March 21, 2025 • 47 mins
On this episode of Peachtree Corners Life, host Rico Figliolini speaks with Gwinnett County Solicitor General Lisamarie Bristol about her work addressing the county’s growing case volume and implementing new justice initiatives.
Key Takeaways & Highlights:
Key Takeaways & Highlights:
- Understanding the Solicitor General’s Role – How the office prosecutes misdemeanors, traffic offenses, and quality-of-life cases.
- 4,000-Case Backlog Solution – Strategies to streamline processes and improve case resolution speed.
- New Legal Resource Website – How Gwinnett residents can access critical legal information and victim advocacy services.
- Diversion Program Success – Over 1,400 successful cases, providing alternatives to prosecution and preventing repeat offenses.
- Special Victims Unit – Dedicated to handling sensitive cases like misdemeanor sex crimes and vehicular homicides.
- Teen Dating Violence & Social Media Risks – How technology is impacting legal cases involving young people.
- Expanding Access to Legal Support – Partnerships with Mosaic Georgia, PADV, and HIMSA House to assist victims and underserved communities.
- Justice System Challenges – Addressing mental health, substance abuse, and legislative changes affecting prosecution.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Compassion and kindness and respect, whether the defendant or the victims.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
You're listening to Peachtree Corner's Life, a podcast sharing ideas, opinions,
and news about the city of Peachtree Corners, the community
we live in, and the people that are your neighbors.
Now your host, Rico Figliolini.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hi, everyone, This is Rico Figliolini, host of peach Tree
Corner's Life. I appreciate you guys joining us. We're a
little smart city just north of Atlanta. I have a
great guest today, Lisa Marie Bristol, Solicitor General for Guenetta County.
I appreciate you joining me, Lisa so much.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Rico is a pleasure to be back with you.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yes, this is our second podcast together. It was I
think the last one was just before you got elected, Yes, right,
twenty two.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I was still campaigning, so probably about three years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Now yep, yep, yep. Yeah, you took office January twenty three,
so a good tenure. So lots to talk about, right, yes,
But before we get to that, I just want to
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our journalism podcasts and the magazines that we produce. So
(02:35):
but let's get to Lisa, and let's get to do
you prefer Lisa, Lisa Marie Marie. Actually, okay, Lisa Marie.
So you've been tenured in the job of Solicitor General
for Gweneta County since twenty three of January. For those
people that aren't aware, tell them what the job entails.
(02:56):
What does that job to do in this county?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well, thank you so much again for having me here today.
I'm really honored full circle moment. You were the first
podcast I did when I was first campaigning for this seat,
so it is wonderful to be back here as solicitor General.
My job as the elected prosecutor is to handle prosecuting
cases in state court reporters court, and we handle all
(03:21):
of the misdemeanors, the traffic offenses, the code enforcement animal cases,
so everything that's not a felon comes through my court.
My office is responsible for prosecuting cases in eleven courtrooms.
We are the second largest office in the state of
Georgia in terms of solicitor general offices, and we are
(03:42):
definitely a high volume office. So anything from dy domestic
violence cases that cases that are misdemeanor amounts, as well
as traffic offenses and quality of life cases like junkyard
and animal barking cases, all those are prosecuted through my office.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Wow, it's a lot of that's a lot. And I
remember when we first spoke back back then that there
was a huge case backlog of I think over four
thousand cases in twenty two and it was going to
be a challenge for anyone that took office the amount
of courts, the amount of work to be done, and
(04:25):
trying to make it in an efficient way. So you've
started some programs to help better work the system, if
you will, versus the system working you. So one of
the things you all set up, and maybe you could
tell us about it, is the launching of the new
website and what that does for anyone that needs to
(04:46):
interact with the agency, with the department.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Absolutely. One thing I realized is a lot of people,
understandably just don't really know what my office does. And
the reality is is most people will interact with a
Solicitory General's office, traffic court or something at that level.
Lots of people get traffic tickets or they may be
the unfortunate victim of a traffic accident. There's lots of
(05:13):
lower level misdemeanor public safety or public nuisance crimes that
may touch our community, where they may be a victim
or a witness to a car accident case or something
that occurred in their community, not necessarily the severe violent
crimes all the time. And so one thing that I
thought was really important was reaching our community and reaching
(05:36):
our community in a way that they got an opportunity
to understand what we do, how we do it, and
why we do it in not a very traumatic way.
And so we created this website which allows us to
give out information that we know. We're constantly being asked
about things like record restrictions for people with the older
(05:57):
cases and older convictions to clear their record, with lots
of information on there about that, lots of information about
our victim advocacy program and how victims and survivors of
crimes can receive resources and help and assistance if they
need it. And we also talk a lot about what
my office does and how we can help people what
(06:18):
we're here to do. So if you go to BUENETTSSG
dot com, there's just lots of different nuggets of information.
One thing on the website that I'm especially proud about
is we started a safety resource library. But we're trying
to periodically add different topics, whether it's team driving safety
(06:41):
or you know, duy safety PSA. So people can kind
of go there and kind of get like the high
level that's some bolts about different topics that affect everyone
in our community and just get some quick information.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Well, you also have some additional links to the websites
that are helpful as well. That seems right when I
can't sports website and all that.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yes, we have websites and links to all of our
other county stakeholder partners as well as lots of resources
to other agencies that serve victims in the community. So
whether it is somebody who needs help for domestic violence,
they need shelter, they need resources, food, culturally relevant services.
(07:27):
We've tried to provide kind of a one stop shop
if this is where somebody ends up to find all
of the things that they could possibly need. Additionally, we
have the generic contact us page where if you reach
out to us if you can't find the information on
our page, contact and send us an email and if
we don't have the answer, we will definitely try and
(07:48):
point you in the right direction of who does.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
And the good part is that the site can be
read in not just Spanish, but Russian, Portuguese, in German, French, Dutch, Chinese, Arabic,
a few languages.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yes, whatever language you need. I mean, Gwennette County is
the most diverse county in the entire United States. I
don't know if anyone had the opportunity to see our
chairwoman deliver the state of the county earlier this month,
but we have for the longest time, Guenet's been known
as the most diverse county in the southeast region of
(08:25):
the US. We've recently been recognized as the most diverse
county in the country. I think that's phenomenal, and as such,
I thought it was very important to have a website
that could properly serve such a diverse and vibrant community. So, yes,
all of the languages are available for the click of
a button.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, that must complicate things, I'm sure in the court
rooms as well, right a little bit.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
It does. And we try and have you know, court
certified reporters as quickly as possible when needed. And I'm
grateful for the resources that we do have and definitely
trying to expand the resources that we have. Even within
my office. One of the things that we definitely worked
on was making sure some of the core victim resources
(09:12):
that we put out on a regular basis we developed
them in more than just English and Spanish. We expended them,
I believe, to Korean, Amandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, some of the
more regularly seen languages that we were seeing throughout the community. Sure,
make sure that we can reach people where they.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Are, for sure. I mean there's a large Korean population,
Vietnamese population in Guinnec County. Yeah, so it must be so.
I mean with the growth of the county, which continues
to grow, with second largest county in the state a
million plus residents, and that's going to keep growing, probably
as much as twenty percent over the next decade. I
(09:52):
bet easy. How does that affect your office? How does
that affect budgeting and the things that you have to
do well?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Growth is a thing. Actually, the day I took office,
my office growth. So we gained an extra judge in
our circuit and a seventh State Court judge. And gaining
an extra seventh State Court judge meant growing my office
by an extra team. And that was day one. And yes,
(10:21):
we do continue to grow. We do see an increase
in numbers of cases that have come in. I think
we've seen a growth of approximately two thousand cases per
year so far that coming through State Court. Two to
three thousand citations per year in increasing coming through our
reporter's court, and the growth is something that we do
have to deal with. I have increased my staffing levels
(10:44):
and kind of restructured not kind of actually restructured how
my office handles cases and an effort to be as
efficient as possible. We have flipped how we look at
our cases. So we are frontloading a lot of the work.
And what I mean by that is the effort that
we're putting in. Every single case that comes through my
(11:04):
office has to be touched, It has to be investigated.
