This matter arose out of a fight on school grounds. The State filed an accusation in the State Court of Chatham County charging Ronald Perry with affray, OCGA § 16-11-32; disrupting a public school, OCGA § 20-2-1181; and criminal trespass, OCGA § 16-7-21. At his arraignment on May 22, 2002, Perry received a copy of the accusation and a list of witnesses and requested a bench trial. Before Perry entered a plea, his counsel informed the court that the school system wanted the charges dismissed and presented a letter from an assistant principle at the school where the fight took place. According to Perry’s counsel, the school system reasoned that since Perry had no prior criminal record, intended to enter the military, and had participated in a five-hour hearing before the school board dealing with the matter, he should not be punished further. Over the State’s objections, the trial court sua sponte dismissed the charges, stating, “I’m going to dismiss it. I think it’s gone far enough.” The State contends that the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing the accusation. According to the State, the reluctance of the school system and the other party to the fight to pursue the charges was not an appropriate grounds for dismissal. For the reasons stated below, we agree and reverse. “In the district attorney’s role as an administrator of justice, he or she has broad discretion in making decision prior to trial about who to prosecute, what charges to bring, and which sentence to seek.” Footnotes omitted. State v. Wooten , 273 Ga. 529, 531 2 543 SE2d 721 2001.1 “The state has both the duty and the right to protect the security of its citizens by prosecuting crime. Georgia Constitution of 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Par. II; OCGA § 17-1-2. Because the purpose of criminal law is to serve the public functions of deterrence, rehabilitation and retribution, it is the state, not the victim, that has an interest in criminal prosecutions.” Citation omitted. Ambles v. State , 259 Ga. 406, 407 1 383 SE2d 555 1989.2
Given the state’s interest in criminal prosecution, the State argues that dismissal of the accusation was improper under State v. Colquitt , 147 Ga. App. 627 249 SE2d 680 1978. In State v. Colquitt , the parties appeared for the sole purpose of hearing the defendant’s plea. Id. at 528. Upon being informed that the alleged victim did not want to press charges, however, the trial court ordered the case dead docketed. Id. The trial court said that it was overburdened and did not have time to hear a case involving a reluctant complaining witness, especially when the state was not ready to proceed immediately. Id. This Court held that the trial court had abused its discretion in placing the case on the dead docket because “the power to control the proceeding of the court is subject to the proviso that in so doing a judge does not take away or abridge any right of a party under the law.” Citation omitted. Id.
