Newton County District Attorney's Office

From District Attorney Randy McGinley: I was asked by the Covington News to confirm whether I sent an email to Ms. Bailey-Butts regarding an issue surrounding a resignation letter. I have seen a copy of this email on social media and comments saying it was from me. The email cited the Supreme Court of Georgia case of Barrow v. Raffensperger. I did NOT send the email nor did anyone in my office. It is not the duty or role of my office to advise the county or any county department on personnel matters. Newton County, as with other local governments, employs or contract with attorneys to address such matters. However, I do not know who sent the email, so I will not speculate here.

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms, grandmas, great grandmas, and expecting moms. Your dedication to and influence on your children means so much!

From District Attorney Randy McGinley: The last two weeks have seen the first criminal jury trials in over 13 months in Newton County. Due to the Covid pandemic, our court systems across the state have been greatly impacted. Not being able to hold jury trials has led to a backlog of cases that were awaiting trial. To help address this, our office and the Courts decided to have a combined 2 week trial calendar where cases not resolved the first week would automatically roll ...over to the second week. This calendar started with 36 cases. 3 cases went to trial and 20 other cases were resolved without a jury trial. Additionally, 3 bench warrants were issued for failure to appear. I want to thank all of the members of the District Attorney's Office, the Assistant District Attorneys, Investigators, Victim Advocates, and Legal Assistants, for their hard work and dedication to seeking justice for our community.

Defendant enters guilty plea mid-trial: Today, in the middle of a trial, Jamey Lee Herringdine entered a guilty plea to 9 counts of Burglary in the Second Degree. These charges were based on Herringdine breaking into and stealing items from numerous storage units at 212 Storage in November of 2019. A few days after the burglaries of the storage units, Herringdine was caught attempting to pawn some of the items that had been stolen. After opening statements and the State pres...enting a handful of witnesses, Herringdine informed the court that he wished to plea guilty to all charges. After the guilty plea, the Court sentenced Herringdine to 15 years with the first 3 years to be served in confinement and the remainder on probation. Additionally, he was banned from Newton County during the sentence. The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Bailey Wilkenson, Assistant District Attorney Griffin Bell, Investigator Lisa Brown, and Victim Services Director Leslie Smith.

District Attorney Randy McGinley announces implementation of updated Pre-Trial Diversion Program: District Attorney Randy McGinley is proud to announce the implementation of an updated Pre-Trial Intervention Program (PTIP) in the Alcovy Judicial Circuit. The program was started in 2017 and since that time it has helped hundreds of individuals get a second chance at having a clean record. This update seeks to continue this success by both streamlining and expanding the program...Continue reading

DA Randy McGinley Announces Office Leadership: https://www.alcovydaoffice.org//da-randy-mcginley-announce Upon becoming the Acting District Attorney in June and being elected as the District Attorney in November, I have spent hours reviewing the structure and policies of the DA's office. Having been a prosecutor in this circuit since 2011 and as the Chief Assistant from 2017- 2020, I have worked extensively in both Newton and Walton Counties. Both these offices are full of ...incredible individuals that work hard to help the people of our communities. I am proud to announce that my office will have two Chief Assistants, one in charge of each office: Cliff Howard is our Chief Assistant in the Walton County Office. Cliff has been a prosecutor in Walton County since 2006. He has prior experience in private practice representing victims of crimes and was previously the Chief Assistant in the DeKalb County Solicitor's Office in the mid-1990s. He has handled the many of the most serious and complicated cases in our Walton Office for years. Additionally, he has years of experience supervising attorneys and assisting the many agencies that we work with. Amber Dally is our Chief Assistant in the Newton County Office. As a career prosecutor, Amber has been prosecuting with our Newton Office since 2014. Amber has been a supervising attorney for a number of years that also handled the prosecution of the most complicated and difficult cases. Additionally, Amber has been the prosecutor assigned to the Newton County Felony Drug Court Program for about two years. Amber and Cliff, as the Chief Assistants, will be assisting the District Attorney in supervising and managing each office. They will also handle many of the serious violent felonies and other complicated cases. Additionally, they will be heavily involved in working with all of the agencies that work with our office: law enforcement, DFCS, child advocacy centers, and other community partners. Additionally, each office will have a Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney. Rich Vandever in Newton and Jennifer Hendee in Walton. Additionally, Jillian Hall is a Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney that is assigned to Resource Courts in each county, Veterans Court in Newton County, and as a supervising attorney in Newton County. Jacqueline Fletcher and Bailey Wilkinson are the Senior Assistant District Attorneys in each office. They will assist in the supervision of other ADAs while handling a wide range of cases including murders, sex crimes, and other complicated matters. I have also included the updated organization chart for the Alcovy Circuit. Over the coming days, I will be highlighting the other senior members of the office as well as the non-attorney members of the leadership team. - Randy McGinley

Last week the District Attorney’s Office gave out our yearly internal awards for 2020. It was a challenging year to say the least and the whole office worked very hard but a few employees were exceptional. The employees pictured below work diligently for the citizens of Newton County day in and day out. The DAs Office would not function without them and the whole community is very lucky to have them! Below pictured left to right, Lisa Brown (Investigator of the year), Sheila... Cornelius (Legal Assistant of the year), Shay Payne (Victim Advocate of the year), Randy McGinley (ADA - or DA in his case, of the year) Randy thought he picked another ADA to be ADA of the year (someone who also works very very hard) but little did he know, we hijacked that plan and made sure he was awarded ADA of the year for his tireless efforts assuring justice for victims in this county. He is a wonderful boss and we are all honored to work for him. Congrats to all!