We have to reach out to the victims. We have
to make these first critical touches and calls and safety
planning and things like that. That has to happen no
matter what. At the beginning of twenty twenty four, we
had approximately fourteen thousand cases. Opening this office for State
(11:25):
Court a learn but by frontloading the work, by having
my amazing investigations unit, my amazing victim Advocate unit, who
all since I took office been nationally credential and a
forward a lot of training into both teams. What we're
able to do is we're able to figure out which
of those cases need further resources and need to be
(11:49):
prosecuted at a higher level, versus which ones we can
divert and put into our diversion program or which ones
we need to go ahead and put in our accountability
for it. By identifying those low level offenses, By identifying
those low level or non frequent buyers, so to speak,
we're able to kind of reserve some of that energy
(12:11):
and efficiency, so we can put that towards the cases,
the more serious violent cases that we know lead our attention.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
So we're talking about the implementation of the diversion unit
essentially and how that freezes up the case, well not
frees up, but certainly freezes up the time. I can
see why you want to front load that to just
it's almost a trioge in a way, because the flood
keeps coming, right, it doesn't stop. You can't even put
up your end and say, whoa, it's going to get more,
(12:42):
just essentially, even just because of the expansion of population,
just a natural thing of it. So how do you
identify these cases sooner than later. How what makes you
delay them? What or or divert them? Excellent criteria to use.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
That's a great question. So diversion, for those who don't know,
pre charge the version is an alternative prosecution. So what
it means is that someone who either has a minimal
or no criminal history is given the opportunity to still
be held accountable for their behavior, but rather than it
ending up for them having a criminal conviction and criminal history,
(13:22):
it gives them an opportunity to participate in this program
pre adjudication and keep a clean record if they successfully
complete the program. So typically a diversion program will be
for someone who is either a youthful offender with very
few cycles on their criminal history less than free, someone
who's not been convicted of any felonies or any violent crimes,
(13:46):
as someone who's maybe had a couple of traffic citations,
anything that's not violent or overly serious things like that.
They come into the program, they have they feed, they
usually have to do some forms of community service. The
fee is not exorberant. They'll do some community service and
they may have to do well. They will have to
(14:07):
do some sort of treatment. Maybe it's anchor management. Maybe
it is a values clarification course, if it's a death
based class. Maybe it's defensive driving, if it's a traffic
events or something of that nature. But they complete their
portion in hopes that we are addressing what got them
there in the first place. Right, And once they successfully
(14:29):
get through the program, which takes about six months with
no further arrests or any running into the law, the
trade off is we will unexpannge their record, we'll dismiss
their case, and their record will remain clean. So it
gives them an opportunity to have Yes, they did mess up,
(14:49):
Yes they did get a case, they were held accountable,
they did have to pay their fine, they had to
be supervised for six months, they had to go up
through this program, but they hopefully learned the lesson from
it and they have a chance to have a do
over without having the tarnish of a criminal record on
their on their back.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
So does this just because the question pops to mind,
I'm sure that other people might have the same question.
Number one of these minors, or this would be anyone anyone.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
It depends on their criminal risk history. So if we're
instant someone who's in their fifties for the first time
comes into contact with the criminal justice system and has
a slip up and they've never done anything. They too
would be eligible for a diversion program and would be
(15:40):
able to maintain a clean history. That happen well. As
I've said before, and what I campaigned on, is knowing
that convictions, even to misconmeanors, can have such a dire
impact on people's lives. It can keep from being student loans,
from you know, stable housing, from jobs, from serving in
(16:01):
the military. There's a lot of things that can impact them.
People with criminal histories may be prohibited from even getting
a liquor license, which may prevent them from being able
to get a job as a server at a restaurant.
So our goal is for those who are low risk,
who have made a mistake, who may be restorative, to
(16:25):
have that opportunity to do so. And so we've really
expanded our diversion program. We've expanded our reach. We've tried
to get people into our diversion program as quickly as possible,
and I'll tell you our numbers are impressive so far.
Between twenty three and twenty four, we put in about
nineteen hundred people into our diversion program nineteen hundred cases
(16:47):
excuse me, with over fourteen hundred cases successfully completing, So
we have about a success rate of successful completion of
about seventy four percent on our devsion case. We haven't
tracked this year yet, so I guess.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So I guess the question for me would be a
couple of questions. One is, how do you keep track
of that? That's a lot of people, you know, how
do you keep track of it and make sure that
it's done in a comprehensive way, because you know, people
can do things and fool around and stuff, and maybe
you're not getting quite all the information, But so how
(17:26):
can you track that reasonably well? And the second part
is when you expunge the record, what if they come
back into the system, do you still well, you still
know that they're a repeater fender at that point or
because the cases the records exponge, you don't have that record.
So I guess that's that's the two questions that I
(17:46):
know that would come to mind to a listener.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Questions. So for the first one, how do we keep track? Well, first,
my office keeps track of We have a team that
is dedicated solely to our diversion right, and so their
sole responsibilities keeping track of sending out the offers, maintaining
the offers, signing them up, keeping up with their monthly
(18:09):
check ins. They are actually supervised by the probation office,
not by my office, but they are responsible for staying
on track of them and at certain timelines, checking in
to ensure that certain cases have hit certain benchmarks to
see that we're on track. If someone has absconded or
has disappeared or is not doing what they need to do,
(18:31):
that team then pulls that case. We're notified by probation,
we pull that case, and that case is then put
on the regular track for prosecution, which would account for
the twenty six percent of people who unfortunately did not
successfully complete their program. So we have multiple ways to
track it both internally within my team as well as
(18:53):
the independent probation office that handles the actual supervision of
the people in the program. In terms of how do
we know if they're second offender? Is the great thing
is well, what people don't always know is for criminal records,
there's levels. Right as a criminal justice agency, we will
(19:15):
always see somebody's entire criminal history. So even though the
record is expunged. That means for employers for housing for
those reasons, Yes, it is expunge. The law enforcement will
always be able to see it, so I will always
have access to their entire criminal history and see whether
or not they've already been afforded an opportunity to go
(19:36):
through diversion on a previous case. So those are all
things that are checked prior to them being admitted into
our program.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well, okay, great, that answered my questions on that, So
glad to say that that that that would work that way.
Anything else but the diversion unit that you'd like to share.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I think one of the things I'm really happy about
with our diversion unit is we are working really hard
to stand the service providers within it. And by that,
I mean we're trying to find as we are such
a diverse county and not just in culture, but in needs,
so we're really trying to find diverse service providers that
we can refer people to. That means having a variety
(20:18):
of different types of anger management courses, not just always
sending people to the same provider. The reality of it
is is if you have to say a twenty three
year old young lady, she might respond very differently to
an anger management course than to say, a thirty year
old man, And we're trying to be mindful of things
(20:38):
like that and having a better rolodex of options so
that people can be placed with the most impactful provider
that will actually help them buy into the reformation and
actually make a difference in what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Are you working with nonprofits in Quinnett County as well
that do outreach of the sort.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yes, And as we go around and we meet new nonprofits,
I have members of my team who are able to
kind of vet what they're able to do, how they're
able to do it, and whether or not we can
refer people not only through our diversion program, but sometimes
through regular bargains with our defendants. Sometimes victims and cases
(21:23):
need some of these resources. Sure, it's really been helpful
to kind of build these relationships with our community partners
and other nonprofits so we know what's out there and
so that we can utilize them and they can get
the support as well.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Cool there's another program that you implement that as well,
the Duty Attorney Pilot Program. I know you're proud of
that as well, So tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
One thing we recognized when I took off as is
that unfortunately, some people are unable to bond out of
the jail. They get arrested on a misdemener charge and
they may have they may they will have a bond,
but they may be unable to post the bond for
various reasons, and for every day that they're in jail
that leads to housing instability, job instability. They can really
(22:14):
have a huge impact on them. And some of these
primes are again you know, nuisance primes or non violent
crimes that could destabilize them. One of the things I
worked really hard with and did take partnership with other
community partners, with other stakeholders rather was getting a schedule
so that we could have duty defense attorneys scheduled to
(22:37):
be at each one of my jail calendars. We do
three jail calendars a week so far, hopefully geting free
set soon and at each of those jail calendars there
is a duty defense attorney. That means every person that
we can get ready and put on those calendars has
the opportunity to resolve their case, even if they would
(22:57):
otherwise not have had that opportunity, or they would have
head to it a little bit longer, or an appointed
to turn to maybe get to one. The reality is
we don't have a public defender's office here in Whene,
and our indigent defense defendants are dependent upon the attorneys
who take the cases, and sometimes they're stretched thin. Sometimes
(23:19):
there's conflicts, things happen, people get stuck in other courtrooms.
