This month the Georgia Bureau of Investigation initiated an investigation and issued search warrants into the billing practices of Leesburg attorney Ramon Fajardo. Fajardo was appointed by the Office of the Georgia Capital Defender to represent Stacey Bernard Sims, accused of murdering six Hispanic men in Tift County in September 2005. Fajardo withdrew from the Sims case in January stating that he had not been paid in four months.

According to affidavits filed in Lee County Superior Court, Fajardo estimated it would cost the state $1.3 million to defend Sims, an estimate that was “excessively high” compared to estimates offered by other contract attorneys in death penalty cases.

In March, the public defender’s office alleged that Fajardo had billed for services he had not rendered or had over billed for services. The allegations led to search warrants being issued on May 8 for access to Fajardo’s home and office. The warrants were taken out by GBI Special Agent Brian Queener, a theft and fraud investigator. During the search, investigators seized binders, case files and several computers.

Sims has been held at the Crisp County jail and GBI investigators checked jail logs against billed visits by Fajardo and found “discrepancies.” According to the affidavit, Fajardo billed for visits in December 2006 and January, February and May 2007 that were not reflected in the jail log.

In addition to the complaints by the public defender’s office, Superior Court Judge Gary McCorvey and State Court Judge John Salter also questioned Fajardo’s billing practices. Previously, Fajardo had been reprimanded by Middle District Chief Judge Hugh Lawson for overcharging for work done on federal cases.

Dougherty District Attorney Ken Hodges was appointed a special prosecutor in the case by Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker. J. Tom Morgan was named a special master in the case to ensure that the GBI only examined information regarding Fajardo’s billing practices.

Last December, both of Sims’ attorneys, Fajardo and Mark Phillips, made a motion for withdrawal from the case. In the motion the attorneys stated that believed they had not been paid, “not because there are no funds available, but rather because it is an executive branch decision of the government of the state of Georgia to defray costs of death penalty (and indigent defense in general) litigation in total disregard for the quality of the services demanded for those persons unlucky enough to be classified as indigent.” They stated that Phillips had not been paid for work he had done in the case from June through November 2007 and Fajardo had not been paid for August through November 2007.

On Jan. 9, 2008, McCorvey issued an order allowing for the withdrawal of the attorneys, an order appointing a new attorney and an order directing the sheriff to relocate Sims to a location more convenient for his new attorney. McCorvey appointed Valdosta attorney J. Converse Bright to represent Sims and ordered he suggest an appointment for a second attorney.

“This court did grant Mr. Fajardo’s request to withdraw based on his representation to the court that he had not been paid for his services,” McCorvey told The Gazette Firday. “This court would not force Mr. Fajardo or any other attorney to represent any person in a death penalty case without payment. Shortly after allowing Mr. Fajardo, as well as Mr. Phillips, to withdraw this court appointed Mr. Converse Bright of Valdosta and Mr. Rob Walker of Ocilla to represent Mr. Sims.”

McCorvey said that funding of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, which oversees the Office of the Georgia Capital Defender, has been running below its needs, so there has been a delay in the new attorneys “getting up to speed” as they were forced to wait for the results of the budgeting process in Atlanta. The new budget takes effect July 1.

McCorvey said that he could not comment on any pending investigation.



To contact reporter Jana Cone, call 382-4321, ext. 208.