Published Monday, May 05, 2008
Incumbent Stokely seeks third term as Coweta's solicitor general
The Times-Herald
Robert Stokely is fully aware of his shortfalls, mistakes and detractors' criticisms; and he remains adamant that none of it has or ever will prevent him from doing his job as Coweta's solicitor general.
"I stand by my track record," he said. "I'm a good attorney... I obviously know how to do something right (because) no one has ever prevailed against me."
The last comment was made in reference to cases he prosecuted in Coweta's State Court that were brought before the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court.
The 55-year-old incumbent is seeking a third term. He faces challenger Randy Coggin in the July 15 Republican primary election. The winner in the primary will go on to face any independent candidates, if any, in the November election. No one qualified last week for the post as a Democrat.
The solicitor is the chief prosecutor in Coweta's State Court in civil and criminal cases. The criminal cases mostly involve family law and traffic matters, such as domestic violence cases and DUIs. The more serious crimes, felonies, are handled by the district attorney's office and those cases are tried in Superior Court.
Stokely, who was appointed as solicitor in 1998 to fill an unexpired term, flirted with resigning the solicitor post after his eldest, Sgt. Mike Stokely, was killed in action in Iraq in August 2005.
The father of three explained he considered resigning because of an overwhelming sense of guilt that his son, who was the motivation behind his law career, would no longer be around to benefit from his success.
Stokely pursued law after petitioning for shared custody of his then-toddler son. He anticipated that the legal battles would continue. He clarified that the battles weren't necessarily with his ex, but family law courts which during the time rarely afforded full parenting roles to fathers.
"I became a lawyer because the justice system wasn't being very fair to a man having custodial rights," he said. "For the first time in my life it gave me an up close and personal viewpoint on what it was to be treated as a stereotype... The truth of the matter was I was having to fight the court system. I realize that I couldn't always afford to pay a lawyer. It was out of self-protection... To preserve my role in Mike's life that I became a lawyer."
Stokely, originally from north Florida, received a bachelor's degree in 1976 from Georgia State University, and doctorate and master’s of law degrees from Atlanta Law School in 1990.
Stokely's hope was that he'd be able to either relieve his son of any future burdens or help somewhat with his oldest son's dreams so he would not struggle as he did when he was a young parent.
"I didn't want him to worry about the price of a Happy Meal," he said.
The young soldier's death and the family's subsequent involvement with charity events in Sgt. Stokely's honor have since dominated media coverage concerning Robert Stokely. And, understandably, conversations with Stokely often steer back to his oldest son's death and the Mike Stokely Foundation, the scholarship fund begun in Sgt. Stokely's and his fellow soldiers' honor.
Before Mike Stokely's death, however, much of the local media attention surrounding Robert Stokely concerned debated positions he held on issues ranging from staffing in his office to his concerns with the state's open container laws.
Stokely's past battles with the Coweta County Commission, which funds the solicitor's office, gained national attention seven years ago when Stokely took a second job -- driving a semi-trailer part-time at night -- to afford an assistant attorney's salary. The commission refused budget requests to fully fund the hire so Stokely took matters in his own hands. He drove the rig to make up the $4,000 difference to supplement the attorney's salary.
In another past budgeting incident with the commission, Stokely also sought and got $5,000 in extra funding from the governor's office, which the commission tried to take away.
The solicitor's office 2008 budget is $696,905.
Randy Coggin, Stokely's challenger, has raised other issues: Stokely's strained relationships with law enforcement, the office's backlogged cases, and incidents in the past in which Coggin alleges Stokely refused to prosecute cases involving open container laws, alcohol sales to minors, tag lights and cases sent to him from the city.
"These are all old issues," Stokely said. "What we have is a candidate who is riding on the backs of a few people who feel they are disenfranchised by me personally, and his only way (to campaign) is to sling mud."
Regarding the strained relationships between him and the commission and law enforcement, Stokely's response is that he works hard to keep good relationships with the numerous agencies the solicitor's office interacts with while also meeting the goals and duties of the office. As example of this effort, he enacted a process whereby each individual law enforcement officer has assigned trial dates so that all his cases can be grouped together, thereby narrowing the officer's time in court.
Regarding Coggin's charge that he doesn't cooperate with local law enforcement and locks his doors, Stokely said he is available by cell phone 24/7 and often meets with officers individually. The offices' locked doors are per the building's security plan and as required by state law in the wake of the Brian Nichols' shooting spree in Atlanta.
"If I do not keep these doors locked and closed, then an alarm continually will sound in the Sheriff's control room," he said, adding that law enforcement personnel are readily buzzed in.
