McLendon: ‘Face of the DA’s office’

Harold McLendon plans to hit the ground running next week when he becomes the new district attorney for the Dublin Judicial Circuit.

McLendon, who won the Republican primary over incumbent Craig Fraser and faced no opposition in November, will be sworn in at 11 a.m. Monday in the Laurens County Courthouse.

“It should be a real nice celebration,” McLendon said. “After I’m sworn in, I will immediately swear in the assistant DAs that will be there. We are hoping to have all of the sheriffs from all four counties there, representatives from each one of the police departments and county commissioners from the whole circuit (Laurens, Johnson, Treutlen and Twiggs counties). We are hoping all of them are very supportive and committed, and we’d like for them to be a part of the celebration.”

He plans to meet with those who will be working in the DA’s office. McLendon wants to get ideas from everybody and plans to have policies and procedures for everyone.

“We will have time-tested methods we are going to use to right the ship,” McLendon said.

The new DA plans to have teams in his office go out to the crime scene. McLendon said it is impossible to prepare for a trial if they do not go to the scene and talk with witnesses there.

“You aren’t going to get a relationship with a witness if you have to have them come to your office,” he said. “It’s essential that we have vehicles to be able to do that. It’s inappropriate to have a deputy sheriff use their own car to go on patrol. We need six cars, and three total teams with three attorneys, a paralegal and an investigator and they will be required to work those cases, locate witnesses and subpoena witnesses. It will be a total effort by each team.” 

McLendon’s son will leave the DA’s office and take over his father’s practice. McLendon has recruited new employees from different places. He has known them for years.

“They have to have public service at the heart of what they do,” he said. “Each one of these, I guarantee you, are doing this for the right reasons. When I was 5 years old, my father predicted this day. He drilled into me that public service is something that you want to do.” 

McLendon wants his assistant DAs to be ready when it comes to trying cases. He said it costs the taxpayers about $1,200 in man-hours when cases are continued.

“We can’t afford to keep doing that,” he said.

A few months after the election, a reception was held to celebrate McLendon. Former Dublin Mayor Phil Best was excited about McLendon becoming the new DA.

“Harold will bring people together,” Best said. “I’ve known Harold since the early 1990s. Later, he became the city court municipal judge. We worked very closely, and he did a tremendous job. He was a fair and just, merciful judge at the city. I think we could not have done any better than to get Harold to become our DA.”

The Rev. Elgin Dixon called this “an exciting time in the Dublin Judicial Circuit.”

“We are so elated for all the support that has been shown throughout the counties to help elect Harold McLendon as DA, and we can never say thank you enough for your support and undying efforts you showed during the election process,” Dixon said. 

McLendon plans to have an investigator at law enforcement agencies. He said the Dublin Police Department has prepared a place for an investigator, while the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office will provide a place for an investigator to work in the old 911 center once they move out. Each of the counties have places in their courthouses for them.

“This will help because the assistant district attorney is going to them to interview them and bring witnesses there,” McLendon said. “That will create a better relationship and continuity with law enforcement. We need to establish a family where there is not a family. We’ve got to get that back to where it needs to be.” 

An early intervention program will be a key part of managing the cases, McLendon said. Approximately 12 percent of the cases in the Dublin Judicial Circuit will go through this program.

“My staff member handling this will go out to the Laurens County Jail, and each jail in the circuit, at least on a weekly basis, see who is in there and what they are arrested for,” McLendon said. “They’ll decide if an individual has a case that qualifies to go through the intervention program. If it does, it’ll never go to the court system. We’ll take it, deal with it and dismiss the case.”

An example is a person who damages someone else’s property and owes $500. Another is if two people get into an argument and it is a simple battery case, they can be put in an anger management class.

“A lot of these type cases can go away,” McLendon said. 

He was hoping to get a look at the current cases.

“We need them as soon as possible,” McLendon said. “We have a lot of murder cases out there, and we need our hands on them. My people are standing by to get those cases and get started on them.”

McLendon is concerned about violent crime cases. He said there are a certain percentage of people responsible for these types of crimes.

“And we need to address this head-on and not be bashful about it,” he said. “We have a big backlog and we have to reduce that and keep up with the ones coming in. It’s a process and we have a plan to get those done simultaneously.” 

Violent crimes are not going to be tolerated. 

“The police do their job and the DA’s office presents the cases,” McLendon said. “I will tell the juries that they will set the standards to what is acceptable in our community. If we do our part and the jury does their part, the judge sends a message that this is not acceptable. The sentence is very, very important, and everybody has a job to do and a role to play and we’re going to have our part done.”

McLendon plans to have a role in the cases.

“I don’t expect there to be any major case, on any judge’s trial calendar, that I’m not involved in as far as trying the case or assisting in the trial,” he said. 

“It is important when you come to court that you see me, the elected district attorney. I’m the face of the DA’s office, and I need to be there.”