Spencer Lawton Named 2008 District Attorney of the Year
Monday, August 4, 2008
The District Attorneys' Association of Georgia has selected Spencer Lawton Jr., District Attorney for the Eastern Judicial Circuit as the 2008 District Attorney of the Year. The announcement was made on Sunday, July 27, 2008 at the 48 th Annual Summer Conference held at the Jekyll Island Convention Center on Jekyll Island, Georgia, and sponsored by the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council.
"This is the best job a lawyer in America can have," said Lawton. "In the most freedom-loving country on the planet, we make daily decisions at the intersection where the prerogatives of a civilized society collide with the rights of individual citizens, it being our task to protect both."
During the opening session of the conference, four outstanding members of the prosecutorial community were recognized as the 2008 District Attorney, Solicitor-General, Assistant District Attorney and Assistant Solicitor-General of the year. This year, the District Attorneys' Association recognized Lawton as District Attorney of the Year. Allison Mauldin, Assistant District Attorney of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit, was named the 2008 Assistant District Attorney of the Year. The Georgia Association of Solicitors-General recognized Benjamin S. Richardson of Muscogee County as Solicitor-General of the Year. Amy Radley of Forsyth County was honored as the Assistant Solicitor-General of the Year.
Lawton, a native of Savannah, was nominated by the staff of the Eastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office. The Eastern Judicial Circuit includes Chatham County and the city of Savannah. The award was presented by Ken Wynne, outgoing President of the District Attorneys' Association.
"He is the gentleman DA," read Wynne from the nomination letter. "Mr. Lawton is the kind of person who would have invented good manners if they had not already been invented. He invariably looks for and tenaciously holds the moral high ground. With his mastery of the apt phrase and right rejoinder, Mr. Lawton is an incredible speaker and writer on the behalf of prosecution. Regardless ofthe controversy or cause,Mr.Lawton is honorable, innovative, supportive, caring, appreciative, loyal, and willing to share. Too often today, the lines between bad and good and right and wrong are alarmingly unclear. However, Mr. Lawton is clearly one of the good guys. He is, in short, a wonderful human being and gifted leader--just the kind of person all of us want as chief prosecutor."
Lawton's staff describes him as a brilliant innovator. Many of the programs he has implemented during his 28 years of service have been cutting-edge.
"During his tenure, he created a nationally recognized and award-winning Victim Witness Assistance Program which assists victims and witnesses through the criminal process," read the nomination letter. "This program has dramatically increased community involvement by enlisting the aid of some 16 active volunteers. This program was expanded in 1990 to include full coverage in juvenile court. It was the first such program in juvenile court in Georgia ."
Lawton also developed a domestic violence task force to address both felony and misdemeanor cases. "Today, the task force ensures consistent and continuous prosecution of cases that benefit both victims and defendants, facilitates the smooth and prompt transfer of such cases to the appropriate court, and trains law enforcement officers on techniques necessary to improve prosecution effectiveness," read the nomination letter. "The task force also actively participates in the community's Family Violence Council. With Mr. Lawton's support, his office became an integral part of establishing the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program in Chatham County and training the early SANE recruits."
The Child Abuse Prosecution Division is another of Lawton's implementations. This division was the catalyst for the development of the Chatham County Child Abuse Protocol Committee, a nationally recognized model of inter-agency cooperation. Lawton also created a specialized juvenile court trial team, crimes against the elderly specialist position, a narcotics prosecution team, and an anti-witness intimidation program. Furthermore, he created an early intervention program to accelerate the disposition of felony cases and he created the Gemini Project, a program devoted to improving the quality of prosecution of homicide and drug cases.
In addition to his endeavors as DA, Lawton supports local law enforcement. He has created police training resources, which include reference manuals and training sessions that feature topics such as Warrantless Intrusions, Investigation of Drug Cases, Videotaping Interviews, and The Investigation of Robbery: From Offense to Arraignment. In 1994, Lawton created the Juvenile Court Legal Update, a publication that is updated periodically for police and prosecutors.
Lawton is a founding board member of the Coastal Children's Advocacy Center and past president of the Board of Directors of the Mediation Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Lawton is very involved in providing community education, including speaking with school and community groups about criminal justice and prosecution functions. With Lawton's guidance, his Child Support Unit made an intensive effort to educate all ninth graders in the Chatham/Savannah school system about the economic, moral and social impact of teenage pregnancy.
Though Lawton serves the Eastern Judicial Circuit, his efforts have not stopped at the Chatham County line. He has represented prosecutors' viewpoints on the Georgia Supreme Court's Commissions on Racial and Ethnic Bias and Equality in the Courts; Governor Roy Barnes' Commission on Certainty in Sentencing; and United States Senator Paul Coverdell's Task Force on Crime/Law Enforcement, for which he served as committee chair. Lawton has also been a tireless advocate for justice at the Capitol, working on legislation to provide equal strikes, victim compensation, and to combat the elder abuse.
Lawton is a former chairman of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, past president of the District Attorneys' Association of Georgia, and served on the Board of the National District Attorneys' Association. Asan experiencedprosecutor and administrator, he participated in a management study team sponsored by the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia and has participated as a faculty member at PAC's annual Basic Litigation and Fundamentals of Prosecution training courses for new prosecutors. Last month, Lawton was selected by the District Attorneys' Association of Georgia to serve as chairman of the organization's Victim Assistance Committee.
After 28 years as district attorney in the Chatham Judicial Circuit, Lawton will retire at the end of this year. When asked about the key to his 28 successful years in prosecution, Lawton was quick to give all the credit to those around him.
"If I've enjoyed a measure of success as DA, it's been because I've surrounded myself with people who are smarter and more able than I am, and then get out of their way," said Lawton. "New DAs would do well to remember that the staff is more important to an office than the district attorney is."
