Q&A: Chatham Co. Superior Court candidate Frank Pennington talks about why he's running

Frank Pennington, an assistant U.S. Attorney and lifelong Savannahian, is switching lanes to run for Chatham County Superior Court Judge.

In the nonpartisan race held on May 21, Pennington is running against Christopher Middleton, a Savannah defense attorney. Superior Court judges are elected to four-year terms, and judges John E. Morse Jr., and Lisa Colbert are up for reelection this year. Penny Haas Freesemann is retiring at the end of this cycle.

Pennington was an assistant district attorney in Chatham County from 2004 until 2018, when he was hired as an assistant U.S. attorney. He served a stint as Deputy Chief ADA and had positions on the Major Crimes Division-Special Victims Unit and on Chatham County's Sexual Assault Response Team.

Thus far, Pennington has raised more than $96,000, while spending nearly $50,000, according to a review of campaign filings by the Savannah Morning News. Middleton, meanwhile, has raised about $34,000, and spent nearly $1,500.

In an interview, Pennington discussed his vision should he win the race, centering a platform around efficiency and fairness in the judicial system, easing the backlog by using new technology and making the courts more publicly accessible.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

More: Assistant U.S. attorney Frank Pennington launches bid for Chatham County Superior Court Judge

More: Veteran prosecutor to join federal team

What platform are you running on?

"The central theme of my campaign is really a commitment to public service. My entire career, I've really put myself out there as a person who wants to serve the community, through the work. I chose the profession that I'm in, I chose to do that work as Special Victims prosecutor and, and now as an assistant United States attorney, because I'm committed to the community. So, in a broad way, my campaign is about public service.

So, what I want to do is identify ways that I can both do some of the things that I've done my entire career, which is be an advocate for victims or be an advocate for those who are impacted by the judicial system. In a sense, I want to do everything I can to make the process as open and as fundamentally fair as I can for anyone who comes before the court.

But I also want to look for opportunities where we can improve the judicial system, whether that's through identifying ways to make the court more efficient, to deal with the backlog and to ensure that people who have, things that need to be addressed by the court, whether they're a victim of crime, or they're a defendant who needs to have the case heard, or they’re a party to a divorce, or child support or other family law matters, or they're just a litigant in a civil case that they can get before the court to get those manage heard, so that their lives are put on hold.

And then, also ways to continue to improve the way that the community addresses things like mental health and drug abuse, in order to prevent people being judicially impacted, and also to ensure that they get what they need in order to be lifted up and have their lives improved."

You are a lifetime prosecutor, and you’re running against a defense attorney. For those with concerns that you’d side with the prosecution rather than the defense attorney, how do you address those concerns?

"Several things. One, there are two attorneys whose duty extends beyond an individual claim whose duty is not to a person, but to sort of the case in this judicial system as a whole, they are judges and they are prosecutors. I have always taken very seriously my ethical duty to do the right thing at the right time.

My responsibility has always been to know the law, to take careful analysis of what the facts and circumstances of the case are, that would include the factual circumstances of what happened, but also consideration of those who were involved in the case, whether they're victims, witnesses or defendants, and to make a fair and impartial judgment about those cases.

So, the way I have approached my career has always been with an eye towards fairness with an eye towards the fundamental premise that my duty is to all citizens of Chatham County, all the citizens of Georgia, and now that I'm in the United States Attorney's Office, the entire United States. My duty is to take that very, very seriously.

Secondly, I'm a father and I'm a husband. I've got two children. My wife was a criminal defense attorney for a long time. You know, the last thing that I want in any situation is for any family to feel like that they've not had their issues adequately considered before a judge."

One issue you’ve broached is the case backlog. You have said that you’d better track what court motions are driving the backlog. How would you do that?

"In Chatham County, we have an electronic filing system through the court clerk's office. What we don't have is a really good case management system for tracking data specific to the judges. So, one of the things I would suggest that we should look into would be determining whether and to what extent, software that might assist that process is available or should be utilized here in the county. We have had similar systems at the U.S. Attorney’s Office where you can get kind of granular about the data and really look at how long cases have been pending specifically. It can be a big help in identifying and prioritizing cases.

But when we're talking about the backlog with regard to motions and things like that, one of the big areas of concern that I've heard, particularly from the civil bar is the court moving quickly on addressing motions, which are filed, in many cases, when there's when there's motions filed early on, whether those are motions for summary judgment, in civil case or criminal cases, motions to suppress and things like that. Those motions will oftentimes define the issues for the parties. So, in many ways, they need to be heard and ruled upon in order to give the parties an idea what their positions are going to be, so that then they can move and then make a decision about whether or not they're going to move towards settlement or plea, or otherwise need to continue, you know, through discovery and other processes towards trial or whatever else is necessary."

You have also said that you aim to have a court that is accessible to all people. How will you ensure that?

"What I what I really mean is, when someone has litigation in front of the court, again, whether they're a victim of crime or a defendant in a criminal case, whether they're a party to a family law matter, or to a civil suit, it seems to me that it makes sense that the court should be directed towards being efficiently efficient and orderly and getting the cases before the court so that if someone has a matter that needs to be heard, that the court will address that with the litigants, you know, get those matters scheduled promptly, so that so that they can be heard.

When we think about efficiency and fairness, we can provide adequate time for the parties to have their matters dealt with appropriately."

Drew Favakeh is the public safety and courts reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@Savannahnow.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Pennington talks about why he is running for judge