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2 weeks ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
Georgia legislators allocated more than a quarter million dollars in the upcoming budget for two gang prosecutors in Savannah. The specialized prosecutors would be based in “the Savannah region” and work under the Georgia Attorney General’s Gang Prosecution Unit, according to budget documents. The $268,464 line item was included last week in an appropriations bill that awaits Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature before becoming a part of the state’s fiscal year 2026 budget.
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3 weeks ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
When former police chief Richard Coleman won the election for Chatham County sheriff last fall, he said his top priorities would be filling longstanding vacancies on the force, expanding law enforcement presence in the county and making the state’s fifth-largest jail more humane. Just under 100 days into his term, he is making headway on one of those goals by restoring in-person visits between detainees waiting for trial and their loved ones face-to-face at the jail.
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1 month ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
Good morning. It’s Sunshine Week: A week dedicated to open government and the American public’s right to know. Fittingly, we’re reporting on a legal fight over open records in Savannah. Then we’re examining efforts by a Coastal Georgia congressman to impeach a federal judge and how human trafficking emerged as a key issue in the lawsuit reform fight at the state capitol. Questions, comments or story ideas? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Let’s dive in.
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1 month ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
A Savannah personal injury lawyer and local civil rights leader filed suit against the City of Savannah for allegedly withholding and delaying public records in violation of the Georgia Open Records Act. The firm led by Chadrick Mance, who is also president of the Savannah NAACP, filed the 85-page lawsuit in Chatham County Superior Court on March 14.
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1 month ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jabari GIbbs |Jabari Gibbs |Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
At a recent community meeting in Brunswick to address a spike in violence targeting teens, the Glynn County Police Department chief made a stunning claim: Street gangs are responsible for 60% of violent crime in the county. The statistic asserted by Chief Scott Ebner, however, is not supported by the other law enforcement leaders in the county or by booking information from the county jail, according to a review by The Current.
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1 month ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
Kristen Clark-Hassell had already endured plenty of loss before she appeared in Camden County Juvenile Court in early 2021. Her first husband, a diver for the Navy, was killed in a motorcycle accident; her second died in a standoff with police. But nothing prepared the 44-year-old St. Marys mother for the moment when the Camden judge, acting on the recommendation of Georgia’s child welfare agency, removed her newborn daughter from her care to a foster home.
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1 month ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
Backchannel communications by companies bidding for a $89 million Chatham emergency operations contract caused the chairman to shut down all bids and restart the process to build the much-delayed facility last fall. But earlier this month, as county officials finalized the list of qualified companies allowed to bid on the major contract, all four of the same companies from the last failed bidding were approved to bid on the project again, despite the procurement violations.
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2 months ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
A man wrongfully imprisoned for nearly two years in a Savannah murder is accusing Savannah Police Department homicide detectives of routinely withholding evidence from defendants who are accused of serious crimes and subsequently violating their constitutional rights.
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2 months ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
A Chatham County judge denied bond for a former Savannah Police officer, ruling that he posed a “significant risk of committing a felony” ahead of his murder trial for the June 2022 killing of a Carver Village man. In one of his first major decisions since taking the bench, Superior Court Judge Christopher Middleton ruled against lawyers for former Savannah Police Department Officer Ernest Ferguson, who sought Ferguson’s release from jail.
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2 months ago | 
thecurrentga.org | Jake Shore |Jake Shore ReporterReporter
A judge dismissed the remaining criminal charge against former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson, clearing her of legal wrongdoing in the investigation of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder. Senior Judge John Turner, of the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit threw out the felony charge of violating oath of office, agreeing with a motion made earlier by the defense. The move came before closing arguments and before jury deliberation because of a technical error in the indictment.