And what was happening is sometimes with defendants in jail
got stuck because their attorneys could not make it for
various reasons. I really wanted to address that, and having
the do Need Pilot program has worked. It's worked a
great deal. I'm very proud of it. We've been able
(23:40):
to increase our volume, increase our calendar sizes, and really
start to move those cases on a more consistent basis,
because honestly, the cases that we've identified that can be
fast tracked, our goal is to get them out of
the jail, let them be held accountable for whatever they've done,
and keep moving forward. It saves the county, it's better
(24:03):
for us in terms of safety, and that's definitely what
we're working forwards.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
So obviously you're addressing a lot of the pressing challenges
of the office, and you've told it right since twenty three.
There's other challenges as well, and you've implemented another program,
the Special Victims Unit program that you all did and
very important part right for the other side of that crime.
(24:31):
So tell us a bit about the Special Victims Unit.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
So when I took office, one of the things I
also recognize is there some cases that just require an
extra care. I'm very fortunate I've had the experience to
all types of crimes throughout my career on both sides,
whether it's been from traffic through serious violent felonies as
(24:55):
both a public vendor and a prosecutor. And sometimes there
are crimes that just require a little bit more TLC,
a little bit more attention, more training to deal with them.
We have a great deal of misting of sex crimes
that the legislature has parked out to be handled in
state court app and those are crimes of sexual natures
(25:17):
that occur between consensual teenagers and one between fourteen and eighteen,
sometimes thirteen seventeen, and frankly, those just are very sensitive
that the subject matter is sensitive. All the facts you
surrounding the topics are sensitive both parties on both sides,
usually the parents and the guardians involved. It can be
(25:38):
very sensitive, and I recognize really quickly that it was
important to have a team that could really dive deeper
and focus in on that that I could spend extra
time training and focusing their attention on handling those cases
with the extra care they really do require. So are
(26:01):
misdoing our sex crimes? Vehicular homicides which our cases were
unfortunately due to a traffic accident, someone has passed away,
and those are horrendous cases to deal with, but unfortunately
they have it, so it's an accident, the loved one
has passed away. Again, very sensitive, very highly emotional at
(26:25):
times and requires a little bit of extra attention. And
so there are just certain crimes that have been that
we're seeing an increase in volume at times in the office.
So that has the largest school district in the state,
so a lot of kit cases and just needed that
extra touch and so creating this Special Victims Unit was
(26:48):
my solution to that.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Are you finding I mean, so there wasn't anything like
that before? Or is this new or you improving on
what might have been there?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Special Victims Unit is brand new to this office. There
was anything like that in this office.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Are you finding any trends in that part. Let's stick
to that for a second. When you say, you know,
we are we have the largest school district, you know,
and parents worry about the safety of their kids, both
inside the school and outside. Are you finding any trends
that you're seeing that you'd like to share.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
What we are seeing is we know that teens are
engaging in intimate and romantic relationships younger on these days,
and they're explosed to a lot more they are, whether
it's on their phones, on the media, what have you.
And we are seeing that they are exposed and more
experimental with things earlier now than probably several years ago,
(27:47):
ten years ago you did. And I think that's part
of the reason why this whole kind of Romeo and
Juliette for sex crimes is carved out. So what my
office is trying to do is not only are we
only just the creation of this special Victims unit, we're
also trying to be very proactive. So, for instance, February's
Team Dating Violence Awareness run and my office participated in
(28:10):
a number of activities trying to get ahead of it.
And what we did was we participated in we did
resource table in here at the courthouse where we set
up tables with tons of information about team dating violence,
where we could share the importance on the signs of
healthy dating, maintement partnerships, and just regular partnerships among teams.
(28:33):
We actually went out and we were in five different
high schools throughout the month of February where we invited
over their lunch periods to meet with various teenagers throughout
the Brunette Pinning schools and talk to them and meet
them where they are about healthy dating habits, healthy boundaries,
(28:54):
how to seek help if they felt like they were
in an unsafe situation, whether it's a friendship or an
intimate partnership, because what we do know is sometimes teens
don't feel comfortable or don't want to talk to their parents.
So we were able to give them other resources. Here
are some toll free numbers you can call. Here's some
(29:15):
safe adults you can speak to, due to your teachers,
due to your counselors, if that's what you need to do.
Here are some red flags you need to consider. So
we're really trying to be proactive with educating the public
as well, not just being reactive.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Are you seeing any activity or exposure to social media
that you have to attend to and some of the
cases that you do.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
We do. Sometimes a big part of it is explaining
to teams the impact of some of the things that
they're doing on their phones and the potential pitfalls to
some of that behavior. And a lot of times going
out to the schools that whether it's just the teen
Dating Violence Awareness tabling event or just being at their
career first or going to days and speaking to different
(30:01):
youth groups and answering those questions has been really beneficial.
We also participated in a teen Summit where we had
a panel discussion. There was an attorney, an advocate, and
an investigator from my office that all participated in the
Teen Summit, which was in partnership with PABB the Partnership
(30:21):
Against Domestic Violence, huge event over at Guess South last month,
and they had the opportunity to ask those kinds of questions,
what is what happens if I take this picture and
I send it to my friend, or if I get
this picture and I send it out to my other friends.
So I think having those conversations with young people in
(30:42):
a space where maybe they feel a little bit more
comfortable asking those questions has definitely been helpful and we're
sure we're certainly trying to make sure that when we
were talking to them, they understand who we are and
they're meeting us not on the worst day of their life,
and that kind of trust to look forward with us.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
I like the way you put that, not on the
worst day of their life. Yes, because some kids don't,
you know, I think I think critical thinking sometimes is
lacking depending on the age, and they think, you know,
they get a picture from from a friend from a
friend and they think it's okay to put it out
because they didn't shoot it, you know, and it's like,
you know whatever. But yeah, some of these kids just
(31:26):
you want them to grow up a little faster in
how they think, but you don't want them grow up
too fast, right exactly. Technology, you know, that's always a
we're talking about phones and smartphones and all sorts of things.
How has technology affected you good and bad? Either in
(31:47):
office to make efficiencies or in other ways? Are the
innovative technologies you're only using? How does that work?
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And so one of the things we were able to do,
you and me coming into office is we did apply
for some federal art of funding and you know the
art of funding was an airmarked for offices affected by
the COVID backlog, and I was like, hey, that's us,
We are definitely affected by the COVID backlog and very
(32:18):
great well, we were able to apply for some of
that art of funding to enhance and upgrade a lot
of the technology in our office, whether it is scanners
for our investigators so that they can move quicker in
uploading evidence as along with our trial assistant, just making
sure we had had the equipment that my team needs
(32:39):
to work more efficiently. So those are things that we
were able to do and does help us do our
drunk water right.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
You talked about a lot about community outreages just before
you talked about, you know, preventative preventing crime, crime awareness
in the community, promoting that. Are there any significant partnerships
to collaborate that you're dealing with other agencies within the
county that may not have been done before that you're
expanding on.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yes, some of the One of the first partnerships that
we were able to forge was with Mosaic Georgia. Mosaic
Georgia is a nonprofit here in Gwennette County and they
service victims and survivors of sexual assault crimes. They do
free SAE exams, they do free counseling and suenzick interviews
and anything that somebody may need. If schools reach out
(33:32):
to them, if the victim which is out to them,
They're a one stop shop. They're an amazing organization. Mosaic
is someone is an organization that I think is critical
to a county like Bunette and what they do which
is so important. I was really excited to develop a
partnership with them. They are one of the nonprofits that
(33:55):
receive benefits from the annual five K at my office
does it's our signature that so every October we've done
too so far, we do our Dash for Domestic Violence
Awareness five K the first Saturday in October at Alexander
Park and the proceeds from that five K, every single
(34:15):
penny we raise, whether it's from registrations from runners and
participants or sponsorships, is divided amongst Mosaic. Georgia Partnership Against
Domestic Violence or PADV, which is another nonprofit that survivors
of domestic violence Localan and Gwenette County. They also service
them in Fulton County. We have a shelter here in
(34:38):
Gwennett County under KADV they assist survivors with getting TPOs
and protective orders. They will help house them for about
ninety days as they get back on their feet and
give them some housing, stability, childcare, a little bit of
job training to help people who are leaving those really
hard situations, stabilizing how a moment to catch their breath
(35:01):
with dignity so that they can hopefully make that pivot
and launch to a better place. And we also have
formed the partnerships of the hempsa House. A HEMPS to
House is probably one of the more unique organizations that
my office has partnered with on a steady basis. The
(35:21):
third recipient of proceeds from the five p a Hemps
to House houses animals when people are leaving the massive
violent situations. What a lot of people don't realize is
about seventy percent of people who would leave a violent
situation do not because of their pets. And they don't
want to leave their pet be kind, they have no
(35:42):
escape to bring them. The Hemps to House will house
their pets up to a certain amount of time, and
not just cats and dogs. And I ask them every year,
what's the most interesting animal they've had for the year.
