Dougherty Co. to swear in fourth Superior Court Judge soon

ALBANY, Ga. – In just a couple of weeks, Dougherty county will be swearing in its fourth Superior Court Judge. We got a chance to speak with him about being named to the bench.

Local Attorney Joe Dent was appointed to the Dougherty County Superior Court by Governor Brian Kemp earlier in December.

And, he’s coming from a legal background of more than 30 years.

“…I did some criminal work, initially when we had the appointed list. And, then generally did a broad array of civil litigation with some concentration in personal injury, business litigation, and real estate litigation…” said Attorney Joe Dent, Dougherty Co. Superior Court appointee.

Dent’s appointment to the bench is coming at a point in which the Dougherty County Judicial System needs help… as the cases are still backed up from as far back as 2020.

“There was a huge spike in criminal filings either between 2020-21 or 21-22, where the criminal filings alone I think they nearly tripled,” said Dent.

According to Dent, Dougherty county was reported to have the highest rate of cases per judge in the state, with each judge putting in the work of two at a given time.

So, the appointment of Dent couldn’t be coming at a better time.

“It was very needed because of the backlog situation that Dougherty county was experiencing. I think I can have a pretty quick impact on the backlog,” said Dent.

Dent believes that being newly appointed will help to alleviate some of the backup in court in one particular way.

“…So, I can come in and be reassigned older cases form the other judges dockets, and truly have a very fast impact on their dockets to start reducing the backlog,” said Dent.

With Dent set to take his spot in the courts, it’s a much needed boost to a county judicial system that’s been seeing a major workload in cases.

No date has been officially announced for Dent’s swearing in at this time.

Brian Roche reporting.

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