Closed cases are public record. These figures come from the office's Superior Court closed-case disposition logs, 2020 through 2025.
| Year | Cases closed | Convictions | Dismissed / nolle prossed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 738 | 320 | 324 |
| 2021 | 903 | 600 | 212 |
| 2022 | 1,125 | 573 | 438 |
| 2023 | 1,028 | 483 | 443 |
| 2024 | 961 | 438 | 402 |
| 2025 | 1,056 | 496 | 392 |
Convictions include trial verdicts and guilty pleas of every kind. Jury trials were suspended statewide by judicial emergency order for much of 2020 and 2021, and the 2022 closure numbers reflect the office clearing the backlog that suspension created. Figures reflect what the office's case-tracking system records; entries with incomplete data understate the totals.
About the dismissal numbers. A large share of dismissed cases are not cases that failed. They are cases resolved through the office's Early Intervention Program, a diversion program under O.C.G.A. § 15-18-80 that routes eligible lower-level offenses into supervision, restitution, and accountability instead of a felony record. When a participant completes the program, the case is dismissed. That dismissal is the program working as designed: the courtroom stays reserved for the cases that belong there, and a first mistake doesn't have to become a life sentence of a record.
A multi-agency investigation into the sex trafficking of five child victims, worked jointly with the Emanuel County Sheriff's Office and federal partners, sent four defendants to federal prison. The Attorney General of the United States personally recognized the agencies involved. Coverage: WRDW · Emanuel County Live · Southeast Georgia Today.
Tony Williams of Swainsboro led a racketeering enterprise that employed Blood gang members to run drugs and commit violence, including the murders of Angela Gillis and Zavion Ricks. In an eight-day trial in the first months of this administration, District Attorney Fitzner tried the case himself, and the jury convicted Williams and his co-defendants on every count. Williams received consecutive life terms without parole. "Violent criminal street gangs have no place anywhere. We are here to fight for them, and we will continue to fight for them." Three years later, this office brought the circuit its Gang Prosecution Unit. Coverage: Emanuel County Live · GBI on the indictments.
Joshua Sanders murdered Latorey Harden and her mother Pamela Harden in 2020. The State presented his recorded confession, security video of the shooting, and eyewitness testimony, and the jury convicted on all fifteen counts in under thirty minutes. Consecutive life sentences without parole, affirmed by the Supreme Court of Georgia. Coverage: WTOC on the verdict · WTOC on the affirmance.
Patrick Hunt was convicted of the murders of Justin Godfrey and Iesha Wicker and of feticide for the death of Ms. Wicker's unborn child. Coverage: Southeast Georgia Today.
Peggy Milton was convicted of the felony murder of Nicholas Hall in Twin City. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the conviction in August 2026. Coverage: Southeast Georgia Today on the verdict · Emanuel County Live on the sentence · WJBF · WRDW on the affirmance.
Aaron Coleman was convicted of the felony murder of John "Buck" Tomason of Normantown and sentenced to life. Coverage: Southeast Georgia Today.
Me'Elle Merrion was convicted of aggravated assault and firearm offenses for shooting Emanuel County Investigator Dakota Lamb as officers executed a search warrant in 2023. Coverage: WRDW.
Nicole Cabrera, a worker at a Lyons daycare, abused infants too young to tell anyone what was happening to them. The proof was on video, presented episode by episode in open court. She pled guilty to nine counts of cruelty to children and two counts of aggravated battery, and the court adopted the State's recommendation in full: 40 years with 30 to serve, and she is barred from Toombs County on release. Coverage: Southeast Georgia Today.
Taylor Marie Hughes pled guilty to felony murder and two counts of cruelty to children in the death of her four-year-old daughter, Reese, and was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years. The related case remains pending, and this office does not comment on pending matters. Coverage: Southeast Georgia Today.
Herber Laniez Garcia was convicted of the rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, and molestation of an eight-year-old child, and sentenced to life plus 20 years. Coverage: Southeast Georgia Today.
A Metter bank employee skimmed customers' deposits for years. This office convened a special grand jury to move the case, and Kayla Evans pled guilty to theft by taking. She was sentenced to 30 years with the first five in prison and ordered to repay every dollar. Stealing from your neighbors' accounts is not a paperwork problem in this circuit; it is a prison sentence. Coverage: Metter Advertiser · Southeast Georgia Today.
When Georgia's courts reopened from the pandemic, the first case this circuit put before a jury was a murder, and District Attorney Fitzner tried it himself. Brandon Colson's body had been found burned and buried outside Lyons in 2019. The jury rejected a co-defendant's attempt to take sole blame and convicted Israel Timothy Williams of malice murder; the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the conviction and the life-without-parole sentence. Coverage: Southeast Georgia Today · The opinion.
Murder convictions from a game-room shooting, affirmed on appeal.
This office represents the State when its convictions are challenged on appeal. Convictions upheld on review include murder (Sanders, Williams, Milton, Bostic, Wright), child rape (Traughber), and rape (Rutherford), among others. No conviction of this tenure that has been reviewed on appeal has been reversed.
When trial courts wrongly dismissed cases, this office took them up and won them back: a prison drug-smuggling prosecution in Washington County (State v. Newberry, 2023) and a child sexual exploitation case in Toombs County (State v. Dole).