They've house horses, snakes, dogs, They have quite an interesting list.
(36:03):
But it gives that survivor that extra level of peace there.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
I didn't even think about that. That makes a lot
of sense. When you think about that, other things come
to mind also. Then yeah, it's just amazing. So let's
shift gears a little bit. And because you know you're
not you don't live in a silo, right Georgia State
House legislators they'd like to pass laws. And you know,
(36:32):
even if we need them or don't need them, the
reforms that are happening at the state level or I
need legislation, they tend to impact a variety of people,
a variety of organizations. I am sure they impact sometimes
the prosecution of cases or stuff. What what what approach
do you have to that and what what do you
see happening in the state house currently that might affect
(36:56):
when a case.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Is Yeah, that is an ex one question, especially right
of us just getting over a crossover day. What I
think what we're seeing is in the legislature is sometimes
we have lawmakers who have the best of intentions and
they want to fix fun problem, and it sometimes causes
(37:18):
it down domino effect down the line, and we don't
always have the opportunity to be like, wait, wait, wait,
let's stop and think how this can play out, because
you're going to pass this lovely law and then you're
going to hand it to me to enforce it. And
so the way I approach it is I really do
try and be open and have relationships with my Georgia delevations.
(37:42):
I actually spend as much time as I can down
at the Capital while they're inception, so I've been down
there quite a bit. I have conversations with different committees.
I've testified before the committees and offered input on the
legislation that is being put before the Senate or before
the House, to make sure that they understand the impact
(38:04):
of what it is that they're trying to put out there,
and maybe we consider some of the wording, we consider
some of the clauses. And I think having that open
dialogue and having the availability to do that makes a
huge difference. And I think it makes an impact because
they know before they do something, they know they have
(38:26):
a partnership in their prosecutors and they can say, hey,
is this going to mess you up? I was just
going to mess you up. How do we shift that?
And I've we've definitely seen some improvement, I think uncertainly things,
not all things. By having that communication.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Do you do a specific legislative reform or policies you
would like to see updated that hasn't been touched yet.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I would love to see us have some updates on
or some better clarity on our intention with the most
neo sex cases. That's been one of the things that
I've been talking about probably the most since taking office,
just in terms of intent and direction and some better guidance.
It's a it's a really sensitive topic and I would
(39:17):
love to dive a little deeper into that. And generally,
you know, most recently they've passed some more law I
don't feel to the governor's desk or not then survived
a crossover day regarding how we are assisting victims. We
need to be victims centered and whether or not victims
(39:37):
can include their pets for TBO protection and things like that.
So I think we're seeing the legislature becoming more sensitive
and aware to be to a more victims centered, trauma
informed approach, and I think that's important in this work
that we're.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
Doing cool mental health, substance abuse. I mean we talked,
we touch upon that a little bit. Is there anything
you want to share about that as far as some
of those issues mental health issues?
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Basically, I think mental health is an issue that we're
continued to see in the community as we continue to
search for resources that I think that's going to be
our biggest downside is finding the right amount of resources
to assist the people who need it. I think we're trying.
I think we're at least acknowledging that, you know, are
(40:29):
the people that we're scared of, and the people that
we're upset with, and then people that are just in
your sense, And I think we're finally moving into an
air where being able can't treat them all the same
for the people who there are real issues mental health,
it becomes okay, well what can I do so you
don't just keep it coming back? We don't quite have
(40:49):
the answers yet, but definitely working on it to make
sure we're not just putting them on that hamster wheel
so they keep putting back.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yes, I mean that's you know, I think we're all
all field to some degree. We're on a Hampstead wheel.
Right day keeps going, which is that by the time
Friday comes Monday colms, we're still doing the same old,
same old, and you want to make sure that you
don't keep doing that right the So okay you I mean,
(41:17):
you're only in this now. It's been two years, well.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Years in my third year now there two years and
two and a half months.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
So too early to talk about a legacy of leaving
a legacy in Quintic County. But but what would you
like that to be if that was the case, what
is the most important thing that you'd like to make
sure you left if you don't want you to leave.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
That's a really great question. Thank you for that. I
would really love to know that you can look back
at the work that my office does, the work that
my team does, the work that I do, that it
makes an impact, that it leaves people better than how
we think that. I do understand that a big part
(42:06):
of what I do is supporting victims during some of
the hardest times of life, trying to keep them really
safe during you know, really hard times of goods UI
or domestic violence cases, or or whether it's a family
breathing the loss of a loved wine that can be
really hard work. My desire is to have a legacy
(42:29):
knowing that people look back and say, even though it
was a really hard time, it's most of the Bristol's
team treating me with compassion and kindness and respect and dignity,
whether they ever be defendant or the victim or the witness,
and that even when held accountable, they came out knowing
(42:52):
about what happened to one was there. That is the
legacy I really want to leave because sometimes you may
not like what happens to you. You're not like me,
how accountable, but you can still acknowledge that it's fair.
And I think that's important to me. It's very important
to me that what the work we are doing, we
are supporting the victims, you're educating resources and do what
(43:15):
we can, but who are still treating everyone who didn't
being compassion and being fair and how we do it?
Speaker 3 (43:22):
I gotta I gotta believe being a mother of three
middle schoolers and high schoolers, that that probably informs a
little bit about how you feel about doing these things.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Absolutely that I do. I'm always mindful that my children
are watching me, and I never ever want to do
anything that I would be ashamed to do.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
In front of them, so absolutely, Well, yeah, the kids
are definitely watching, even when we're thinking they're.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Not watching all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Final question, I guess you came in on. I won't
say it was a wave or anything, but you came
in during a time of a lot of elections going
on in twenty two, a lot of changing of the seats,
if you will. Changing of the chairs feels like musical
chairs sometimes I keep going back and forth, but I
(44:12):
think there was some good expansion, some good, good things done.
What would you consider saying to someone seeking a career
in public service or law enforcement? Iguineccunty, what would you
say to them that they should that they should know
about from your experience?
Speaker 1 (44:30):
I think anyone who wants to serve publicly has to
know it can't be about them. It has to be
about people. It's a very humbling experience. And you may
think you're right, and you may think you have the
best approach, and you may you might be correct, but
it is this work is not for the batter part.
(44:52):
I will say, knowing when you walk them to public service,
you will walk from into a situation where you are
dealing with a cruise ship. Not to speak of it,
and it's going to be small, incremental changes that make
the biggest impact. And sometimes it's easy to get lost
in thinking I'm not doing enough. But if you take
(45:14):
a breath and you look back over it and you
know where you're heading, it's worth it. It's absolutely worth it.
And so when I look back at where we started
on Janius Versus twenty twenty three, where my team is today,
it was small, it was small steps along the way,
but I am incredibly proud of the work that we're
(45:35):
doing and I'm absolutely looking forward to continuing it on
into a second term.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
So we've been speaking to Lisa Marie, Bristol Solicitor General
gwennec County. Appreciate the time you're giving us. Thank you,
Thank you, Lisa Marie, hang in there with me for
a minute. I just want to say thank you to
our sponsors again, Evy Modeling and Vox Popular for the
great support of these podcasts, the magazine and well that
we do. If you have questions for Lisa Marie, certainly
(46:04):
if you're watching this on Facebook, YouTube or x leave
them in the comments, post them. I'll have links in
the show notes as well, so you can reach out
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your friends and share our video podcasts as well. Really
(46:25):
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the City of Peachtree Corners. Thank you everyone, and.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Thank you Lisami, thanks for listening to Peachtree Corner's Life
with Rico Figliolini. You can listen to the show wherever
podcasts are found, like iHeartRadio, Spotify, and Apple Podcast. Leave
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(46:57):
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(47:18):
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Compassion and kindness and respect, whether the defendant or the victims.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
You're listening to Peachtree Corner's Life, a podcast sharing ideas, opinions,
and news about the city of Peachtree Corners, the community
we live in, and the people that are your neighbors.
