Pending murder trials cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Channel 2 Action News investigation discovered trial delays are costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in jail costs. While Inmates spend years waiting for their day in court, they are housed in local jails.

Investigate reporter Erica Byfield found Fulton County is also home to some of the longest stayed inmates in the metro Atlanta area. It costs taxpayers $72.37 a day to house an inmate In Fulton County. The top four inmates are all accused of murder.

The number two inmate on that list is accused of gunning down Olympic athlete and boxing world champ Vernon Forrest.

"He had 13 straight knockouts,” Forrest’s former manager and friend Charles Watson told Byfield. “I said this guy is good."

Watson said Forrest’s fists couldn't defend the champ from seven gunshots to his back. Police said three armed men robbed him as he put gas in his tires at a southwest Atlanta gas station on July 26, 2009.

Forrest's godson had just walked inside the gas station to use the restroom. Forrest, who was also armed, ran after the men. While walking back to the gas station Forrest was gunned down in the street.

"To get killed like that it was like, it was like God this is not fair," Watson said.

Two of the men are serving life sentences for Forrest’s murder, but the alleged triggerman, Charmon Sinkfield, is still in the Fulton County Jail waiting for a trial date.

"We're going on seven years, seven years of holding this hurt,” Watson said. “The only thing we want is justice."

At the time of this report, it had cost Fulton tax payers $183,313.21 to keep Sinkfield in custody

Fulton’s chief jailer Mark Adger told Byfield high profile cases aren’t the only ones eating up tax payer funds. Adger said misdemeanors and low level felonies that should be adjudicated in nine weeks.

"And that is just not happening?" Byfield asked Adger.

"It's not happening enough," Adger said.

Of those top four Fulton County inmates with the longest stays, two are death penalty cases, and there are questions about whether the others have the mental capacity to stand trial. As of July 18, they've spent 26 years awaiting trial, leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than 650 hundred thousand dollars.

Norris Speed is number four on the list.

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A Fulton County jury convicted him of killing Atlanta police officer Niles Johangten in 1993.

Georgia’s Supreme Court threw out his death sentence and sent the back to Fulton County for re-sentencing. Speed went back to the Fulton County Jail in 2011 AT a price tag of $132,583.84.

He’s still there. His attorney told Channel 2 by email there is no fixed date for his re-sentencing.

"Are you surprised that he's still here? Does that seem odd to you?" Byfield asked Adger.

"I was surprised that he was still here for about a year," Adger said.

Byfield asked Georgia State College of Law professor Russell Covey about the time it has taken for Norris Speed to be re-sentenced.

After a pause Covey replied, “yeah that's crazy, that's incompetence."

Covey said capital cases do, and should, take longer than others. Defendants need a good attorney and public defenders with enough experience to litigate murder cases are in short supply.

"People, sit in jail just waiting for a lawyer," Covey said.

He added a delay could be a technique.

Due process is a right protected by the constitution. In Georgia, defendants can ask for a speedy trial, but if the state has a strong case there may not be an incentive to do that.

“A defendant might calculate um they have a better chance of winning an acquittal if there is a witness who might disappear, die, evidence gets stale,” Covey said. “Cases can fall apart so there are reasons to delay.”

But in neighboring Florida every case is a speedy case, unless you opt out. The limit for Florida, 190 days for a felony, 90 days for misdemeanor or the defendant is discharged regardless of guilt or innocence.

"This certainly puts the state in a position to get their job done and get it done quickly," said former prosecutor and legal analyst William Sheaffer. He said Florida's statute saves his state from backlogged cases... and overcrowded jails.

“It has been a boom in helping dispose of cases in Florida,” Sheaffer said.

Vernon Forrest’s alleged killer is facing the death penalty. Since his indictment, Sinkfiled’s attorneys have filed more than 130 motions to defend his not guilty plea. They would not comment of the long wait for a trial, but told Channel 2 by email a trial date has now been set for September 26. Watson said Sinkfield was delaying a fight the champ's loved ones are ready for.

“Every day that this guy breaths you know, that's a luxury,” Watson said. “I want the family to really put Vernon to rest. You really can’t put him to rest when you feel injustice is still out there.”

Cox Media Group