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McLaughlin v. Payne

Because the district attorney was wholly disqualified from the case, the assistant district attorneys on his staff—whose only power to prosecute a case is derived from the constitutional authority of the district attorney who appointed them—had no power to proceed with the defendant's prosecution.

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Warden Gregory McLaughlin appeals the grant of a writ of habeas corpus to William C. Payne. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

In 2006, Payne was convicted on two counts of aggravated child molestation, three counts of child molestation, and one count of cruelty to children. At Payne’s trial, then District Attorney for the Douglas Judicial Circuit, David McDade, appeared as a witness for the State. He identified himself to the jury as the district attorney, identified the examining prosecuting attorney as his assistant, and outlined his duties as district attorney. He also testified that: his daughter was a classmate of the victim named in the indictment; his daughter told him what she had heard of the crimes; he participated in an interview of Payne early in the investigation; during the first few days of the investigation, law enforcement efforts were focused on finding Payne; and, that after his interview with Payne, he realized he would likely be a witness at trial, and removed himself from Payne’s prosecution. On appeal, Payne contended that he was not present at all critical stages of the trial, venue was not proven, evidence of a prior similar transaction was wrongly admitted, and trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to certain evidence. His convictions were affirmed. See Payne v. State, 290 Ga. App. 589 660 SE2d 405 2008. See also Payne v. State, 285 Ga. 137 674 SE2d 298 2009, overruled by Reed v. State, 291 Ga. 10 727 SE2d 112 2012.

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