As far as the backlogged cases, Stokely says there'll be delays between the time an arrest is made and the case comes to court, mainly because it's not a "rubber stamp" kind of job.
"All I can say is if we're not prosecuting cases, why did the county have to add another court and judge."
Stokely maintains that the office is doing its job so well that the state court had to add another judge in 2005, and the solicitor's office is overloading the court calendars to the point the court had to hold additional sessions.
In 2007, the case count for the solicitor's office was 18,592, according to the State Court Clerk's office.
Regarding open container laws, Stokely had dismissed some cases in 2001 following changes to the state's open container law because he said the cases were not prosecutable as the law was written. The law defined that an alcoholic beverage is one with a certain percentage of alcohol. The problem was that no diagnostic procedures exist to test whether something was alcohol.
Since then, Stokely said while legislators have supported changes, the law hasn't changed so now he prosecutes those cases just like the other solicitors, and the law subsequently has been upheld them in higher court. Stokely added that in many of those cases involving an open container offense; it's often tied to a more serious crime, such as DUI.
"The State will offer a negotiated plea to the more serious cases as is common around the state in prosecution circles," he explained in an e-mailed statement. "Obviously, one of the DUI defense firms that I expect is going to support Mr. Coggin is well aware of that fact as we prosecuted and prevailed on that firm's defense of a DUI/Open Container defendant all the way to the Supreme Court of Georgia - Caraway vs. State."
Regarding the claim that Stokely refuses to prosecute cases involving alcohol sales to minors, Stokely noted that the office prosecutes "any and all case where the evidence and law support the prosecution of the case."
He said there are and will be cases where the judge may suppress evidence as required by law and where the law does not support prosecution.
"It is our ethical duty to discontinue prosecution, and it is in those cases we follow the law and document the file," he said.
Regarding the tag lights, Coggin is referring to a taser lawsuit in which an interstate driver was stopped in Coweta in 2001 by a Coweta County sheriff's deputy because he had no tag light. Their encounter resulted in the driver being subdued by the officer with a stun gun. Stokely decided not to prosecute the case because he said he wasn't going to tie up the solicitor's office with tag light violations.
"No doubt, there are those who did not agree with my decision on those events," Stokely said.
The driver subsequently filed a civil suit against the deputy in federal court. The court remanded the case back to State Court. The judge ruled in favor of the deputy. The judge's decision was appealed to a higher court. In 2006, the appellate court also ruled in favor of the deputy by dismissing the case against him. The decision was seen not only as exoneration for the deputy, but also vindication for the sheriff's office.
Despite his squabbles with county commission, other lawyers and law enforcement, Stokely remains assured he's garnered a lot of public support during his career in spite of the criticism.
"You can say all you want about me, but you can't say I am not a hard worker," he said.
He admits he's a talker, and often apologizes for being long-winded. As a natural story-teller, his life and career as a truck driver-turned attorney is marked with tales he's compelled to share and repeat in a folksy, self-effacing style.
The Sharpsburg resident takes much pride in his work ethic, his reputation and his staff. He effuses similar helpings of praise toward his friends and the local and military community that supported him and his family during their saddest of times. He's proud of his other two children -- Wesley and Abbey -- and worries about the toll their brother's death has had on them as well as his wife, Retta, a registered nurse who works in Atlanta.
It is when he spoke about her that he first lost his words and stammered. The love, admiration and respect for her is too overwhelming.
This is the one thing that he said most people will see has changed about him. His son's death, followed closely by a near death car accident involving his daughter, has served to greatly humanize him in the public's eye.
"It made me realize that fighting with the county commission was not all that important," he said.
"It matured me... I was 52 years old when my son died, but I grew up a lot... I'm still an aggressive prosecutor, but maybe that sharp edge of confrontation has been whittled off."
Stokely plans to campaign hard, and is gearing up to operate on two hours of sleep to do the job and keep the job come November. He said he's already scoped out all the best places for the signs.
A pragmatic, a survivor and strategist, he has long ago mapped out Plan B.
"I feel good about the election, but I can be beat," he said.
He and his wife have long discussed the date certain when their insurance coverage needs to transfer and other details most voters don't think about when they consider political candidate choices. But Stokely has. He's considered his career choice as solicitor several times when faced with a sure advancement opportunity, when lured by private practice and when his son died.
The answer for him in the end each time has been that he wanted to remain a public servant, and he wants to stay as Coweta's solicitor.
"Regardless of election results, on January 1, I'll be a trial lawyer," he said.
But if he's not elected, the impression is that it's not going to devastate him.
"Solicitor is what I do," he said. "It's not what I am."
(This story version corrects years and colleges attended.)