Trial judges from the Republic of Georgia visit Cobb Superior Co.

From Cobb County: Five trial judges from the Republic of Georgia are visiting Cobb County Superior Court the week of September 24, 2018 to observe jury trials and study our judicial process surrounding them. The visit comes as part of a cooperative effort between the Georgian judiciary, the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) and the State of Georgia’s Administrative Office of the courts (AOC). The program was developed as an initiative to promote the transparency and independence of the Republic of Georgia judicial system, to assist the Georgia judiciary in court and jury trial management, and to strengthen the rule of law in the Republic of Georgia.

The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia is assisting the Republic of Georgia judiciary by conducting a series of activities to help support this effort. Together with the Georgia AOC, they have selected a small team of judges who will train and mentor the Georgian judges over the course of the project, which has been ongoing for almost two years. Senior Superior Court Judge Jim Bodiford put together a team that currently includes Superior Court Judge Ann Harris and State Court Judge Ben Studdard, along with Tom Charron, Cobb Superior Court Administrator.Over the last two years, the team has spent three weeks in the Republic of Georgia, observing court proceedings, consulting with their counterparts and providing training on a variety of judicial and courtroom management subjects. Additionally, a number of trial judges and other court officials from the Republic of Georgia have traveled to Cobb and Henry County courts and observed the jury trial experience before Judges Harris and Studdard.

These visits have been beneficial to the overall mission of the project, and have enabled the Georgian judges to introduce improvements to their own court practices and procedures. “We can try to explain to folks how we as judges manage our court business, and in particular our jury trials, but a real life demonstration, like a picture, is worth a thousand words,” states Judge Harris. “It’s a bit like the difference between going to law school and actually practicing law.”Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia has made great strides in developing a criminal justice system modeled after the U.S. system. Jury trials are a fairly new way of handling cases for the Georgians, and until recently, were only used in cases of murder and public corruption. “While our criminal justice system is not perfect, we do have almost 250 years of steadily working to improve the practice and procedure of jury trials in this country. Our hope is some of our experience – both good and bad – will be useful to the Georgian judiciary as they work to strengthen their own jury trial process,” states Judge Harris. She continues, “We have all been impressed with the great progress the Georgians have made in such a short time in implementing jury trials in their country, and look forward to continuing our partnership with them.”The delegation is accompanied by the U.S. Department of Justice OPDAT resident and judicial legal advisors who reside in Tbilisi, Georgia and work at the U.S. Embassy. The legal advisors deliver criminal justice sector assistance to Georgia’s criminal justice community, including the Georgian judiciary, and focus on providing technical assistance and resources to its Georgian partners. “We are very proud of the continued partnership between the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the Georgian judiciary and further commend Georgia on its progress in the judicial system and in promoting judicial independence.

We will continue to assist in strengthening Georgia’s development of internationally accepted rule of law principles and in improving judicial independence through such programs as our ‘Georgia to Georgia’ judicial assistance program,” says Michael Grant, the U.S. Dept. of Justice Resident Legal Advisor in Tbilisi.“We are thrilled to have five new Georgian judges observing our courts,” states Court Administrator Tom Charron. He continues, “The opportunity to play a part in this initiative is exciting and rewarding for both our courts, and we are proud to demonstrate our jury trial system, and how it works to uphold the rule of law.”

Image via Cobb County