District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez urged a large audience at a candidate forum last week to give her a second term so she can continue reforming the local criminal justice system, while challenger Kalki Yalamanchili argued that she has mismanaged the office, and that he has the experience to get it back on track.
Elected alongside a number of other progressive DAs in 2020—the year of the George Floyd protests and widespread anger about inequities in the system—Gonzalez has since come under criticism for an understaffed office and a number of high-profile missteps. Meanwhile, she cast Yalamanchili—a defense attorney and former prosecutor who’s running as an independent—as a return to the past.
Yalamanchili previously worked for Ken Mauldin, a more conventional Democratic DA who retired in 2020. “My community told me they wanted something different,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez eliminated one of Mauldin’s top deputies in November 2020, then narrowly defeated another in a runoff. “We knew pushback would be swift,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t know it would be this nasty or this hostile.”
Yalamanchili, for his part, was cordial toward Gonzalez during the Oct. 15 forum, held at Hill Chapel Baptist Church, though he did level some pointed criticisms at her record and outspoken political stances. “I believe the district attorney’s office is a place for public service, not a place for politics,” he said.
He called the idea that a candidate cannot support reform and be a “law and order” candidate, as Gonzalez put it, “a false dichotomy.” Yalamanchili said he would seek to address the root problems of crime by utilizing accountability courts for addiction and mental health issues while also securing convictions for serious violent felonies like murder and sexual assault. He described his philosophy as, “Do the right thing the right way regardless of whether anyone is watching.”
Staffing has been a major issue for Gonzalez, who has seen several waves of prosecutors leave the Western Circuit since she took office in 2021. “We don’t pay enough,” Gonzalez said. In addition, she blamed the exodus on attorneys wanting to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and on the sheer number of vacancies statewide after 14 new DAs were elected in Georgia four years ago, leading to competition for new hires.
According to Gonzalez, currently there are only two ADA vacancies on her staff. But Yalamanchili said that seven of eight recent hires have no criminal litigation experience, and four are “apprentices” who have not yet passed the bar. Historically, filling ADA positions has been easy because “people love Athens,” he said, adding that he has spoken to at least a dozen experienced prosecutors who would be willing to work for him if he won. He also said he would renew a partnership with the UGA law school, where he has taught a class the past three years, to recruit new prosecutors.
When Yalamanchili pointed to situations where the DA’s office failed to secure a conviction due to errors like failing to contact victims or letting the statute of limitations expire, Gonzalez in some cases blamed police for not providing enough evidence or the judges who make the final decision. Yalamanchili said her office has lost six of its past seven jury trials, and four did not even make it to the jury because they were dismissed. He said he would establish better relationships with police.
Gonzalez reiterated her pledge not to prosecute abortions or seek the death penalty, while Yalamanchil declined to make any blanket statements, saying that doing so would invite the state to come in and take away those cases from the local DA’s office.
At least two more forums are scheduled—one at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21 at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church and another at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22 at the Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Services Building auditorium on Talmadge Drive. The latter will be broadcast on WGAU 1340 AM.
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