The DeKalb County district attorney’s refusal to participate in a murder trial, even after a jury was seated, prompted the acquittal of two defendants in a scathing order handed down by the judge. 

DeKalb Superior Court Judge Shondeana C. Morris, a former Fulton County prosecutor, said in a Jan. 10 order acquitting two defendants of murder and other felonies, that prosecutors gave her “no choice” but to grant an acquittal after they failed to secure necessary witnesses or timely obtain material witness warrants and delayed in obtaining orders to collect evidence to bolster their case. Prosecutors later refused to participate in jury selection, opening statements, or to call witnesses after Morris rejected their request to delay the trial.