Now your host, Rico Figliolini.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hi, everyone, This is Rico Figliolini, host of peach Tree
Corner's Life. I appreciate you guys joining us. We're a
little smart city just north of Atlanta. I have a
great guest today, Lisa Marie Bristol, Solicitor General for Guenetta County.
I appreciate you joining me, Lisa so much.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Rico is a pleasure to be back with you.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yes, this is our second podcast together. It was I
think the last one was just before you got elected, Yes, right,
twenty two.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I was still campaigning, so probably about three years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Now yep, yep, yep. Yeah, you took office January twenty three,
so a good tenure. So lots to talk about, right, yes,
But before we get to that, I just want to
say thank you to our sponsors. We have two great
corporate sponsors, both based in Peacetree Corners. Both family run.
Ev Remodeling, Inc. Is a company that does great work.
(01:27):
You have a dream home, they can build it, renovate it,
add home space to you, renovate your bathrooms, your kitchens.
They design your space like they want to design your life.
So two hundred and sixty families plus up and really
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Ev Remodelingink dot com. We appreciate their support and Fox
(01:50):
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thank Andrew and Daniel for supporting us. You have a brand,
you want to bring it to life. These guys will
put your logo, your brand on almost anything. Think of
truck car, vehicle wraps. They've done over sixteen hundred last
year at that colon. So check them out, trade show things, embroidering,
(02:15):
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so it's kind of cool. So check them out. Voxpopular
dot com. So I appreciate them doing that and supporting
our journalism podcasts and the magazines that we produce. So
(02:35):
but let's get to Lisa, and let's get to do
you prefer Lisa, Lisa Marie Marie. Actually, okay, Lisa Marie.
So you've been tenured in the job of Solicitor General
for Gweneta County since twenty three of January. For those
people that aren't aware, tell them what the job entails.
(02:56):
What does that job to do in this county?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well, thank you so much again for having me here today.
I'm really honored full circle moment. You were the first
podcast I did when I was first campaigning for this seat,
so it is wonderful to be back here as solicitor General.
My job as the elected prosecutor is to handle prosecuting
cases in state court reporters court, and we handle all
(03:21):
of the misdemeanors, the traffic offenses, the code enforcement animal cases,
so everything that's not a felon comes through my court.
My office is responsible for prosecuting cases in eleven courtrooms.
We are the second largest office in the state of
Georgia in terms of solicitor general offices, and we are
(03:42):
definitely a high volume office. So anything from dy domestic
violence cases that cases that are misdemeanor amounts, as well
as traffic offenses and quality of life cases like junkyard
and animal barking cases, all those are prosecuted through my office.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Wow, it's a lot of that's a lot. And I
remember when we first spoke back back then that there
was a huge case backlog of I think over four
thousand cases in twenty two and it was going to
be a challenge for anyone that took office the amount
of courts, the amount of work to be done, and
(04:25):
trying to make it in an efficient way. So you've
started some programs to help better work the system, if
you will, versus the system working you. So one of
the things you all set up, and maybe you could
tell us about it, is the launching of the new
website and what that does for anyone that needs to
(04:46):
interact with the agency, with the department.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Absolutely. One thing I realized is a lot of people,
understandably just don't really know what my office does. And
the reality is is most people will interact with a
Solicitory General's office, traffic court or something at that level.
Lots of people get traffic tickets or they may be
the unfortunate victim of a traffic accident. There's lots of
(05:13):
lower level misdemeanor public safety or public nuisance crimes that
may touch our community, where they may be a victim
or a witness to a car accident case or something
that occurred in their community, not necessarily the severe violent
crimes all the time. And so one thing that I
thought was really important was reaching our community and reaching
(05:36):
our community in a way that they got an opportunity
to understand what we do, how we do it, and
why we do it in not a very traumatic way.
And so we created this website which allows us to
give out information that we know. We're constantly being asked
about things like record restrictions for people with the older
(05:57):
cases and older convictions to clear their record, with lots
of information on there about that, lots of information about
our victim advocacy program and how victims and survivors of
crimes can receive resources and help and assistance if they
need it. And we also talk a lot about what
my office does and how we can help people what
(06:18):
we're here to do. So if you go to BUENETTSSG
dot com, there's just lots of different nuggets of information.
One thing on the website that I'm especially proud about
is we started a safety resource library. But we're trying
to periodically add different topics, whether it's team driving safety
(06:41):
or you know, duy safety PSA. So people can kind
of go there and kind of get like the high
level that's some bolts about different topics that affect everyone
in our community and just get some quick information.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Well, you also have some additional links to the websites
that are helpful as well. That seems right when I
can't sports website and all that.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yes, we have websites and links to all of our
other county stakeholder partners as well as lots of resources
to other agencies that serve victims in the community. So
whether it is somebody who needs help for domestic violence,
they need shelter, they need resources, food, culturally relevant services.
(07:27):
We've tried to provide kind of a one stop shop
if this is where somebody ends up to find all
of the things that they could possibly need. Additionally, we
have the generic contact us page where if you reach
out to us if you can't find the information on
our page, contact and send us an email and if
we don't have the answer, we will definitely try and
(07:48):
point you in the right direction of who does.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
And the good part is that the site can be
read in not just Spanish, but Russian, Portuguese, in German, French, Dutch, Chinese, Arabic,
a few languages.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yes, whatever language you need. I mean, Gwennette County is
the most diverse county in the entire United States. I
don't know if anyone had the opportunity to see our
chairwoman deliver the state of the county earlier this month,
but we have for the longest time, Guenet's been known
as the most diverse county in the southeast region of
(08:25):
the US. We've recently been recognized as the most diverse
county in the country. I think that's phenomenal, and as such,
I thought it was very important to have a website
that could properly serve such a diverse and vibrant community. So, yes,
all of the languages are available for the click of
a button.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, that must complicate things, I'm sure in the court
rooms as well, right a little bit.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
It does. And we try and have you know, court
certified reporters as quickly as possible when needed. And I'm
grateful for the resources that we do have and definitely
trying to expand the resources that we have. Even within
my office. One of the things that we definitely worked
on was making sure some of the core victim resources
(09:12):
that we put out on a regular basis we developed
them in more than just English and Spanish. We expended them,
I believe, to Korean, Amandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, some of the
more regularly seen languages that we were seeing throughout the community. Sure,
make sure that we can reach people where they.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Are, for sure. I mean there's a large Korean population,
Vietnamese population in Guinnec County. Yeah, so it must be so.
I mean with the growth of the county, which continues
to grow, with second largest county in the state a
million plus residents, and that's going to keep growing, probably
as much as twenty percent over the next decade. I
(09:52):
bet easy. How does that affect your office? How does
that affect budgeting and the things that you have to
do well?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Growth is a thing. Actually, the day I took office,
my office growth. So we gained an extra judge in
our circuit and a seventh State Court judge. And gaining
an extra seventh State Court judge meant growing my office
by an extra team. And that was day one. And yes,
(10:21):
we do continue to grow. We do see an increase
in numbers of cases that have come in. I think
we've seen a growth of approximately two thousand cases per
year so far that coming through State Court. Two to
three thousand citations per year in increasing coming through our
reporter's court, and the growth is something that we do
have to deal with. I have increased my staffing levels
(10:44):
and kind of restructured not kind of actually restructured how
my office handles cases and an effort to be as
efficient as possible. We have flipped how we look at
our cases. So we are frontloading a lot of the work.
And what I mean by that is the effort that
we're putting in. Every single case that comes through my
(11:04):
office has to be touched, It has to be investigated.
