Longtime Peachtree City defense attorney Joe Saia has been named the Chief Public Defender of the Griffin Judicial Circuit, which includes Fayette County.

Saia had been in private practice in Peachtree City since 1977 until he joined the public defender’s office when it was created last year. Tammy Jacobs had been serving as the interim chief public defender in the absence of former chief public defender Arthur English, who resigned in late November.

Saia will oversee a staff of 10 attorneys and four investigators in addition to other administrative assistants. The office defends indigent clients accused of crimes in Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Upson counties.

English resigned from the position after the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council initiated a hearing to consider firing him for, among other things, using his office to assist his brother’s criminal case. Mac English was convicted in July of two counts of criminal solicitation of murder for trying to arrange the killings of two former Department of Natural Resources rangers.

login to post comments