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Atlanta Leaders Call For Review After Trooper Killed

ATLANTA — The death of Georgia State Trooper Chadwick LeCroy has sparked a call for change in Atlanta's court system.

Atlanta's top officials wrote a letter to the chief superior court judge that basically said the court system failed because the man accused of killing LeCroy, Gregory Favors, is a career criminal and should have been behind bars on Monday; which is when the trooper was fatally shot.

As goodbyes were being said to LeCroy at Thursday's wake, Favors, 30, sat in jail accused of killing LeCroy during a traffic stop.

Favors has a long record of 19 arrests and 10 convictions. Most recently, prosecutors pushed for a four-year sentence. Instead, Favors was given 30 days.

"It's infuriating that troopers should have been home with his family at the end of his shift," said Patrick Ipoian, of the International Brotherhood of Police.

Atlanta's top officials agreed.

City Leaders Say Trooper Killing Suspect Rushed Through System

The mayor, police chief and the district attorney wrote a three-page letter to the chief superior court judge that asked for all operations of the non-complex criminal court division to be temporarily suspended. The non-complex criminal court division is a court designed to provide a fast-track for low-level felonies.

The letter said the court is fast-tracking at the expense of public safety.

The letter went on to say the Favors case is not an isolated events and a study needs to be done on how to fix the "serious crisis" that's been created.

"I don't know if the problem is with the judges, pardons and paroles or the jail. I don't know where the problem is, but it needs to be addressed," said Ipoian.

The leaders also said in the letter that it was not meant to be a personal attack on any specific judge, but that changes must be made.

The trooper's funeral was scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday.