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Published Monday, May 05, 2008 in Local

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Randy Coggin

Coggin challenger in Republican primary for solicitor general

By Brenda Pedraza-Vidamour

The Times-Herald

Randy Coggin, currently the chief assistant district attorney in the Griffin Judicial Circuit, tries cases in courtrooms across several counties -- and this fall he hopes to narrow that caseload to two state courtrooms in Coweta.

Coggin, 54, is seeking the Coweta solicitor general post. He is challenging incumbent Robert Stokely in the July 15 Republican primary election. The winner in the primary will go on to face independent candidates, if any, in the November election. No Democrats registered during qualifying last week.

The solicitor is the chief prosecutor in Coweta's State Court. The State Court exercises jurisdiction over misdemeanor violations, including traffic cases such as DUIs, and all civil actions. Currently, Coggin tries cases in a higher court, the Superior Courts in the Griffin Judicial Circuit.

"I prosecute everything from shoplifting to murder cases," he said.

Superior Courts in Georgia have authority over felony cases, divorce, equity and cases regarding title to land. Each county has its own Superior Court, although one judge can preside over more than one county. The chief prosecutor in Superior Court is the district attorney.

Georgia's Superior Courts are organized into 10 judicial districts made up of 49 judicial circuits. The Coweta and Griffin Judicial Circuits are in the Sixth Judicial District. Coweta has five counties in its circuit: Carroll, Coweta, Heard, Meriwether and Troup. Griffin has four counties in its circuit: Fayette, Pike, Spalding and Upson. It is within these last four counties' Superior Courts that Coggin tries his cases.

One reason he's running for office is that the Newnan native wants to return to Coweta. He started as an assistant district attorney in the Coweta Judicial Circuit after graduating from law school in the mid 1980s.

"I want to get home," he said. "That's another big factor. Scouting is here. Church is here."

Coggin is a scoutmaster for Troop 41 of the Boy Scouts of America, affiliated with the First United Methodist Church in Newnan.

He attended Auburn University and received a bachelor's degree from Georgia State University in 1982, a doctorate's degree from the University of Georgia Law School in 1985, and a master's degree in law from Atlanta Law School a few years later.

After three years in Coweta Judicial Circuit, he entered private practice in Fayetteville for a couple of years before joining the district attorney's staff in the Griffin Judicial Circuit from 1990-2000. He left that office for private practice in Newnan, and then went on to serve as an assistant district attorney in Fulton County. He left the Atlanta Judicial Circuit in 2004 to become an administrative law judge in the Georgia Office of Administrative Hearings, and returned to the Griffin Judicial Circuit as an assistant district attorney in 2005.

Coggin became the chief assistant district attorney in the Griffin Judicial Circuit last August.

He said his bid for Coweta solicitor's post is primarily motivated by what he has read and heard about how Stokely is running things.

"I have read news articles, and people tell me it's time for a change," he said.

He cites a host of reasons ranging from Stokely's alleged lack of cooperation and strained relationships with law enforcement, the Coweta County Commission and colleagues to the office's backlogged cases, which Coggin says waste taxpayer money.

"He refuses to cooperate and work with law agencies. He refuses to prosecute cases involving alcohol sales to minors. He refuses to prosecute cases sent to him from (the) city," he said.

Coggin also claims Stokely has taken a similar dismissive approach to prosecution of open container laws and tag lights cases.

They are issues that date back as far as 2001, which Stokely explained then and defends today.

Coggin also said that caseload delays in Coweta average four to nine months. He charges that Stokely "locks his office door" in response to law enforcement officers' requests for dialogue about those cases.

"He's not willing to talk with them," Coggin charged. "I think they feel a lack of support from that office."

Coggin said he would resolve those issues by keeping his door open and by getting cases to trial quicker.

Coggin's allegations are also based on his "conversations with law enforcement and the local bar," referring, in general, to local attorney members of the Georgia Bar Association. He's also had discussions with lawyers from Fayette and Spalding counties who faced Stokely in DUI cases in Coweta.

In response to why he would consider a transition from felony cases in Superior Court to a misdemeanor caseload in State Court, Coggin said: "Because I'm concerned about... what's been happening; that the job is not getting done. I've got the experience to do it," including managing the case load, the office and staff.

Coggin anticipates the challenge with the solicitor's office is that its problems will grow.

"The county will keep growing, which just means the caseload will keep growing. The challenge will be to just manage the caseload," he said. "I'm experienced, effective and I'm ready."

If elected, he plans to handle it differently by "fostering better communication" between local agencies and the solicitor's office and by better managing the caseload.

Coggin was born and raised in Newnan. He lives near downtown Newnan with his wife Louise, a pre-K teacher at Jefferson Parkway Elementary School and two of their five children from their previous marriages. The children range in age from 17 to 22.

He's been active with Scouting since the late 1980s. Coggin also once served as chairman of Newnan's Historic Resource Commission in the early 2000s when the city considered an ordinance to regulate design criteria for homes within its historic districts.

Besides Scouting, Coggin's other interests include sailing. He spent some time on a chartered boat last February with others sailing Florida's intercoastal waterways.