I don’t know if age makes me any smarter but it gives you more information to work with because you’ve seen a lot of things.Solicitor General Mark Lee
SPRINGFIELD — Every legal situation doesn’t have to end with the pounding of a gavel.
In Effingham County, a gentler approach is possible if people charged with misdemeanors indicate a willingness to change their ways. That process is called “pre-trial diversion.”
That’s the path longtime Solicitor General Mark Lee prefers to take.
“We all bring our personal experience into prosecution,” Lee said. “I didn’t came at this job as a professional prosecutor. A lot of people in this position, that’s all they’ve ever done.”
Lee, a few days away from his 66th birthday, took a career detour before embarking on his legal journey.
“I started my professional life for a year or two as a seminarian,” he said. “I actually went to seminary after college. I chose not to be called to that profession but it certainly formed my thinking a good bit.”
Lee began his legal career as a Naval Judge Advocate General officer. Then he spent 15 years as a civil attorney handling insurance cases before being elected solictor nearly two decades ago.
“The more you live, the more you see — and the more of that forms your thinking. Maybe that’s wisdom,” Lee said while explaining the way he performs his duties. “I don’t know if age makes me any smarter but it gives you more information to work with because you’ve seen a lot of things.”
As solicitor general, Lee handles cases of petty theft, public intoxication, simple assault, reckless driving, DUIs and other misdemeanors.
“We deal with a lot of people,” he said. “State Court deals with misdemeanors as opposed to felonies, which is what happens with the Superior Court.”
Lee’s goal is to help divert people into law-abiding choices before they find themselves in Superior Court tagged with a felony charge.
“Most of the people who get charged with felonies — it is not their first time around the legal system,” he said. “They’ve had many experiences in this court or other jurisdictions at the misdemeanor level. Their behaviors just can’t seem to adapt to our societal needs.”
Although Lee, as solicitor general, deals strictly with misdemeanors, he is no stranger to more serious crimes.
“When I was in the Navy, I prosecuted the first rape case that occurred on a ship after they put women on them,” he said. “People might not know that women haven’t always been on ships but they weren’t until 1982.”
Lee got a conviction in that case that resulted in a lifetime sentence. He proved that the defendant was a serial rapist.
In Effingham County, Lee is dealing with an increasing number of domestic-violence cases. He attributes the spike to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Some people haven’t left their house in a year and other people disregard it,” he said. “Somewhere in between, a lot of us are just trying to do the best we can with this situation and there are restrictions on our movement. We can’t assemble as freely as we used to.
“Some people are confined to their house and others in the food industry and jobs like that may have lost their jobs. With the economic pressure and the close quarters, I believe you are seeing an increase in family violence and, I believe, the intensity of it.
“That’s according to the police reports that I read. That is my basis of information when I receive a case.”
In Georgia, domestic violence is divided into batteries and simple batteries. The difference is determined by the degree of visible injuries a victim might have.
“Simple battery is kind of a push or a shove — or something like that — that doesn’t result in a physical manifestation of an injury,” Lee said. “An aggravated assault or battery is considered a serious injury and that, of course, is a felony. If that happens, it is out of our bailiwick.
“I’m dealing with a lot of pushing, shoving, bickering and arguing. At the same time, I’m also dealing with people, on occasion, who might be just an inch or two away from being a felon, from being in a more serious situation, so I try to pay attention to that and sort those out.”
Lee mentioned a recent case to highlight the different types of domestic violence.
“This is a silly example but it actually happened,” he said. “One event occurred when a mother-in-law and a son-in-law began a food fight in their house. The objects thrown were a banana and a piece of General Tso’s chicken.
“Someone else in the house, because of the uproar, called the sheriff’s office and they made an arrest on that. You can see that may not be the same category as somebody who hits somebody with a closed fist and starts to choke them, which is on the more extreme and obviously something we would consider a more serious type of domestic-violence situation.
“You can’t handle those the same way, I don’t think, so what we do a lot is pre-trial diversion. That allows me to assess the facts under the range or scope of the behaviors — and also the past behaviors, because we do have a record of their criminal history, too — and make a determination if they are eligible for a pre-trial diversion, and I use that a lot because it’s a carrot-and-stick approach.
“We have the ability to send them to the same kind of counseling they would get with a conviction or chose more creative counseling. Very often, domestic situations are fueled by alcohol or substances so we send them to substance-abuse counseling and we can monitor that. If they deviate from what our plan of action is, they can simply be brought back and prosecuted. That’s the ‘stick’ over them.
“The ‘carrot’ is that they can have their case dismissed if they are able to comply with everything.”
Lee realizes that everyone won’t follow through on the promises made to him as a condition of leniency.
He said, “I’m quite sure that there is a sizable number of people who get out of these chairs (in my office) and think, ‘Gee. I just fooled him. I got away with that.’ I know that. I’m not naive but, at the same time, I figure that is their loss, not mine.
“There is a number of people who are truly grateful for the opportunity to set their life straight without the permanent condemnation of having a serious offense.”
The Family Domestic Violence Act provides a large incentive for many offenders to recalibrate. Under it, domestic-violence convictions come with a permanent ban on firearm ownership.
“That’s a big one around here,” Lee said. “We have a lot of hunters. We have a lot of hunters and we have a lot of people who collect firearms as a hobby.
“That’s a consideration and we want to make sure that these people understand — if they continue with this behavior — they will lose that privilege.”
Backed by an experienced assistant and investigator, the solicitor general handles cases submitted by the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office and the police departments in Guyton, Rincon and Springfield.
“The three cities also have a Municipal Court. Misdemeanors do go there first often, sometimes depending on the nature (of the crime),” Lee said. “I think some agencies may send all their domestic-violence cases to me. That’s not really my call until I get it.”
Defendants in Municipal Court can have their cases heard in State Court so that they can have a trial by jury. Judge Ronald K. Thompson presides over State Court in Effingham County.
“We are kind of as one mind as far as how to handle these things,” Lee said. “We fit hand in glove.”
Thompson has been the State Court judge for the totality of Lee’s stint as solicitor, which will end in less than two years.
“I’m old,” Lee said with a laugh. “This will be my last term. I’d love to see someone take my position who has similar points of view.
“That’s the beauty of being an elected official. You get to set your point of view but other people may do it differently than me.”