Local & State Headlines

Lawyer leaves murder cases

• Two Southwest Georgia murder case defendants look at finding new counsel after their attorney withdraws from their cases.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — A public defender complaining that the state is purposely withholding funds has been released by the court from defending one of the three men accused of killing a former Dougherty County deputy coroner and paramedic last year.

Ramon Fajardo had been representing defendent Darrell Anderson, accused of killing Jack Camp outside the regency Club Apartments last March. Dougherty Chief Judge Loring Gray signed the order granting Fajardo’s request to be released from the case on Jan. 10.

Fajardo also withdrew his representation of Stacy Sims, who is one of several defendents facing the death penalty in Tift County after prosecutors charged Sims with felony murder in the deaths of six Hispanic men in September 2005.

In the Dougherty County motion, Fajardo told the court that the request was not because of the workload associated with defending Anderson, but because of the poor administration and adherence to the Standards of Representation of Attorneys assigned cases by the Georgia Public Defenders Council. He said the council refuses to return phone calls, e-mails and regular mail and will not pay his billings in a timely fashion.

“It is suspected that this is NOT because there are not funds available,” Fajardo wrote in his request, “but rather because it is an Executive Branch decision of the Government of the State of Georgia to attempt to defray costs of Indigent Defense in litigation in total disregard for the quality of the services demanded for those persons unlucky enough to be classified as indigent.”

Fajardo said Wednesday that he believes the problem stems from a decision to place the defense council under the executive branch of state government, where he says there is an uneven playing field when it comes to funding indigent defense versus state attornies.

“It’s an extremely sad situation because it burdens those defendants that don’t have money to afford an experienced attorney,” Fajardo said. “Basically, district attorneys are given blank checks to prosecute cases, but the public defenders office is given just a small portion of that budget to defend their clients.”

In the Sims case in Tift County, “I wasn’t paid for six months,” Fajardo said. “You can’t adequately defend someone, especially in a case where someone’s life hangs in the balance, without compensation.”

Increased scrutiny has been levied against the capital defender’s office after complaints were filed by prosecutors after attorneys for Brian Nichols, the man accused of killing a superior court judge and deputy during an escape attempt from the Fulton County Courthouse, asked that the case be delayed because the office’s budget was short of money.

Since then, the capital cases in Tifton have been delayed indefinitely by the court until the situation can be resolved, court officials said.

The approval of Fajardo’s motion in Dougherty County paves the way for new counsel to be assigned to Anderson.

Camp was shot to death after police believe he stumbled on a suspected drug deal. Anderson, Dontavius Wilson and Christopher Ingram have all been charged with murder.

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