We have to reach out to the victims. We have
to make these first critical touches and calls and safety
planning and things like that. That has to happen no
matter what. At the beginning of twenty twenty four, we
had approximately fourteen thousand cases. Opening this office for State
(11:25):
Court a learn but by frontloading the work, by having
my amazing investigations unit, my amazing victim Advocate unit, who
all since I took office been nationally credential and a
forward a lot of training into both teams. What we're
able to do is we're able to figure out which
of those cases need further resources and need to be
(11:49):
prosecuted at a higher level, versus which ones we can
divert and put into our diversion program or which ones
we need to go ahead and put in our accountability
for it. By identifying those low level offenses, By identifying
those low level or non frequent buyers, so to speak,
we're able to kind of reserve some of that energy
(12:11):
and efficiency, so we can put that towards the cases,
the more serious violent cases that we know lead our attention.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
So we're talking about the implementation of the diversion unit
essentially and how that freezes up the case, well not
frees up, but certainly freezes up the time. I can
see why you want to front load that to just
it's almost a trioge in a way, because the flood
keeps coming, right, it doesn't stop. You can't even put
up your end and say, whoa, it's going to get more,
(12:42):
just essentially, even just because of the expansion of population,
just a natural thing of it. So how do you
identify these cases sooner than later. How what makes you
delay them? What or or divert them? Excellent criteria to use.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
That's a great question. So diversion, for those who don't know,
pre charge the version is an alternative prosecution. So what
it means is that someone who either has a minimal
or no criminal history is given the opportunity to still
be held accountable for their behavior, but rather than it
ending up for them having a criminal conviction and criminal history,
(13:22):
it gives them an opportunity to participate in this program
pre adjudication and keep a clean record if they successfully
complete the program. So typically a diversion program will be
for someone who is either a youthful offender with very
few cycles on their criminal history less than free, someone
who's not been convicted of any felonies or any violent crimes,
(13:46):
as someone who's maybe had a couple of traffic citations,
anything that's not violent or overly serious things like that.
They come into the program, they have they feed, they
usually have to do some forms of community service. The
fee is not exorberant. They'll do some community service and
they may have to do well. They will have to
(14:07):
do some sort of treatment. Maybe it's anchor management. Maybe
it is a values clarification course, if it's a death
based class. Maybe it's defensive driving, if it's a traffic
events or something of that nature. But they complete their
portion in hopes that we are addressing what got them
there in the first place. Right, And once they successfully
(14:29):
get through the program, which takes about six months with
no further arrests or any running into the law, the
trade off is we will unexpannge their record, we'll dismiss
their case, and their record will remain clean. So it
gives them an opportunity to have Yes, they did mess up,
(14:49):
Yes they did get a case, they were held accountable,
they did have to pay their fine, they had to
be supervised for six months, they had to go up
through this program, but they hopefully learned the lesson from
it and they have a chance to have a do
over without having the tarnish of a criminal record on
their on their back.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
So does this just because the question pops to mind,
I'm sure that other people might have the same question.
Number one of these minors, or this would be anyone anyone.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
It depends on their criminal risk history. So if we're
instant someone who's in their fifties for the first time
comes into contact with the criminal justice system and has
a slip up and they've never done anything. They too
would be eligible for a diversion program and would be
(15:40):
able to maintain a clean history. That happen well. As
I've said before, and what I campaigned on, is knowing
that convictions, even to misconmeanors, can have such a dire
impact on people's lives. It can keep from being student loans,
from you know, stable housing, from jobs, from serving in
(16:01):
the military. There's a lot of things that can impact them.
People with criminal histories may be prohibited from even getting
a liquor license, which may prevent them from being able
to get a job as a server at a restaurant.
So our goal is for those who are low risk,
who have made a mistake, who may be restorative, to
(16:25):
have that opportunity to do so. And so we've really
expanded our diversion program. We've expanded our reach. We've tried
to get people into our diversion program as quickly as possible,
and I'll tell you our numbers are impressive so far.
Between twenty three and twenty four, we put in about
nineteen hundred people into our diversion program nineteen hundred cases
(16:47):
excuse me, with over fourteen hundred cases successfully completing, So
we have about a success rate of successful completion of
about seventy four percent on our devsion case. We haven't
tracked this year yet, so I guess.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So I guess the question for me would be a
couple of questions. One is, how do you keep track
of that? That's a lot of people, you know, how
do you keep track of it and make sure that
it's done in a comprehensive way, because you know, people
can do things and fool around and stuff, and maybe
you're not getting quite all the information, But so how
(17:26):
can you track that reasonably well? And the second part
is when you expunge the record, what if they come
back into the system, do you still well, you still
know that they're a repeater fender at that point or
because the cases the records exponge, you don't have that record.
So I guess that's that's the two questions that I
(17:46):
know that would come to mind to a listener.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Questions. So for the first one, how do we keep track? Well, first,
my office keeps track of We have a team that
is dedicated solely to our diversion right, and so their
sole responsibilities keeping track of sending out the offers, maintaining
the offers, signing them up, keeping up with their monthly
(18:09):
check ins. They are actually supervised by the probation office,
not by my office, but they are responsible for staying
on track of them and at certain timelines, checking in
to ensure that certain cases have hit certain benchmarks to
see that we're on track. If someone has absconded or
has disappeared or is not doing what they need to do,
(18:31):
that team then pulls that case. We're notified by probation,
we pull that case, and that case is then put
on the regular track for prosecution, which would account for
the twenty six percent of people who unfortunately did not
successfully complete their program. So we have multiple ways to
track it both internally within my team as well as
(18:53):
the independent probation office that handles the actual supervision of
the people in the program. In terms of how do
we know if they're second offender? Is the great thing
is well, what people don't always know is for criminal records,
there's levels. Right as a criminal justice agency, we will
(19:15):
always see somebody's entire criminal history. So even though the
record is expunged. That means for employers for housing for
those reasons, Yes, it is expunge. The law enforcement will
always be able to see it, so I will always
have access to their entire criminal history and see whether
or not they've already been afforded an opportunity to go
(19:36):
through diversion on a previous case. So those are all
things that are checked prior to them being admitted into
our program.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well, okay, great, that answered my questions on that, So
glad to say that that that that would work that way.
Anything else but the diversion unit that you'd like to share.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I think one of the things I'm really happy about
with our diversion unit is we are working really hard
to stand the service providers within it. And by that,
I mean we're trying to find as we are such
a diverse county and not just in culture, but in needs,
so we're really trying to find diverse service providers that
we can refer people to. That means having a variety
(20:18):
of different types of anger management courses, not just always
sending people to the same provider. The reality of it
is is if you have to say a twenty three
year old young lady, she might respond very differently to
an anger management course than to say, a thirty year
old man, And we're trying to be mindful of things
(20:38):
like that and having a better rolodex of options so
that people can be placed with the most impactful provider
that will actually help them buy into the reformation and
actually make a difference in what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Are you working with nonprofits in Quinnett County as well
that do outreach of the sort.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yes, And as we go around and we meet new nonprofits,
I have members of my team who are able to
kind of vet what they're able to do, how they're
able to do it, and whether or not we can
refer people not only through our diversion program, but sometimes
through regular bargains with our defendants. Sometimes victims and cases
(21:23):
need some of these resources. Sure, it's really been helpful
to kind of build these relationships with our community partners
and other nonprofits so we know what's out there and
so that we can utilize them and they can get
the support as well.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Cool there's another program that you implement that as well,
the Duty Attorney Pilot Program. I know you're proud of
that as well, So tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
One thing we recognized when I took off as is
that unfortunately, some people are unable to bond out of
the jail. They get arrested on a misdemener charge and
they may have they may they will have a bond,
but they may be unable to post the bond for
various reasons, and for every day that they're in jail
that leads to housing instability, job instability. They can really
(22:14):
have a huge impact on them. And some of these
primes are again you know, nuisance primes or non violent
crimes that could destabilize them. One of the things I
worked really hard with and did take partnership with other
community partners, with other stakeholders rather was getting a schedule
so that we could have duty defense attorneys scheduled to
(22:37):
be at each one of my jail calendars. We do
three jail calendars a week so far, hopefully geting free
set soon and at each of those jail calendars there
is a duty defense attorney. That means every person that
we can get ready and put on those calendars has
the opportunity to resolve their case, even if they would
(22:57):
otherwise not have had that opportunity, or they would have
head to it a little bit longer, or an appointed
to turn to maybe get to one. The reality is
we don't have a public defender's office here in Whene,
and our indigent defense defendants are dependent upon the attorneys
who take the cases, and sometimes they're stretched thin. Sometimes
(23:19):
there's conflicts, things happen, people get stuck in other courtrooms.
