Former Washington County solicitor will not face charges in DUI dismissals case

SANDERSVILLE, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The outside prosecutor assigned to review the GBI investigation into former Washington County Solicitor-General Michael Howard says he will not present criminal charges to a grand jury.

Houston Judicial Circuit District Attorney Eric Edwards wrote that the investigation did not show clear evidence of a scheme, kickbacks, or coordination between Howard and defense attorney Johnny Vines.

Edwards also said disputed DUI dismissal decisions, even if controversial, fall within prosecutorial discretion and do not support a criminal Violation of Oath charge.

Howard resigned last year and, through a PAQC disposition, agreed not to seek or accept a future district attorney or solicitor general position.

Edwards separately reviewed dismissed DUI cases, especially those dismissed after pretrial diversion.

“I do not agree with Mr. Howard that every D.U.I. dismissal I’ve reviewed in this case file was entirely necessitated. However, I will not substitute my own discretion for another prosecutor’s when I know infinitely less about the parties’ histories and credibility of witnesses involved than does the day-to-day misdemeanor prosecutor for Washington County,” said Edwards.

He acknowledges there may be legal questions around DUI cases and whether some should have been eligible for pretrial diversion. But he says charging Howard criminally over those decisions would go too far and would risk criminalizing ordinary prosecutorial discretion.

“I am certain that there are many elements of our prosecution philosophies that Mr. Howard and I would not agree on, but I will not prosecute a Solicitor-General for violating their oath just because a stack of dispositions appears to be softer on crime than I like to believe I would be in the same situation,” said Edwards.