A combination of an overly aggressive police force, poor inter-agency cooperation, and the nature of the system is causing a critical backlog in many Georgia courts, according to an April 2026 report.
An open records request revealed that the Cordele Judicial Circuit, which covers Ben Hill, Dooly, Crisp and Wilcox counties, has more than 4,200 cases where the District Attorney’s office has not formally charged anyone. Many go back several years.
“Just because a warrant is issued doesn’t mean the case is ready to prosecute,” explained Brad Rigby, District Attorney for the Cordele Judicial Circuit. “There’s a lot of varying reasons for those cases to take time, but that’s what justice demands. It’s for this office to take an independent review of those cases to determine whether the case needs to be prosecuted or not.”
Rigby also said part of his backlog is due to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s (GBI) crime labs backlog.
“One word would be ‘surprising,’” criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Alex Kaplan, said when asked what comes to mind when looking at the number of unindicted cases.
“If I’m a victim, I’m concerned that my case is getting lost in the shuffle. If I’m a defendant, I’m hoping that my case gets lost in the shuffle. So it’s a no win scenario for the community as a whole,” he added.
Are Backlogs Good or Bad?
Alexander Pope once said that “Justice delayed is justice denied.” If Pope had been a Marietta criminal defense lawyer, he probably would have felt differently. Delay in criminal cases is frustrating for everyone, but it benefits defendants in several important ways.
Less Aggressive Law Enforcement
As mentioned in the above story, the more arrests police officers make, the more backed up the system becomes. Supervisors never encourage officers to look the other way when they see criminal offenses. But they might encourage officers to not arrest defendants in borderline cases or hold themselves to a higher standard of proof.
Instead of arresting a defendant, police officers can cite and release the defendant (which is like giving the defendant a traffic ticket) or issue a warning, at least in most cases.
Cite and release is a very common alternative in POM (possession of marijuana) cases in areas that have partially legalized this drug. Physically, illegal marijuana is indistinguishable from legal hemp. Since there’s a good chance the charges won’t hold up in court, many law enforcement agencies encourage officers to cite and release these defendants rather than arrest them.
On a similar note, when the system backs up, many officers may think twice about arresting defendants if they know the charges won’t hold up in court. Once again, illegal possession is a good example.
Assume Officer Nancy pulls over Patrick, who consents to a search. She sees a handgun under the back seat. Patrick says he’s driving Sandy’s car, and he didn’t know the handgun was in the back seat.
Officer Nancy has probable cause to arrest Patrick. But if a Marietta criminal defense lawyer successfully challenges the actual knowledge element of a possession case, Patrick will walk. If the system is clogged, Officer Nancy might give Patrick a “go forth and sin no more” warning.
Another procedural defense might arise under these facts as well. Only owners may consent to searches. Patrick may be an apparent owner since owners usually drive their own cars. His status probably depends on what questions Officer Nancy did, and did not, ask about Patrick’s ownership status.
Jail Release
Georgia’s county jails have one of the highest percentages of unsentenced inmates in the country. At any given time, over half these inmates are waiting for their day in court or, for purposes of this blog, waiting for prosecutors to file charges.
As a result, either the sheriff who sets presumptive bond amounts or a judge who considers bail at a bond reduction hearing is willing to reduce the amount of bail or even bend the rules so pretrial release becomes available.
In some states, government bureaucrats decide who is eligible for pretrial release. But in Georgia, a judge makes that call, and the judge has almost absolute discretion. Factors to consider include:
- Severity of the alleged offense,
- Defendant’s criminal history,
- Defendant’s employment status, and
- The likelihood the defendant will appear in court.
The court may also impose conditions, such as avoiding contact with certain individuals, maintaining employment, or checking in with a pretrial services program. Failure to comply with these conditions or to appear in court can result in a warrant for arrest and possible additional charges.
Evidence in Court
Delay causes the evidence to degrade and also hampers prosecutors’ ability to obtain supplemental evidence.
Assume Mike hits his wife Nancy during a fight. She calls the police who arrest Mike. However, for good or for ill, Mike and Nancy reconcile. Six months later, when prosecutors finally reach out to her about testifying against Mike, she’s lost interest in the case. In some cases, prosecutors could subpoena Nancy and force her to testify against her will. But prosecutors only exercise this power in extreme cases.
The availability of scientific and other supplemental evidence could be an issue as well. The aforementioned POM cases are a good illustration. Only a THC content test determines the difference between marijuana and hemp. If courts are backed up, labs are usually backed up as well. So, the results may not be available in time for the state to use them at trial.
Plea Bargaining
All these things lead to case resolution issues, and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.
When cases pile up, prosecutors become more willing to wheel and deal. That’s especially true if the charge is a nonviolent misdemeanor. Most prosecutors will gladly move these cases off their desks to make way for more “important” matters.
In fact, in these situations, many prosecutors offer fire sale deals. They allow defendants to plead guilty to lesser-included offenses which, in most cases, don’t have the same collateral effects.
Driving While License Suspended (DWLS) is a good example. Ordinarily, a driving safety conviction, like DWLS, causes auto insurance rates to skyrocket. This collateral effect is especially crippling for young drivers or those with poor driving records. In these cases, a DWLS conviction could make auto insurance unaffordable.
On the other hand, if the defendant pleads guilty to a more generic offense, such as reckless conduct, the effect on auto insurance rates is minimal, at best.
Case backlogs have a similar effect on more serious offenses, such as DUI. If a defense might apply, such as a procedural defense, prosecutors don’t want to spend the day in court arguing about reasonable suspicion for the stop or probable cause for the arrest. They’d rather offer a generous deal and move on to another case they deem more serious, such as a second DUI.
For this reason, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer often puts off cases as long as possible. Rest assured that delay is part of the plan. If pretrial negotiations start too soon, the backlog effect doesn’t apply, and the best deals aren’t available.
Delay is often a good defense in criminal cases. For a free consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney in Marietta, contact the Phillips Law Firm, LLC. Virtual, home, and jail visits are available.
