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By Belen Avelar
ATLANTA, GA – A new one Twitter thread by attorney Andrew Fleischman has drawn attention to the so-called injustice experienced by inmates of the Fulton County Jail who have been held in prison for years without trial or charge and in violation of Georgia’s requirements for a speedy trial.
According to Fleischman Law firm websiteSince 2011, he has handled dozens of appeals, “arguing before the Georgia Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, defending incarcerated people by conducting new trials and helping to reduce their sentences and earn four entries on the National Exoneration Registry.”
In the state of Georgia, “the law requires that a person in prison must be released on bail or charged within 90 days of his arrest,” according to the Twitter thread. If a person is charged, they have the right to demand a speedy trial, and according to Fleischman, in Fulton County that means a person can be brought to justice within four to six months.
As a result, according to data reports, “515 people, or 17.6% of those being held at the Fulton County Jail, have been held without charge for more than 90 days.”
In addition, “83 people have been held without charge for more than a year and seven people have been held without charge for more than two years,” noted Fleischman’s Twitter thread, adding that the prison system is overcrowded due to the high volume is of people being held in prison without proper prompt trials.
Fleischman said the Chief Justice’s “order confirms that Fulton County currently has 18,000 outstanding felony counts.”
According to the Schedule A certification, “The total volume of pending criminal cases of uncharged felony cases is 13,787 and the total number of uncharged and charged felony cases is 18,014.
Attachment A to the certificate states, “Our efforts to clear the backlog of pending criminal cases require courtroom space in excess of our current capacities.” in her state, “The transportation and arrest of inmates brought to the courthouse continues to face space and security restrictions.”
Fleischman, who advocates for those wrongly or wrongly convicted, said, “But all of you, you can come to Fulton Superior every week and it’s not full of cases going to trial.”
This raises a level of concern in the criminal justice system about whether Fulton County is making efforts to accommodate cases and minimize the number of people incarcerated, he said, noting, “The prison is a dangerous place, and it’s even worse when.” You have people being held without knowing if they actually did anything wrong.”
Fleischman added, “The state has an obligation — constitutional and moral principles — to provide people with the right to a fair trial and to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