And what was happening is sometimes with defendants in jail
got stuck because their attorneys could not make it for
various reasons. I really wanted to address that, and having
the do Need Pilot program has worked. It's worked a
great deal. I'm very proud of it. We've been able
(23:40):
to increase our volume, increase our calendar sizes, and really
start to move those cases on a more consistent basis,
because honestly, the cases that we've identified that can be
fast tracked, our goal is to get them out of
the jail, let them be held accountable for whatever they've done,
and keep moving forward. It saves the county, it's better
(24:03):
for us in terms of safety, and that's definitely what
we're working forwards.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
So obviously you're addressing a lot of the pressing challenges
of the office, and you've told it right since twenty three.
There's other challenges as well, and you've implemented another program,
the Special Victims Unit program that you all did and
very important part right for the other side of that crime.
(24:31):
So tell us a bit about the Special Victims Unit.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
So when I took office, one of the things I
also recognize is there some cases that just require an
extra care. I'm very fortunate I've had the experience to
all types of crimes throughout my career on both sides,
whether it's been from traffic through serious violent felonies as
(24:55):
both a public vendor and a prosecutor. And sometimes there
are crimes that just require a little bit more TLC,
a little bit more attention, more training to deal with them.
We have a great deal of misting of sex crimes
that the legislature has parked out to be handled in
state court app and those are crimes of sexual natures
(25:17):
that occur between consensual teenagers and one between fourteen and eighteen,
sometimes thirteen seventeen, and frankly, those just are very sensitive
that the subject matter is sensitive. All the facts you
surrounding the topics are sensitive both parties on both sides,
usually the parents and the guardians involved. It can be
(25:38):
very sensitive, and I recognize really quickly that it was
important to have a team that could really dive deeper
and focus in on that that I could spend extra
time training and focusing their attention on handling those cases
with the extra care they really do require. So are
(26:01):
misdoing our sex crimes? Vehicular homicides which our cases were
unfortunately due to a traffic accident, someone has passed away,
and those are horrendous cases to deal with, but unfortunately
they have it, so it's an accident, the loved one
has passed away. Again, very sensitive, very highly emotional at
(26:25):
times and requires a little bit of extra attention. And
so there are just certain crimes that have been that
we're seeing an increase in volume at times in the office.
So that has the largest school district in the state,
so a lot of kit cases and just needed that
extra touch and so creating this Special Victims Unit was
(26:48):
my solution to that.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Are you finding I mean, so there wasn't anything like
that before? Or is this new or you improving on
what might have been there?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Special Victims Unit is brand new to this office. There
was anything like that in this office.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Are you finding any trends in that part. Let's stick
to that for a second. When you say, you know,
we are we have the largest school district, you know,
and parents worry about the safety of their kids, both
inside the school and outside. Are you finding any trends
that you're seeing that you'd like to share.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
What we are seeing is we know that teens are
engaging in intimate and romantic relationships younger on these days,
and they're explosed to a lot more they are, whether
it's on their phones, on the media, what have you.
And we are seeing that they are exposed and more
experimental with things earlier now than probably several years ago,
(27:47):
ten years ago you did. And I think that's part
of the reason why this whole kind of Romeo and
Juliette for sex crimes is carved out. So what my
office is trying to do is not only are we
only just the creation of this special Victims unit, we're
also trying to be very proactive. So, for instance, February's
Team Dating Violence Awareness run and my office participated in
(28:10):
a number of activities trying to get ahead of it.
And what we did was we participated in we did
resource table in here at the courthouse where we set
up tables with tons of information about team dating violence,
where we could share the importance on the signs of
healthy dating, maintement partnerships, and just regular partnerships among teams.
(28:33):
We actually went out and we were in five different
high schools throughout the month of February where we invited
over their lunch periods to meet with various teenagers throughout
the Brunette Pinning schools and talk to them and meet
them where they are about healthy dating habits, healthy boundaries,
(28:54):
how to seek help if they felt like they were
in an unsafe situation, whether it's a friendship or an
intimate partnership, because what we do know is sometimes teens
don't feel comfortable or don't want to talk to their parents.
So we were able to give them other resources. Here
are some toll free numbers you can call. Here's some
(29:15):
safe adults you can speak to, due to your teachers,
due to your counselors, if that's what you need to do.
Here are some red flags you need to consider. So
we're really trying to be proactive with educating the public
as well, not just being reactive.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Are you seeing any activity or exposure to social media
that you have to attend to and some of the
cases that you do.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
We do. Sometimes a big part of it is explaining
to teams the impact of some of the things that
they're doing on their phones and the potential pitfalls to
some of that behavior. And a lot of times going
out to the schools that whether it's just the teen
Dating Violence Awareness tabling event or just being at their
career first or going to days and speaking to different
(30:01):
youth groups and answering those questions has been really beneficial.
We also participated in a teen Summit where we had
a panel discussion. There was an attorney, an advocate, and
an investigator from my office that all participated in the
Teen Summit, which was in partnership with PABB the Partnership
(30:21):
Against Domestic Violence, huge event over at Guess South last month,
and they had the opportunity to ask those kinds of questions,
what is what happens if I take this picture and
I send it to my friend, or if I get
this picture and I send it out to my other friends.
So I think having those conversations with young people in
(30:42):
a space where maybe they feel a little bit more
comfortable asking those questions has definitely been helpful and we're
sure we're certainly trying to make sure that when we
were talking to them, they understand who we are and
they're meeting us not on the worst day of their life,
and that kind of trust to look forward with us.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
I like the way you put that, not on the
worst day of their life. Yes, because some kids don't,
you know, I think I think critical thinking sometimes is
lacking depending on the age, and they think, you know,
they get a picture from from a friend from a
friend and they think it's okay to put it out
because they didn't shoot it, you know, and it's like,
you know whatever. But yeah, some of these kids just
(31:26):
you want them to grow up a little faster in
how they think, but you don't want them grow up
too fast, right exactly. Technology, you know, that's always a
we're talking about phones and smartphones and all sorts of things.
How has technology affected you good and bad? Either in
(31:47):
office to make efficiencies or in other ways? Are the
innovative technologies you're only using? How does that work?
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And so one of the things we were able to do,
you and me coming into office is we did apply
for some federal art of funding and you know the
art of funding was an airmarked for offices affected by
the COVID backlog, and I was like, hey, that's us,
We are definitely affected by the COVID backlog and very
(32:18):
great well, we were able to apply for some of
that art of funding to enhance and upgrade a lot
of the technology in our office, whether it is scanners
for our investigators so that they can move quicker in
uploading evidence as along with our trial assistant, just making
sure we had had the equipment that my team needs
(32:39):
to work more efficiently. So those are things that we
were able to do and does help us do our
drunk water right.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
You talked about a lot about community outreages just before
you talked about, you know, preventative preventing crime, crime awareness
in the community, promoting that. Are there any significant partnerships
to collaborate that you're dealing with other agencies within the
county that may not have been done before that you're
expanding on.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yes, some of the One of the first partnerships that
we were able to forge was with Mosaic Georgia. Mosaic
Georgia is a nonprofit here in Gwennette County and they
service victims and survivors of sexual assault crimes. They do
free SAE exams, they do free counseling and suenzick interviews
and anything that somebody may need. If schools reach out
(33:32):
to them, if the victim which is out to them,
They're a one stop shop. They're an amazing organization. Mosaic
is someone is an organization that I think is critical
to a county like Bunette and what they do which
is so important. I was really excited to develop a
partnership with them. They are one of the nonprofits that
(33:55):
receive benefits from the annual five K at my office
does it's our signature that so every October we've done
too so far, we do our Dash for Domestic Violence
Awareness five K the first Saturday in October at Alexander
Park and the proceeds from that five K, every single
(34:15):
penny we raise, whether it's from registrations from runners and
participants or sponsorships, is divided amongst Mosaic. Georgia Partnership Against
Domestic Violence or PADV, which is another nonprofit that survivors
of domestic violence Localan and Gwenette County. They also service
them in Fulton County. We have a shelter here in
(34:38):
Gwennett County under KADV they assist survivors with getting TPOs
and protective orders. They will help house them for about
ninety days as they get back on their feet and
give them some housing, stability, childcare, a little bit of
job training to help people who are leaving those really
hard situations, stabilizing how a moment to catch their breath
(35:01):
with dignity so that they can hopefully make that pivot
and launch to a better place. And we also have
formed the partnerships of the hempsa House. A HEMPS to
House is probably one of the more unique organizations that
my office has partnered with on a steady basis. The
(35:21):
third recipient of proceeds from the five p a Hemps
to House houses animals when people are leaving the massive
violent situations. What a lot of people don't realize is
about seventy percent of people who would leave a violent
situation do not because of their pets. And they don't
want to leave their pet be kind, they have no
(35:42):
escape to bring them. The Hemps to House will house
their pets up to a certain amount of time, and
not just cats and dogs. And I ask them every year,
what's the most interesting animal they've had for the year.
