Portrait of legendary DA adorns jury room

One of Georgia’s most respected and tenacious prosecutors was honored Monday morning at the Liberty County Court Complex.

With the help of Atlantic Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Paul Rose, the family of the late Dupont Cheney unveiled a portrait of the former district attorney in the first-floor jury room. Cheney served as a prosecutor for the Atlantic Judicial Circuit from 1976 to 1998, mentoring dozens of future judges and lawyers along the way.

“I learned a lot from Dupont,” judges Rose. “He taught me to prepare carefully, to respect my work. He was so respected.

Before a trial, Cheney would often go out of town and hunker down, preparing for the upcoming proceedings and examining the case in detail, Rose said. “And he had this notebook, every point that he wanted to convey to the jury from each of the witnesses,” he added. “At the end of that notebook, when he got to the last page and got the last checkmark, someone was going to jail.”

Cheney earned his reputation as a brilliant trial lawyer, the judge acknowledged.

“He served the citizens of this circuit extremely well for 22 years,” Rose added. “He was always described as a man of integrity, integrity and beyond reproach. He was fair. He was gruff. I hear that deep baritone, that sonorous voice that was one of the best in the courtroom.

Judge Rose added that Cheney also had a compassionate side, often helping those who found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Cheney began his career in law enforcement, but not as a prosecutor. Instead, he was a police officer and then a detective in Mâcon. His testimony was so detailed that judges urged him to attend law school.

He graduated from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law and served as assistant dean. Then, at the urging of Georgia legal legend Hugh Mc-Natt, he accepted a position in Liberty County to become an assistant district attorney.

“And he did it – without telling his wife Delores,” Judge Rose said.

Rose was supposed to start at the district attorney’s office in Columbus, but weeks before she left, she was told her position was unfunded. Rose was advised to see Cheney, who had a position available, and was informed of Cheney’s reputation.

“Without Dupont Cheney, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said. “He was good to me. He treated me like a son.”

Cheney’s son Kirk, also now a lawyer, took a different path in his legal career. The younger Cheney served in the Coast Guard as a member of a helicopter crew before finishing school and going to law school. He now works for the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office and prepares new attorneys to become litigators.

“I didn’t really follow his legal career as much as people thought,” the younger Cheney said. “He was a wonderful father, more than anything. If you did something wrong, he would take one look at you and I wouldn’t need to be told anything after that.

“Before I went to law school, I didn’t think of my father as anything more than a big fish in a small pond. But when I went to Mercer and throughout my career, I learned how respected he was. In many courtrooms, I was Dupont Cheney’s son.”