Today, Randy McGinley was sworn in as the District Attorney of the Alcovy Judicial Circuit, covering Newton and Walton Counties. Randy served has served as the Acting District Attorney since June 2, 2020. He now officially takes office as the District Attorney for a four year term. Randy was sworn in as District Attorney by Judge Layla Zon at the Historic Courthouse in Monroe, Walton County. He was joined for the oath by his wife and two daughters. Also in attendance were Ra...ndy's parents and in-laws, members of the DA's Offices, all of the Superior Court Judges (Chief Judge Ott, Judge Benton, Judge Wynne, Judge Zon, Judge McCamy, and Judge Foster), members of local law enforcement, and friends. From Randy: "I look forward to continuing to serve the people of Newton and Walton Counties as I have for almost 10 years. Our offices are full of wonderful individuals that work day in and day out to achieve justice and help victims of crimes in our communities. I assure you that we will continue to be DA's Office that always strives to do the right thing and works harder than anyone to achieve that. I remain committed to working with the community to ensure that Newton and Walton Counties are a place where we want to raise our families. I cannot thank my wife and family enough for their love and support. I also want to thank everyone that came today and all those that could not but have supported and helped me along the way. Thank you to the people of Newton and Walton County who have entrusted me in this job. And finally, I want to thank everyone in the Newton and Walton DA's Offices for their hard work and dedication in serving our communities." https://www.alcovydaoffice.org//randy-mcginley-sworn-in-as

District Attorney Randy McGinley is proud to announce the hiring of two new career prosecutors that come to the Alcovy Judicial Circuit after years of experience handling the most serious cases and helping the most vulnerable victims: Rich Vandever joins our Newton County Office as a Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney. Rich has been a prosecutor for over 20 years. Rich has handled prosecutions of murders, sex crimes, and other of the most difficult and complicated cases.... Additionally, he has years of experience in supervising and training prosecutors and law enforcement. Jennifer Hendee joins our Walton County Office as a Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney with about 15 years of prior experience as a prosecutor. Jennifer has prosecuted murders, human trafficking, sex crimes, and other serious matters. She also has experience supervising other prosecutors. Please join me in welcoming Rich and Jennifer to the Alcovy Judicial Circuit. - Randy McGinley https://www.alcovydaoffice.org//new-prosecutors-start-in-n

The Superior Court Judges of Newton County have appointed Judge Candice Branche to be the next Juvenile Court Judge in Newton County. The DA’s Office looks forward to working with Judge Branche to keep our communities safe and help the young people of our community reach their potential. Judge Branche’s experience so wide ranging and will serve Newton County in so many ways. She is currently an associate Probate and Magistrate Judge. In addition to that she was the juvenile... court prosecutor for years and served as a Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney handling serious felonies in Superior Court while also working with younger prosecutors. Prior to law school, Judge Branche directed youth and adult programs for multiple organizations. We are excited about having a Juvenile Judge that is such a great person who has served Newton County for more than a decade. - District Attorney Randy McGinley

Both the Newton County and Walton County District Attorney’s Offices are closed today in honor of the life and service of Martin Luther King, Jr.. As a nation, we take today to remember his words and actions of inspiration and his service to others. We will reopen tomorrow morning at 8am.

On Monday, December 21, Breanna McKnight and Hunter McCreight were sworn in as attorneys and as Assistant District Attorneys. They both had been serving victims and citizens of Newton County for months under the Provisional Law License while waiting on the great news that they passed the Georgia Bar Exam. Judge Layla Zon gave the oath of an attorney and as an ADA to Mr. McCreight. Judge Zon also swore in Ms. McKnight as an ADA. Earlier that day, Ms. McKnight was sworn in as an attorney by Clayton County Superior Court Judge Powers.

Be sure you thank all the law enforcement officers out there today on National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day! Those that put on the uniform every day do so much to keep all of us safe. Thank you for your work and your sacrifices.

Breaking news from the Supreme Court of Georgia: Chief Justice Harold Melton just announced that he will be issuing an Order that cancels all jury trials in the State until at least the middle of February. Both Newton and Walton had been preparing for jury trials for the week of January 11th. This included regular meetings with the judges, DA's Office, defense attorneys, law enforcement, health departments, and others to ensure they would be conducted in a manner that was s...afe for everyone. However, the rise in numbers of positive cases of Covid-19 was on our radar and something that we were all watching closely. Anyone that received a notice to appear or a subpoena for jury trials to begin on January 11th does not need to appear in court that day. Our offices are working to make sure everyone knows of this cancellation. Further updates will be shared when there is relevant news. Currently, only jury trials have been cancelled. Jury trials vary greatly from other court matters because a much larger number of individuals must be summoned to the courthouse so that jury selection can be conducted. Therefore, other criminal and civil court is still moving forward with an emphasis on handling matters using video conferencing when possible. The DA's Office will continue to be a part of this process in ensuring that the justice system can still function but does so in a safe manner. - District Attorney Randy McGinley

Office Schedule for Christmas week: Please be aware that the Walton County District Attorney's Office as well as the rest of the Walton County Government Building will be closing Thursday, December 24th, at noon. The courthouse and the DA's office will remain closed until Monday, December 28th due to the Christmas Holiday. Because our office and the Newton County Superior Court Clerk's Office will be closed, Temporary Protective Orders will not be able to be processed. Any T...PO application will need to be completed by 10:30am Thursday morning. Please be mindful, that if you are ever in fear for your immediate safety or that of your family, call 9-1-1.