SAVANNAH, Ga. () — The newly constructed Judge Eugene H. Gadsden Courthouse is set to open on Monday, though local attorneys have voiced concerns about its design and safety features.
The county’s website details that the new facility is located at 400 W. Oglethorpe Ave, next to the existing J. Tom Coleman Courthouse. Both buildings together constitute the Chatham County Judicial Complex. The Gadsden Courthouse will accommodate the State and Superior trial court operations, while the Coleman Courthouse will continue to provide services for Probate, Magistrate, and Recorder’s Courts.
The new building cost over $80 million in SPLOST funds and was 25 years in the making, according to the county.
Anthony Burton is one of the attorneys who shared their worries with News 3, though others would not speak on camera.
“It appears to have been conceived and constructed by someone unfamiliar with courthouse logistics,” noted Burton. “The most troubling feature is the interior balconies. Given the presence of mental health cases, heated divorce proceedings, and tensions between the families of murder victims and defendants, it’s likely that an incident will occur there within a year.”
There’s also questions surrounding how staff with the district attorney’s office will get evidence in and out of the building. Since they don’t have offices in the new facility, Burton says the paralegals allegedly must now carry this evidence on a public sidewalk alongside tourists and residents.
“This applies to the district attorney’s office. With private counsel and the public defender’s office, we’ve always had to walk from outside into the courthouse,” Burton said. “I’ve never in any of my divorce cases transported two kilos of cocaine across the street like the DA’s office or a gun.”
It’s also unclear if in-custody defendants will be brought into Gadsden through a secure entrance or the front door with everyone else.
“If that’s true, someone is going to get shot before someone gets pushed off the balcony. I would like to say I can’t imagine that they would be dumb enough to do that,” Burton said.
News 3 took these concerns and questions to the county but a spokesperson said they couldn’t comment, calling it a security risk. Sheriff Richard Coleman however did speak vaguely on the issue.
“Our county officials, court officials and constitutional officers who are involved in this process have worked collectively together to ensure that we have prepared in every manner for the opening of this new courthouse,” Sheriff Coleman said. “The county provided us with additional personnel to cover that new courthouse expansion. We have our deputies in place and we’re prepared to secure that building and secure the proceedings as they go along in the courthouse that day.”
Several hearings are scheduled for Monday morning according to the court docket. One of those cases is a jury trial for a 2023 homicide.
