This Georgia Man Has Been Jailed for 10 Years Without a Trial

[GMDino]

I do believe our justice system needs a bit of an overhaul.

https://reason.com/2023/04/27/this-georgia-man-has-been-jailed-for-10-years-without-a-trial/

Quote:In 2013, Maurice Jimmerson was charged with murder. Ten years later, he's still languishing in a Dougherty County jail, awaiting trial.
EMMA CAMP | 4.27.2023 4:44 PM
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Reddit?subject=Shared+From+Reason.com%3A+Ten+years+after+he+was+charged+with+murder%2C+Maurice+Jimmerson+is+still+awaiting+trial.+&body=https%3A%2F%2Freason.com%2F2023%2F04%2F27%2Fthis-georgia-man-has-been-jailed-for-10-years-without-a-trial%2FPrint friendly versionCopy page URL

(Illustration: Lex Villena, Doughtery County Jail)
In 2013, Maurice Jimmerson was charged with murder. Ten years later, he still hasn't received a trial. Even though two of Jimmerson's codefendants were acquitted in 2017, Jimmerson—who pleaded not guilty—still languishes in jail in Dougherty County, Georgia, with little hope of a trial anytime soon. Making matters worse, he hasn't had a lawyer since last summer.


According to Gregory Edwards, the local district attorney, several factors have led to Jimmerson's absurdly long wait time for a trial. Edwards told Atlanta News First (ANF), a local news station, that the COVID-19 pandemic, a 2021 courthouse flood, and the decision by the previous judge to try Jimmerson and his codefendants separately caused the delay. Making matters worse, Edwards also says the county has been unable to find a public defender for Jimmerson, which has lengthened his time behind bars.

"Jimmerson's case, it's a rare situation," Edwards told ANF "We want to get to trial eventually."

While these recent issues have considerably slowed down Jimmerson's path to a trial, it's not clear why he was not tried before 2020.

Jimmerson has been left without an attorney for the past eight months due to a particularly Kafkaesque string of bureaucratic errors. According to ANF, Jimmerson's old attorney, Benjamin Harrell, filed requests in July and August of last year to be released from the case, citing that he would need to travel frequently to obtain necessary medical care for his infant daughter.

However, the local county clerk's office misplaced a judicial order formally releasing Harrell from his position as Jimmerson's attorney. When Jimmerson sent a request for a new attorney in September 2022, it went unnoticed, according to one judicial assistant who spoke to ANF.

Because court employees lost Harrell's request to be released from Jimmerson's case, he was technically listed as Jimmerson's attorney until April 12 of this year—seemingly only after ANF journalists asked one judge why she never signed an order releasing Harrell. Though Jimmerson never received actual legal help from Harrell during this time, the Georgia Public Defender Council insists that Jimmerson has had access to legal counsel during the past eight months, despite the error.
"A court error, if one took place, does not obviate Mr. Harrell's responsibilities or representation," said Thomas O'Conner, the Public Defender Council's communications director. "In law and in fact, Mr. Harrell was Mr. Jimmerson's attorney until April 12; assertions to the contrary are deliberately misleading."

ANF notes that Georgia's public defender system is plagued with issues, primarily understaffing and difficulty retaining attorneys. One judge insists that "We have too few public defenders for the work to be done," adding that "The lack of public defenders slows down the judicial process."

However, the director of the Georgia Public Defender Council disputes this, saying, "We have more employees than we've ever had in the history of the agency. We have more funding than we've ever had in the history of the agency and that's the last two years."

Regardless of the source of the issues, it's clear that something is very wrong. When sloppy bureaucracies go unchecked, defendants like Jimmerson—who cannot afford their own lawyers and must rely on public defenders—are in danger of being effectively denied their Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.

"To claim that Mr. Jimmerson was 'represented' under these circumstances makes a mockery of the right to counsel," Maya Chaudhuri, an attorney for the Southern Center for Human Rights, told ANF. "This is certainly not the type of 'representation' anyone of means would pay for."

[GMDino]

Another state...another case.

https://apnews.com/article/lasalle-corrections-settlement-holly-barlow-austin-5ef10b464e193457adb8cd02fb483be6

Quote:Suit over Texas woman’s jail death settles for $7 million

By JAKE BLEIBERGApril 27, 2023



FILE - This undated photo provided by Mike Austin shows his wife, Holly Barlow-Austin, in Texarkana, Texas, before her 2019 death after being held in a Texarkana jail. A private company that ran the Texas jail where Barlow-Austin allegedly went blind following days of medical neglect before her 2019 death has agreed to a $7 million lawsuit settlement, her family's attorney said Thursday, April 27, 2023. (Mike Austin via AP, File)

DALLAS (AP) — A private company that ran a Texas jail where a woman allegedly went blind following days of medical neglect before her 2019 death has agreed to a $7 million lawsuit settlement along with other defendants, her family’s attorney said Thursday.


The payout over Holly Barlow-Austin’s death after being held at an East Texas jail operated by LaSalle Corrections is among the largest public settlements of its kind, attorney Erik Heipt said in a statement. Her death was one in a string of other deaths and incidents that led to lawsuits and investigations of the company, which runs facilities where thousands of people are incarcerated.

