Officials credit organizing efforts of Commissioner Scotty Tillery, Superior Court Clerk Stacie Baines for keeping jury members safe as court resumes

With the drop of a gavel in recent days, courtrooms in Polk County got back to their regular work and already are showing the benefits of having more than one session running at a time. A guilty verdict came back earlier in the week, all thanks to the effort put in by members of the Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court staff, the Clerk’s Office and one commissioner spearheading the effort in particular: Scotty Tillery.

All this came together in just a month as the courts took a different direction from their original plans and implemented an opportunity to help the Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court docket in Polk County catch back up after being suspended for more than a year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In late April, Chief Judge Meng Lim had sought a different plan, but a meeting of minds provided the impetus to go from just using spaces in Courthouse No. 1 for trials, to being able to spread out in the Cedartown Performing Arts Center for jury assembly earlier in the month, and now using the Commissioner Meeting Room at the Polk County Police Department as a courtroom as well after modifications were made through May and early June to make it compatible with the requirements of the judicial system.

Upgrades to audiovisual systems within Courthouse No. 1, shifting around of space, and bringing on senior judges as well to help catch up the backlog are all items that during that April stakeholder meeting on plans to bring back jury trials this month were requested, and ultimately met without issue.

During the June 4 jury assembly session, one thing was made clear: the system that was organized over the past weeks prior to the start of the month worked out perfectly.

Two sessions were held on the morning and afternoon of June 4 with Superior Court Judge Mark Murphy presiding to provide potential jury members with instructions, for the clerk’s office to hand out a packet of questions for selection purposes, and split off those who reported into smaller groups.

“Today we literally invented the wheel,” Browning said on June 4. “I thought it went great. By all accounts, the jurors I spoke to who were summoned here who were required to be here felt safe as well.”

He added that “I think what you saw today was a culmination of the work that was done during grand jury sessions. Those were the baby steps toward being able to resume jury trials, and everything we did we brought forth from that experience and we learned a lot. We’re only on first base with this process.”

Browning credited Judge Murphy with the idea to utilize the Cedartown Performing Arts Center for jury assembly and organization, and Assistant District Attorney Jaeson Smith said it was in large part thanks to the Superior Court Clerk’s office that the session was successful, and likely to be utilized for future jury assembly sessions.

For Superior Court Clerk Stacie Baines, the real progress was in the number of potential jurors who showed up for the session. For her, the work to get the sessions together was harder but more organized. Checking in individuals at one table, then providing them with cards for payment.

She said that more people – 79 for a morning session that 114 were required to report to, and 115 required to show up and 69 showed up for the assembly for the afternoon session – came in to participate for jury selection than what they would have gotten in previous, normal sessions at the courthouse.

“The numbers are actually better,” she said. “They’re ready to get out.”

Earlier this week, the first round of jury trials got underway and are being followed on this coming week starting on June 21.

“When I started looking at the trial calendar, I realized getting our minds back into the process after a year, like how you go through the jury organization process, I got to thinking that you can only bring 35 at a time into the courtroom,” Judge Murphy said on June 4. “If you can only have 35 report at a time, you might only have six that show up. So there was no telling how many times Stacie (Baines) and all of us would have to go through what we did in just one sitting at 2 p.m., and one this morning for the other group.”

They also spend less time having to summon larger groups in order to find a jury panel.

“This was so critical and such a great idea to do this,” Browning said. “It would have been insane to summon 200 people at the courthouse under these conditions.”

Additionally, the June 4 session provided Haralson County Sheriff’s deputies in charge of court security the opportunity to see how the process would work in their courtrooms when jury trials resume in the other half of the Tallapoosa Circuit.

The culmination of these sessions and temporary courtroom spaces came about in large part thanks to the efforts of Commissioner Scotty Tillery, court officials said. He helped ensure that the county had a resolution in place for use of the CPAC and Police Department for court use, and the lease agreement between city and county.

“Scotty Tillery. Now here’s a guy that has nothing to do with the court system, and you would think he was in this system that we work in,” Browning said. “This guy has worked tirelessly to make all of this happen. You’d think he was a judge, a DA, a clerk or something and has an immediate vested interest in getting this up and running, but he deserves a lot of credit…. he’s been the loudest, and by loudest I mean most productive voice at the table every time.”

He was also praised by County Commissioners during their June regular session for the work he’d put in over the past weeks and months to ensure that court got back to work.

For Tillery’s part, he said he was just one part of a larger effort.

He credited a group effort to get courts back up and running, and those who do the day-to-day in courtrooms and clerks offices should get the lion’s share of the just desserts.

Judge Murphy also credited the Sheriff’s Office for their work to get security setup, and how many offices banded together to ensure the transition into jury trials has been smooth so far.

Browning added too that one positive to come out of the pandemic shutdowns is to look at the way court has been running, and see what positive changes can be made.

“It’s caused us to look at our environments that we work in differently and see the shortcomings in them,” he said. “The commissioner’s meeting room, the big courtroom, and now we looking as these things as not only trying to get through the pandemic – which we will, we’re on the tail end of it. But when we come out of all of this, we want the changes that we’re making to be meaningful and lasting ones when its all over… Again, you have to go back to Scotty (Tillery.) He’s picked up the ball and run with it. I think both facilities, the courthouse and over there (the commissioner’s meeting room) because of what we learned from all of this.”