SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Chatham County will have a new district attorney come January.
Shalena Jones won the election over incumbent Meg Heap and will be the county’s first African-American female district attorney.
Jones said she is honored and humbled to fill the role as the county’s top prosecutor come January. She says she already has big plans for the role.
“See the work that we do is tedious, it’s difficult, but it’s all important and it’s my belief that working together there is nothing that is off limits to us and we will accomplish our chief goal which is to protect the victims among us and keep the streets of this county safe,” Jones said.
Jones said the work is just beginning as she has talked to local elected officials and some judges about her transition to the role of district attorney. She knows the job cannot be done alone so is calling on help from everyone in the community.
She says she wants to capitalize on the good work that has been done and expand programs beyond the City of Savannah. She says she is walking into the DA’s office with a spirit of collaboration and without preconceived notions.
Jones will receive a high case load when she begins because of the COVID-19 pandemic and says she will use prosecutorial discretion to determine what cases and how they will handle them, but her goal is to build on our county’s current legacy..
“It is my hope that another legacy we will have is that we have made a difference in the lives of our residents that we have worked diligently to keep, to fight for, and advocate for the most vulnerable members of our community. That we have treated everyone who has come to that courthouse with the same levels of dignity and respect and that in the end we will have made a historical difference and a shift in how we prosecute cases and how we view criminal justice reform,” Jones said.
Jones said she wants to focus on preventative crime and limiting the cases that come into the system.
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