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Alaina website choice

Alaina Granade

Chief Assistant Solicitor-General

Alaina has been with the Solicitor-General's Office since October of 2018. She has 17 years of experience as an attorney with over a decade of that time dedicated to prosecution. She began her career as an Assistant District Attorney for the Griffin Judicial Circuit in the Spalding County DA’s office prosecuting major crime felonies. She then went on to run the Criminal Justice Program as the Program Coordinator at Southern Crescent Technical College at the Griffin campus. In her role at the college, she taught all aspects of criminal justice including Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Report Writing, and she oversaw the internship program. In her current role, she prosecutes misdemeanor offenses for the county. Alaina is one of the few prosecutors in the State of Georgia who has attended and completed the Drug Recognition Expert Training Course through the Georgia Public Safety Center. Her advanced level of training in this regard allows her to more fully understand and prosecute drug-impaired drivers, communicate effectively with officers making DUI cases, and explain to the jury the seriousness of drug impaired driving. Alaina is a 2003 graduate, magna cum laude, of the Honors College at the University of Georgia with bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology. She obtained her Juris Doctorate degree in 2007 from the University of Tennessee College of Law. When she is not at work, Alaina enjoys running, weight lifting, UGA football, and spending time with her husband, three sons, her dogs Ellie and Hank, and her cat RosaBelle.

Ashley Nechay website choice

Ashley Nechay

Senior Assistant Solicitor-General

Ashley joined the Coweta County Solicitor-General’s Office in 2017. Prior to joining the office, she worked in private practice doing both civil and criminal law. Ashley also worked as a certified Mediator and Arbitrator from 2014 until 2017. In her current role, Ashley is the Accountability Courts representative for the DUI Court and Veteran’s Court programs that service misdemeanor cases. Ashley is also the Coordinator for the Internship Program. Ashley graduated from Queens University of Charlotte in 2005 with a bachelor’s of arts degree, where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority and Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society. Ashley graduated from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School with a Juris Doctorate Degree in 2009. She has been serving as the Treasurer for the Newnan-Coweta County Bar Association since 2020. Ashley lives in Newnan with her husband and son. When she is not working, she enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family.

Joe Stone website choice

Joe Stone

Senior Assistant Solicitor-General

Joe retired in 2006 from General Motors after 30 years as a welding electrician at both the Lakewood and Doraville Assembly plants. He served six years as an Avionics Technician in the Georgia Air National Guard on both F-4 and F-15 fighter aircraft. Joe graduated from Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, magna cum laude, in 2002. He earned his Juris Doctor Degree from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School in 2007. Before joining the Coweta County Solicitor’s Office, Joe worked as an Assistant Solicitor-General in Henry County and as a Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor with the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia.

Zach Taylor website choice

Zach Taylor

Assistant Solicitor-General

Zach has been with the Solicitor-General's Office since September 2021. Prior to graduating law school in 2021, he spent five years in the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office interning both as an undergraduate and as a law student, which gave him the opportunity to gain valuable courtroom experience, conducting a variety of hearings before graduating law school. He obtained his Juris Doctor from Mercer University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from The University of Georgia. Zach has tried several cases ranging from DUI to assault and battery cases. He also serves as the go-to attorney for appellate issues for the Solicitor-General’s Office. When not at work he enjoys playing drums, following Shania Twain on tour, and spending time with friends and family.

John Website Choice

John Hensley

Investigator

John served in the United States Army Reserves from 2006-2012, including a deployment to Iraq. He has been in law enforcement since 2010 and has extensive experience in street level investigations and DUI enforcement. John is a POST General Instructor, Standardized Field Sobriety Instructor, and DRE Instructor. He has been a Drug Recognition Expert for over 10 years and brings a wealth of knowledge in the field of DUI detection, enforcement, and prosecution to our office. He previously worked for the Gwinnett County Police Department and the Peachtree City Police Department. During his time in Gwinnett he served on the Gwinnett County DUI Task Force and was a Patrol Supervisor. When he is not working, John enjoys spending time with his family and playing guitar.

Andy website choice

Andy Ward

Investigator

Andy has been with the Solicitor-General's Office since January 2018. His 20-year law enforcement career includes experience as a detention officer, patrolman, detective, and investigator both with a local law enforcement agency as well as the Prosecutor’s Office. Although his experience includes a broad range of duties as expected with his prior assignments, the most rewarding aspect of his career has been victim-focused investigations involving children, the elderly, and disabled adults. Andy has sought and received specialized training in criminal investigations including Crime Scene Processing, Advanced Search Warrants and Affidavits, Linguistic Statement Analysis Technique, Reid Technique of Advanced Interviews and Interrogations, Child Victim Investigations, Forensic Investigations of Elder Adults and At-Risk Adults via the Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services, Sexual Assault Investigations, Cell Phone Forensics, and FAA Law Enforcement Ramp Checks to combat smuggling. Additionally, he has received training in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement, GBI sponsored Crisis Intervention Team training in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and the Georgia Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Hostage Negotiations, and he was certified as an AR-15/M16 armorer. He is an honors graduate of LaGrange College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Phi National Fraternity and served on a student-led committee to research, develop and implement an academic Honor Code that is still in use today.