They've house horses, snakes, dogs, They have quite an interesting list.
(36:03):
But it gives that survivor that extra level of peace there.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
I didn't even think about that. That makes a lot
of sense. When you think about that, other things come
to mind also. Then yeah, it's just amazing. So let's
shift gears a little bit. And because you know you're
not you don't live in a silo, right Georgia State
House legislators they'd like to pass laws. And you know,
(36:32):
even if we need them or don't need them, the
reforms that are happening at the state level or I
need legislation, they tend to impact a variety of people,
a variety of organizations. I am sure they impact sometimes
the prosecution of cases or stuff. What what what approach
do you have to that and what what do you
see happening in the state house currently that might affect
(36:56):
when a case.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Is Yeah, that is an ex one question, especially right
of us just getting over a crossover day. What I
think what we're seeing is in the legislature is sometimes
we have lawmakers who have the best of intentions and
they want to fix fun problem, and it sometimes causes
(37:18):
it down domino effect down the line, and we don't
always have the opportunity to be like, wait, wait, wait,
let's stop and think how this can play out, because
you're going to pass this lovely law and then you're
going to hand it to me to enforce it. And
so the way I approach it is I really do
try and be open and have relationships with my Georgia delevations.
(37:42):
I actually spend as much time as I can down
at the Capital while they're inception, so I've been down
there quite a bit. I have conversations with different committees.
I've testified before the committees and offered input on the
legislation that is being put before the Senate or before
the House, to make sure that they understand the impact
(38:04):
of what it is that they're trying to put out there,
and maybe we consider some of the wording, we consider
some of the clauses. And I think having that open
dialogue and having the availability to do that makes a
huge difference. And I think it makes an impact because
they know before they do something, they know they have
(38:26):
a partnership in their prosecutors and they can say, hey,
is this going to mess you up? I was just
going to mess you up. How do we shift that?
And I've we've definitely seen some improvement, I think uncertainly things,
not all things. By having that communication.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Do you do a specific legislative reform or policies you
would like to see updated that hasn't been touched yet.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I would love to see us have some updates on
or some better clarity on our intention with the most
neo sex cases. That's been one of the things that
I've been talking about probably the most since taking office,
just in terms of intent and direction and some better guidance.
It's a it's a really sensitive topic and I would
(39:17):
love to dive a little deeper into that. And generally,
you know, most recently they've passed some more law I
don't feel to the governor's desk or not then survived
a crossover day regarding how we are assisting victims. We
need to be victims centered and whether or not victims
(39:37):
can include their pets for TBO protection and things like that.
So I think we're seeing the legislature becoming more sensitive
and aware to be to a more victims centered, trauma
informed approach, and I think that's important in this work
that we're.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
Doing cool mental health, substance abuse. I mean we talked,
we touch upon that a little bit. Is there anything
you want to share about that as far as some
of those issues mental health issues?
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Basically, I think mental health is an issue that we're
continued to see in the community as we continue to
search for resources that I think that's going to be
our biggest downside is finding the right amount of resources
to assist the people who need it. I think we're trying.
I think we're at least acknowledging that, you know, are
(40:29):
the people that we're scared of, and the people that
we're upset with, and then people that are just in
your sense, And I think we're finally moving into an
air where being able can't treat them all the same
for the people who there are real issues mental health,
it becomes okay, well what can I do so you
don't just keep it coming back? We don't quite have
(40:49):
the answers yet, but definitely working on it to make
sure we're not just putting them on that hamster wheel
so they keep putting back.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yes, I mean that's you know, I think we're all
all field to some degree. We're on a Hampstead wheel.
Right day keeps going, which is that by the time
Friday comes Monday colms, we're still doing the same old,
same old, and you want to make sure that you
don't keep doing that right the So okay you I mean,
(41:17):
you're only in this now. It's been two years, well.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Years in my third year now there two years and
two and a half months.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
So too early to talk about a legacy of leaving
a legacy in Quintic County. But but what would you
like that to be if that was the case, what
is the most important thing that you'd like to make
sure you left if you don't want you to leave.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
That's a really great question. Thank you for that. I
would really love to know that you can look back
at the work that my office does, the work that
my team does, the work that I do, that it
makes an impact, that it leaves people better than how
we think that. I do understand that a big part
(42:06):
of what I do is supporting victims during some of
the hardest times of life, trying to keep them really
safe during you know, really hard times of goods UI
or domestic violence cases, or or whether it's a family
breathing the loss of a loved wine that can be
really hard work. My desire is to have a legacy
(42:29):
knowing that people look back and say, even though it
was a really hard time, it's most of the Bristol's
team treating me with compassion and kindness and respect and dignity,
whether they ever be defendant or the victim or the witness,
and that even when held accountable, they came out knowing
(42:52):
about what happened to one was there. That is the
legacy I really want to leave because sometimes you may
not like what happens to you. You're not like me,
how accountable, but you can still acknowledge that it's fair.
And I think that's important to me. It's very important
to me that what the work we are doing, we
are supporting the victims, you're educating resources and do what
(43:15):
we can, but who are still treating everyone who didn't
being compassion and being fair and how we do it?
Speaker 3 (43:22):
I gotta I gotta believe being a mother of three
middle schoolers and high schoolers, that that probably informs a
little bit about how you feel about doing these things.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Absolutely that I do. I'm always mindful that my children
are watching me, and I never ever want to do
anything that I would be ashamed to do.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
In front of them, so absolutely, Well, yeah, the kids
are definitely watching, even when we're thinking they're.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Not watching all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Final question, I guess you came in on. I won't
say it was a wave or anything, but you came
in during a time of a lot of elections going
on in twenty two, a lot of changing of the seats,
if you will. Changing of the chairs feels like musical
chairs sometimes I keep going back and forth, but I
(44:12):
think there was some good expansion, some good, good things done.
What would you consider saying to someone seeking a career
in public service or law enforcement? Iguineccunty, what would you
say to them that they should that they should know
about from your experience?
Speaker 1 (44:30):
I think anyone who wants to serve publicly has to
know it can't be about them. It has to be
about people. It's a very humbling experience. And you may
think you're right, and you may think you have the
best approach, and you may you might be correct, but
it is this work is not for the batter part.
(44:52):
I will say, knowing when you walk them to public service,
you will walk from into a situation where you are
dealing with a cruise ship. Not to speak of it,
and it's going to be small, incremental changes that make
the biggest impact. And sometimes it's easy to get lost
in thinking I'm not doing enough. But if you take
(45:14):
a breath and you look back over it and you
know where you're heading, it's worth it. It's absolutely worth it.
And so when I look back at where we started
on Janius Versus twenty twenty three, where my team is today,
it was small, it was small steps along the way,
but I am incredibly proud of the work that we're
(45:35):
doing and I'm absolutely looking forward to continuing it on
into a second term.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
So we've been speaking to Lisa Marie, Bristol Solicitor General
gwennec County. Appreciate the time you're giving us. Thank you,
Thank you, Lisa Marie, hang in there with me for
a minute. I just want to say thank you to
our sponsors again, Evy Modeling and Vox Popular for the
great support of these podcasts, the magazine and well that
we do. If you have questions for Lisa Marie, certainly
(46:04):
if you're watching this on Facebook, YouTube or x leave
them in the comments, post them. I'll have links in
the show notes as well, so you can reach out
to her directly. If you watching listening to this on
audio podcast like Spotify, I how certainly share it with
your friends and share our video podcasts as well. Really
(46:25):
appreciate that it'll be easier for other people to find
out podcasts as well. So Peachtree Corner's Life here in
the City of Peachtree Corners. Thank you everyone, and.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Thank you Lisami, thanks for listening to Peachtree Corner's Life
with Rico Figliolini. You can listen to the show wherever
podcasts are found, like iHeartRadio, Spotify, and Apple Podcast. Leave
us a review too. It helps others find the show
as well. Don't forget to like our Facebook page and
(46:57):
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streams of the show. Catch our other podcast shows at
Living in Peachtree Corners dot com. In fact, you can
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(47:18):
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com