GA Research: Spotting Deer In The Roadway

– Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023 –

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Good morning and welcome back to The Current‘s public safety newsletter. This week, we’re covering a complaint against Chatham County’s embattled district attorney, a fight over “expert” witnesses in a Camden County police court case and a new study on how to avoid hitting deer when driving in the dark (spoiler alert: slow down, use your high beams, drink coffee).

Questions, comments, story ideas? Email me at jake.shore@thecurrentga.org. Let’s dive in.

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Ethics complaint against Chatham DA

State ethics officials filed a complaint against Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones, alleging she hasn’t submitted required campaign finance documents and financial disclosures in years.

The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission wrote a letter to Cook Jones on Sept. 6 with the complaint. The agency is hosting a preliminary hearing on the matter on Dec. 8 in Savannah, according to the agenda.

The commission’s complaint states Cook Jones hasn’t filed eight campaign finance reports, with her most recent report from Nov. 2020. The complaint also states that Cook Jones has not filed three yearly-required personal financial disclosures — her most recent disclosure was for the year 2019. You can read the report here.

Cook Jones could be subject to public reprimand and civil fines if the commission decides to further prosecute the case. DA Jones did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The campaign complaint adds further scrutiny to Cook Jones, who was the recent subject of federal sanctions and a scathing judge’s order — which she intends to appeal — in a civil lawsuit brought by her former employee. The judge’s order called into question her time management and accused her of misleading statements and lacking respect of judicial norms.

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Clash over ‘expert’ witnesses

The most important decisions in a court case often occur before a jury is even picked. Lawyers argue over which evidence and experts should make it into the trial — those decisions, refereed by a judge, have influence over what a jury hears and can use to decide a case.

These arguments are underway in federal court as part of a Camden County police misconduct case. Attorneys for the family of LaToya James, the young mother killed when Camden County Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant at her cousin’s home in a 2021 drug bust, are seeking to eliminate testimony from an expert for the sheriff’s deputies, and the deputies’ lawyers are doing likewise with the James’ team’s expert.

At issue are expert opinions on whether Camden deputies lawfully executed a search warrant at 5 a.m. on May 4, 2021 to get into the home and whether their deadly force in response to James’ cousin, Varshan Brown, shooting at the deputies was appropriate. James’ was killed by a deputy’s bullet in the crossfire.

Expert witnesses on behalf of law enforcement and prosecution in court have come under scrutiny in recent years, with complaints of junk science, the use of bunk forensic tests and confusing clinical terms, like “excited delirium.” The Current found that federal judges in other jurisdictions have limited or excluded testimony from one expert witness in the Camden case for failing to match up their opinion with the facts of the case.

We dove into the arguments about the credibility of the experts and what that could mean about the controversial Camden County shooting case.

For background on the case: my reporting on the trial of Varshan Brown from the Camden County courthouse.

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Like a deer in headlights

When driving at night in Coastal Georgia, whether it be on backroads or major thoroughfares, drivers will often come across deer. The creatures can unknowingly enter a roadway and put themselves and drivers at risk of a collision and injury — the potential of which only increases as urban sprawl spreads into former wildlife areas.

A recent study by University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory students sought to shed light on how drivers fare with identifying animals and avoiding collisions with wildlife while driving at night.

The researchers gathered 24 volunteers to drive a 37-mile circuitous route after sunset at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina between Sept. 2021 and Sept. 2022, ultimately making 33 drives. They used infrared cameras to monitor the wildlife, instead of relying on decoys like in past studies, and drove realistic speeds of 45-55 mph on average, the study said.

To make the study even more realistic, they drove a Ford F-150. The research team found:

• In 45% of encounters with deer, drivers did not have enough time to properly brake.
• Those type of “dangerous” encounters were more likely to occur when drivers went at higher speeds and/or were fatigued.
• Drivers failed 100% of the time to spot wild pigs with enough time to brake safely.
• Using high beam headlights made a major difference — to the tune of five-and-a-half car lengths — in drivers being able to spot wildlife earlier.

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