Wednesday, July 25, 2001
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Wednesday, July 25, 2001 |
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Fayette DA joins Republicans, abandoning Democratic party By JOHN
MUNFORD
Fayette County District Attorney Bill McBroom has officially switched to the Republican party. The recent move will not affect the operations of his office, which is responsible for prosecuting criminal cases in Fayette's Superior Court. But for McBroom the move is significant because he is abandoning the party under which he was elected in 1996 and reelected in 2000. "I ran as a conservative Democrat," McBroom said. But many former Democratic conservatives have joined the Republican party, he added. "I believe in the death penalty," McBroom said. "That's becoming a rarity in the Democratic party." McBroom has tried eight death penalty cases in the Griffin Judicial Circuit since he was originally appointed to the position in 1995. Juries returned death verdicts in five of those cases. McBroom's current term expires Dec. 31, 2004. The switch has nothing to do with abandoning the Democrats in favor of the Republican stronghold seen in the Fayette area, McBroom stated. He added that he had been contemplating the switch "for a while." "I merely enforce the laws," McBroom said. "It's not like I'm a legislator and making policy." McBroom specifically referred to two Democratic-led issues that illustrate his differences with the party. One is a state law that allows evidence to be withheld if there is an error on the application for the search warrant, despite a federal case that allows judges to consider whether or not the warrant was pursued "in good faith," McBroom said. The other difference McBroom cited was in the jury selection process. Currently, defendants are allowed to strike more jurors than prosecutors are allowed to strike. McBroom said he feels both sides should have an equal amount of jury strikes.
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