History
Michael Handlon Crawford
Michael
Handlon Crawford served as District Attorney for the Mountain Judicial
Circuit from January 1, 1985 to December 31, 2007.
Michael (Mike) Handlon Crawford was born at Emory
University Hospital on June 23, 1947. He was the third child born to
Gloria and Linton Crawford. He was raised by his parents in Cornelia,
Georgia where he attended Cornelia Elementary School and graduated from
South Habersham High School in 1965. He attended the University Of
Georgia from 1965-1969 where he met his wife, Beth (formerly Elizabeth
Dawson of Hawkinsville, Georgia).
Mike Crawford served in the United States Navy
from 1969 to 1972. He entered John Marshall Law School in Atlanta in the
fall of 1972 and graduated with honors in 1975. Upon graduation from law
school, he entered the private practice of law with his father in
Cornelia, Georgia and practiced law for a year before being hired as the
first Assistant District Attorney for the Mountain Judicial Circuit. He
was hired by then District Attorney, V.D. Stockton.
Mike Crawford served as an Assistant District
Attorney and later as Chief Assistant District Attorney for the Mountain
Judicial Circuit from July 1, 1976 until December 31, 1984. He was
elected to the Office of District Attorney in the General Election of
1984. He took office on January 1, 1985 and served as District Attorney
for 23 years. He was
elected
to that Office six times and served under three different Governors
before his retirement at the end of 2007. During his first two terms,
the Mountain Judicial Circuit included Habersham, Rabun, Stephens, Towns
and Union Counties. In the early 1990’s the circuit was split and Towns
and Union Counties became part of the newly created Enotah Circuit.
Mike Crawford is member of the First Presbyterian
Church of Cornelia. During his life, he has belonged to several civic
organizations and has been very active as a Scoutmaster and Leader in
the Boy Scouts of America. He has two children, Cathy Crawford and
Michael Linton Crawford and two grandchildren Chloe Evelyn Crawford and
Michael Thomas Crawford.
Herbert B. Kimzey Biography
By: Jo Ann Roberts
In Mr. Kimzey’s legal career, he spent many more
years in private practice than he did as District Attorney and as
Solicitor General of the State Court . He served one four-year term as
Solicitor of the State Court in the 60’s. He enjoyed and was challenged
by his duties as District Attorney of the Mountain Judicial Circuit. He
was completing his second four-year term as District Attorney when The
Honorable Lamar N. Smith, Judge of the Circuit, and who had been ill for
some time, retired because of his health condition in March, 1972,
following which Mr. Kimzey was appointed and sworn in as Judge of the
Circuit in March, and he completed that year as Judge.
During Judge Smith’s illness when he was unable to
preside at the regular court sessions in the five counties of the
Circuit, Judge Tom Candler, of Blairsville, who was a retired Justice of
the Supreme Court of Georgia, filled in as Judge of the Mountain
Judicial Circuit, and Mr. Kimzey, enjoyed very much this association
with Judge Candler in the court sessions throughout the Circuit. Through
his appellate work through the years, Mr. Kimzey already knew Judge
Candler.
When Mr. Kimzey was District Attorney, and later
Judge, the Mountain Judicial Circuit was comprised of five counties –
Habersham, Stephens, Rabun, Towns and Union. Each of these counties had
four terms of court every year. Some of the terms were two-week terms.
Mr. Kimzey did not have an Assistant DA nor an Investigator. A Georgia
Bureau of Investigation agent, who lived in Toccoa, worked cases in this
area and worked closely with the Sheriffs in the Circuit in obtaining
evidence for prosecution and trial of some of the cases in the Mountain
Circuit.
Usually about two weeks prior to the week in which
the Grand Jury in each of the five counties of the Circuit was scheduled
to meet to perform their work, Mr. Kimzey would go to the Courthouse to
meet with the Sheriff of that county and pick up the warrants on which
indictments would be prepared and get information about the incidents
referred to on the warrants so that subpoenas would be issued for the
witnesses to be called on for their testimony when the case was
presented for trial. The work of the Grand Jury included, among other
duties, hearing testimony of accusers and some of the witnesses listed
on the indictments presented to them by the District Attorney for their
consideration and their decision on whether or not to return a “true
bill” for trial of the case before a traverse jury. In some instances,
when the grand jury did not return a true bill on the indictment, at
times they would make an entry of “malicious prosecution” and the costs
would then be levied against the accuser.
It was after Mr. Kimzey was elected District
Attorney of the Mountain Judicial Circuit that the law in Georgia was
passed placing District Attorneys on salary and prohibiting them from
private law practice. Prior to their being placed on salary, one of the
duties of the District Attorney was to go to the Clerk’s Office in the
Courthouse after each court term and calculate the division of various
court costs, as prescribed by Georgia Law, which were included in the
fines levied and paid into court in the criminal cases. With five
counties in the Circuit, the duties of the District Attorney in getting
the warrants together for an upcoming term of court, reviewing facts of
the case with the Sheriff and other law officers, interviewing
witnesses, preparation of indictments, and other responsibilities were
so time-consuming that it would have been very difficult – if not
virtually impossible – to maintain a private law practice.
In all of his civil and criminal law practice,
including his defense of criminal cases prior to being elected District
Attorney, Mr. Kimzey carried out his practice by the Georgia Law. All
who knew him knew that he was a “book” lawyer. He had an excellent law
library which was his guide for his law practice, whether civil or
criminal. For this reason, his law library was kept up-to-date.