“If you’re going to cut corners and put profits over people’s lives, there will be a steep price to pay,” said Heipt, a Seattle-based lawyer who represents Barlow-Austin’s husband and mother. He said the payout ”should serve as a wake-up call to all private jail and prison operators.”



The family’s federal lawsuit was resolved ahead of a trial after more than two years of litigation. They had claimed that LaSalle guards and medical staff at the Texarkana jail ignored obvious signs of Barlow-Austin’s worsening health, falsified records, deprived the 46-year-old of food and water and only took her to the hospital after it was too late.

[*]

They sued LaSalle along with Bowie County and several guards and medical staff at the Bi-State Jail. Court records do not show details of the agreement, including what share of the settlement was paid by which of the defendants. Heipt said the specific terms were confidential.
[*]
Lawyers for LaSalle — which runs facilities in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia — and Bowie County did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The county sheriff’s office took over management of the jail in 2021, after a decade of LaSalle running it.
[*]
In April 2019, Barlow-Austin was arrested for a parole violation by police in Texarkana, a city that straddles Texas’ northeastern border with Arkansas.
She arrived at the jail with serious health conditions, including HIV, but normal vital signs and full mobility, according to the suit. It said she left the facility “blind, emaciated, and barely able to move.”
[*]
Over a period of days guards and medical staff didn’t check on her or, when they did, ignored her calls for help and water, according to the suit. It also says staff falsified observation logs — something state inspectors found they had done in another case that was settled.

The family of Michael Sabbie reached an undisclosed settlement with LaSalle two months before Barlow-Austin died in a hospital. They alleged in a lawsuit that company employees at the same jail deprived him of medications and treatment for his heart disease and diabetes.
[*]
In 2017, LaSalle also agreed to a settlement when a severely diabetic woman died after a nurse at the jail refused medical treatment. The former nurse subsequently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent homicide.
[*]
In a statement Thursday, Barlow-Austin’s mother and husband, Mary Margaret Mathis and Michael Glenn Austin, said they hope the settlement in their case “will save some lives in the future.”

[SunsetBengal]

In a modern day world riddled with civil rights attorneys, not ONE has reached out to help this guy??

[GMDino]

(04-29-2023, 04:16 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: In a modern day world riddled with civil rights attorneys, not ONE has reached out to help this guy??

Gotta get the story out first.  It makes me wonder how many others are being held indefinitely and against the rights in this country.

Even with what is known the judge said "too bad, so sad" and left him in jail.

Overhaul might be an understatement.

[*pally*]

(04-29-2023, 04:16 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: In a modern day world riddled with civil rights attorneys, not ONE has reached out to help this guy??

Im sure they have after seeing the article

Also in Georgia

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/family-of-man-eaten-alive-by-bed-bugs-in-fulton-county-jail-wants-answers/

Quote:ATLANTA, Georgia -- A man died at the Fulton County Jail from being eaten alive by insects and bed bugs says the family attorney.

According to police LaShawn Thompson was arrested for misdemeanor simple battery in Atlanta on June 12.
He was taken to the Fulton County Jail and placed in the psychiatric wing after officials determined he had mental issues.
Family attorney Michael D. Harper released a statement saying Thompson was in jail for three months when he was found dead in a filthy jail cell after being eaten alive by bed bugs and insects. The family also obtained open records which stated that the detention officers and medical staff at the jail noticed that Mr. Thompson was deteriorating, but did nothing to administer aid to him or to help him.
"They literally watched his health decline until he died", says the family in a statement.
The report also states that when his body was found one of the detention officers refused to administer CPR because in her words she "freaked out."
"Mr. Thompson was housed in was not fit for a diseased animal. He did not deserve this. Someone has to be held accountable for his death. The Fulton County Jail must be closed and replaced", says Michael D. Harper the family attorney.

First published on April 12, 2023 / 4:19 PM
The-CNN-Wire 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

[SunsetBengal]

(04-29-2023, 04:24 PM)GMDino Wrote: Gotta get the story out first.  It makes me wonder how many others are being held indefinitely and against the rights in this country.

Even with what is known the judge said "too bad, so sad" and left him in jail.

Overhaul might be an understatement.

Still, you mean over 10 years time, this guy has not one friend or family member to help him get connected with a bail bondsman?  

[SunsetBengal]

(04-29-2023, 04:25 PM)pally Wrote: Im sure they have after seeing the article

It took 10 whole years for someone to discover this poor, lost soul locked away in a GA jail?  

[GMDino]

(04-29-2023, 04:30 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Still, you mean over 10 years time, this guy has not one friend or family member to help him get connected with a bail bondsman?  

(04-29-2023, 04:34 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It took 10 whole years for someone to discover this poor, lost soul locked away in a GA jail?  

Since I didn't write or research it I'm gonna ask you to read the article.

https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/04/26/georgia-man-behind-bars-10-years-still-waiting-his-day-court/

He's not the only one.

See, the state doesn't have to care because they know even if one story leaks out people who be incredulous about it more so than wanting to do anything about it.

[*Nately120*]

(04-29-2023, 04:34 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It took 10 whole years for someone to discover this poor, lost soul locked away in a GA jail?  

I find it hard to believe, too...but then I realize the fact that I find it hard to believe that a guy could be locked away for 10 years like this is probably part of why people can be locked away for 10 years like this and no one believe it.

I'm skeptical that people could be so skeptical...cosmic, man.