An Oconee County lawyer who’s been a relentless critic of Western Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez said at an Athens GOP meeting that he’s only getting started.
“There’s a new website that’s going to be launched, and you will see everything I see” from numerous pending open records requests, Kevin Epps told a gathering of local Republicans on June 11. The website is concerned-about-our-da.com.
Epps made headlines in March when, on behalf of Athens bar owner Jarrod Miller, he filed a legal document known as a writ of mandamus asking a judge to order Gonzalez to do her job. After a senior judge refused to dismiss it and wrote that Gonzalez had abused her discretion by not prosecuting certain crimes, she essentially pleaded guilty so that she could appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. But Gonzalez maintains that the writ of mandamus has been weaponized as part of a broader conservative effort to reign in progressive prosecutors, that all DAs have limited resources and have to make decisions about which cases to prosecute, and that if an elected official is not doing their job, other avenues are available, like a recall election.
Epps also discussed a case involving a homeless woman and a man Epps termed a “serial rapist.” Faith Carter—who was named and interviewed on camera by 11Alive in a story that aired June 12—accused Nigel Brown of taking her to an Eastside apartment, threatening her with a concrete block, stabbing her phone and raping her. She was able to escape but left some of her belongings behind, which helped police corroborate her account. According to Epps, Brown took her to the apartment after promising to help her buy a bus ticket back to her hometown of Brunswick. He said that DNA from a rape kit matched Brown’s, and that Brown had been implicated in the rapes of several other homeless women as well.
After Brown’s lawyer filed a motion for a speedy trial, Gonzalez’s office dismissed the case because prosecutors said they could not find Carter. But Epps said Carter had been staying in a Brunswick homeless shelter, and private citizens were able to locate her easily. Epps, who said he is representing Carter pro bono, wants the prosecution to move forward, but the deadline under the speedy trial ruling is coming up in late July. [Update: A judge later reinstated the charges against Brown, denied the motion for a speedy trial and set a trial date for August.]
Epps is also pushing for the reindictment of a father who was accused of raping his 13-year-old daughter. (Flagpole and most media outlets are not identifying the man because doing so could identify the girl as well.) Superior Court Judge Eric Norris ruled last month that Gonzalez violated a Georgia statute known as Marsy’s Law by not properly notifying the victim and her family that the charges were being dropped—according to Epps, because chief deputy DA Robert Wilson did not subpoena a key witness. Gonzalez issued a written apology.
In a related case, Epps is seeking a warrant for Gonzalez’s arrest on felony charges for violating the state Open Records Act after discovering that she told an assistant DA to delete text messages referencing a health issue. That ADA, June Teasley, is prepared to testify, Epps said.
Although speaking before a partisan group, Epps said that he is not motivated by politics. “Forget Republican, Democrat, whatever you want to call it,” he said. “This is human. These are children. The community needs to know about it.”
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