Countless hours were spent by him reading law and keeping up with
constant changes in the law, whether by enactment of new laws or by
determination by the appellate courts of the validity of the existing
laws. He never depended on showmanship in the trial of any of his cases,
civil or criminal, but he presented them based on law and facts, fairly
and squarely.
Mr. Kimzey never ceased to be amazed at the
different types of people with whom he came in contact as District
Attorney, whether they were the persons who had taken out warrants for
others or whether they were the defendants. As the Georgia Industrial
Institute (a part of the Georgia prison system) was located at Alto,
quite a number of cases in Habersham Superior Court originated there.
Many GII inmates were brought to trial in
Habersham County because of various incidents that happened at the
Institute, including, among others, escape, attempted escape, theft,
assault, etc. Going to court to stand trial gave them an opportunity to
be outside of the prison facility. Unfortunately, some of the inmates
probably had no home to go to upon their release from prison, as it was
not unusual for some of them to attempt to escape just prior to their
release date, knowing full well they would be sentenced to additional
time at the Institute. Some of the inmates Some of the inmates accused
of crimes committed at the prison preferred to enter a plea of guilty
before the Judge rather than to stand trial before a jury, so Mr. Kimzey
on a fairly regular basis arranged for “plea day” for a number of the
accused to enter their pleas in the courtroom before the Judge without a
jury.
It was at one of these Saturday “plea days” that
an inmate from GII appeared before the Judge to enter a plea of guilty
to a particular crime for which he was accused. Anytime a plea of guilty
was entered, an additional prison term was entered. As this inmate was
walking from where he was seated to stand directly before the Judge to
enter his plea and be sentenced on the charge against him, on his way he
picked up a cigarette lighter which belonged to one of the attorneys in
the courtroom, and which was lying on the table directly in front of the
Judge, and put it in his pocket. This action became apparent when the
attorney reached for the lighter to put in his pocket, and, then and
there, another charge -- “theft by taking” -- was made against the
inmate. On the following Saturday’s “plea day”, this inmate again stood
before the same Judge to enter his plea of guilty of “theft by taking”,
and received additional prison time. Mr. Kimzey, as well as the Judge,
could hardly believe this offense had happened right there in the
courtroom.
Whether the case being tried was a felony or a
misdemeanor, Mr. Kimzey always presented the State’s case to the best of
his ability through interrogation of the witnesses on the stand,
presentation of physical evidence, or whatever he felt had a direct
bearing on the case. In one particular case being tried, Mr. Kimzey felt
confident that he had proven the case to the jury. After the evidence
was concluded, both against and for the defendant, and the charge was
given by the Judge, the jury retired to consider the case, and the next
case proceeded.
When the jury in the previous case came back in
after a while, their verdict was that they found the defendant not
guilty. Even the courtroom spectators seemed surprised at the verdict.
Later in the day, when court was not in session, Mr. Kimzey spoke to the
jury foreman and assured him that he was certainly not being critical of
the jury’s verdict, but he simply wondered what swayed the jury to find
the defendant not guilty, and whether the jury felt the charges set out
in the indictment had not been proven during the trial. The foreman told
Mr. Kimzey that the jury members all agreed in their deliberation that
the charges were definitely proven, but that during the trial the jury
members had seen the defendant’s mother sitting in the courtroom, and
they “felt sorry for her”, so they returned a verdict of not guilty.
Even a situation like this did not deter Mr. Kimzey in his presentation
of evidence and trial of other cases to the best of his ability.
In addition to his general law practice and the
numerous activities previously mentioned, Mr. Kimzey was also active in
the community in many other areas. For many years, he was attorney for
Cornelia Bank, now Community Bank & Trust, he was City Attorney for the
City of Cornelia, and County Attorney for Banks County, as well as
attorney for a number of other businesses in the area, including
International Furniture Company when the local union at this facility
went on strike. He represented International in this matter before the
National Labor Relations Board.
It was while Mr. Kimzey was County Attorney for
Banks County that plans were completed for the construction of
Interstate Highway 85 (I-85) through the North Georgia region, including
Banks County. Some of the owners of property needed for the highway and
its right-of-way felt they had not been offered a fair price for their
property. In these instances, it was necessary for the property to be
condemned by the State and for the fair price of the property to be
determined through court proceedings. Mr. Kimzey, as County Attorney,
prepared and filed a number of condemnation petitions which were
processed through the court system, including trial by jury where
necessary, to determine a fair price for the property being taken for
the construction of I-85 and its right-of-way through Banks County.
Mr. Kimzey did not participate only in legal and
civic affairs, but was an active member of First Baptist Church of
Cornelia where he held numerous places of leadership in the church
organizations and served as a Deacon. His church membership and his
service to his Lord were very important to him. He also served as Clerk
of the Habersham Baptist Association. When Mr. and Mrs. Kimzey’s
daughter was growing up, they had her in church on a regular basis. It
was a common occurrence for the night services – Sunday and Wednesday –
for Mr. and Mrs. Kimzey to drive separate cars to church full of young
ladies (friends of their daughter) they had picked up to bring to church
with them. Some might not have been able to attend otherwise. This was
before seat belts were required, else, there might have been a problem.
After church, they would take these girls, as well as others who were at
church also, out for a Coke or ice cream cone and just to talk and laugh
and have a good time of wholesome fellowship before taking them to their
own homes. These good times are still special memories for all of those
young ladies who have long since been adults – and many now
grandparents.
Mr. Kimzey enjoyed life to the fullest and is
missed by ALL who were fortunate enough to know him.
V.D. Stockton
Former District Attorney V.D. Stockton
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