Game Changers: The Conscious Culture Volume 1 Issue 5 | Page 20

Tough and Fair:
The New Face of Justice for Henry County
District Attorney
Darius Pattillo
by Kameelah Montgomery
There’s a new D.A. in Hen-
ry County and his name is
Darius Pattillo!!!
Darius Pattillo was elected
to serve as Henry Coun-
ty’s District Attorney in
November 2016. He was
sworn in and took office on
January 3, 2017. Pattillo
has more than 14 years of
experience as a prosecutor
with the DeKalb County
District Attorney’s Office.
He spent the latter part of
his career serving as Dep-
uty Chief Assistant District
Attorney of DeKalb’s juve-
nile division, where he su-
pervised a team of lawyers,
investigators, and other
staff, as well as prosecuted
major felony cases.
In addition to working to
keep the region safe, Pat-
tillo has remained commit-
ted to mentoring youth as
a high school mock trial
coach and college criminal
justice instructor.
In 2009, he received
19 - Game Changers Magazine Mar/Apr 2017
DeKalb County’s Assistant
District Attorney of the
year award, recognizing his
success in the courtroom, as
well as his level of profes-
sionalism and ethics. Geor-
gia Trend Magazine named
Pattillo one of Georgia’s,
“Best and Brightest under
the age of 40” in 2010.
Game Changer’s Magazine
presents to you this month’s
honoree, Mr. Darius Pattil-
lo.
Born and raised in Atlanta,
Georgia, he is a product of
the Atlanta Public Schools
system and graduated from
Therrell High School,
which is located on the
southwest side of the city.
Growing up, Pattillo saw
a lot of crime, drugs and
violence, becoming very
concerned about making
his community stronger. "I
wanted a profession where
I could serve the people, so
I gravitated toward the law
and prosecution", stated
Pattillo.
Two of his biggest influenc-
es were his parents. "They
both are very hard work-
ing people", he explained.
"Along with my teachers,
they helped me to under-
stand the importance of
education and delayed grat-
ification. They encouraged
me to focus on graduation
and pursuing my goals. As
a result of this, I decided to
major in education and then
went on to complete my
undergraduate studies at the
University of Georgia."
After graduation, a friend
was instrumental in helping
him pursue his career goals.
That friend was Wade
Malone.
Malone is presently a
lawyer and works at Nelson
Mullins Riley and Scarbor-
ough Law Firm here in At-
lanta. While in high school,
Pattillo had an opportunity
to work as an intern in his
firm one summer. Having
that experience helped him
to understand the legal
profession much better
and also allowed him to
meet people who would
later serve as my mentors.
Malone even spoke at his
swearing in. Another good
friend of Pattillo is Comer
Yates, who started the At-
lanta Bar mentoring pro-
gram and served as his high
school mock trial coach. He
was a very positive influ-
ence in his life.
Most of Pattillo's experi-
ence has been in the court-
room. "I’ve always been a
trial lawyer. My main ob-
jective has always been to
administer justice, and I felt
the courtroom was the best
place to see this through",
he says.
The District Attorney’s
office is doing a lot of ex-
citing things. This includes
starting a crimes against
women and children's unit.
We have a Prosecutor,
Investigator and Advocate
assigned and dedicated
specifically to those types
of cases.
They are also starting a
pretrial diversion program
that basically allows youth-
ful, nonviolent, first-time
offenders to have a second
chance at life after they are
finished with their probated
sentences. So participants