you to. They sent me to three to four different people, nobody is doing anything. They are not doing anything, it’s not really hard to do,” Hawk said. “It is Attorney General’s constitutional duty, he is the only one that can do it. It’s his job. That is what is frustrating, all we are asking him to do is his job.” 
  
• “They are locked up. They can’t have a hearing, I can’t put the case on a jury trial. I can’t sentence them, I can’t get a bond hearing, I can’t move to dismiss Hanna’s case because he has been locked up for five years now, without a trial,” Hawk said. “Guess who is getting cussed out? That would be me because my clients are frustrated that I can’t make (the AG) do his job.” 
  
• Hawk named at least 20 people he represents who are in limbo because of the AG’s failure to appoint a prosecutor. He said some of the co-defendants in the cases involving his clients are being impacted. 
  
• Overall, of the 486 conflict cases received in 2021, according to the AG’s Office, a prosecutor has been assigned to 342 or 70% of them. 
  
• The assignment of conflict cases is handled by the AG’s prosecution division, within which there is a single paralegal who manages the conflict cases received by the office. That division is also responsible for prosecuting highly specialized cases such as human trafficking, white-collar crime, and cybercrime.
  
• Williams said the state should provide the funding. “There is a real need for resources to fund conflict prosecutors, the same way we have conflict defenders” Williams said. “It is unfair to ask an overburdened and under-resourced DA’s office to travel across the state to handle cases in other circuits. The state needs to provide funding so that the burden is not carried by local prosecutors.”
  
• Although it might seem like the backlog in cases was a direct result of the pandemic shutting down courts for months, Williams argues that courts were dealing with backlogs before the pandemic.

###