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Public defender faces his own legal problems

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

The Griffin Judicial Circuit’s new public defender could be forced to find an attorney of his own if state troopers charge him in connection with the traffic-related death of a prominent amateur softball commissioner.

Arthur Hurst English IV, who took office as the new public defender on Jan. 1, was behind the wheel of a white 2004 GMC Yukon that rear-ended a white 1998 Ford Mustang. Hiram Graybill Daniel Jr., 61, of Stockbridge, was the driver of the Mustang, officials said.

Daniel’s Mustang then struck a pickup truck, Georgia State Patrol spokesman Trooper First Class Larry Schnall said. The accident occurred at 2:24 p.m. on March 10 on Ga. Highway 92 just west of Vineyard Road in neighboring Spalding County, he said.

“Arthur H. English was driving a GMC Yukon, failed to stop, struck the Mustang in the rear and the Mustang struck the truck,” Schnall said.

Daniel, a commissioner of the Atlanta Amateur Softball Association and former epidemiologist for the Georgia Department of Community Health, was en route to Tallahassee to umpire a college softball tournament when the accident occurred, ASA officials said.

Daniel was transported to the hospital. He died several hours later on March 11 at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta from subdural hematoma, an injury to the brain, Spalding County Coroner Sonny Foster said.

“The accident caused it,” Foster added.

Subdural hematoma is a massive blood clot beneath the outer covering of the brain and spinal cord, which is often caused by a car accident or a fall from a great height. Subdural hematoma is more common in people over 60, some health officials say.

English, 29, of Barnesville, initially was cited in the crash for driving too fast for conditions. However, that charge was retracted once state patrol officials learned of Daniel’s death, officials said.

“Charges are pending because the Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team is investigating,” Schnall said.

Speed does not appear to be a contributing factor. The weather conditions were clear and the pavement was dry at the time of the case.

Officials could not say whether a cell phone played a factor in the case.

A call made to English requesting comment Thursday was unreturned.

While no formal charges have been filed against English pending the results of the SCRT team investigation, at issue is whether a public defender once charged or convicted can serve as a public defender and whether that would create an ethical dilemma for the state court judge and state court solicitor general who might handle the case.

Georgia Public Defender Standards Council Director Michael Mears declined to divulge that information.

“We are not making any comment about what might or might not happen,” Mears said. “We feel that it would be inappropriate to make a comment before the law enforcement has completed their investigation.”

When asked if the council currently had any public defenders serving who have been charged with a crime, Mears said “No.”

State law specifics a circuit public defender, which receives a starting salary of $87,593.58, could be removed for cause by a majority vote of the council.