Longtime solicitor general, Columbus defense attorney to face off in November election

For 10 years Suzanne Goddard has been Muscogee County Solicitor General, the leading prosecutor in State Court, comparable to the district attorney in Superior Court.

This year she has a challenger in the November General Election.

Columbus lawyer Shevon Sutcliffe Thomas qualified to seek the post as a Democrat, while Goddard switched parties to run as a Republican, saying she did not agree with the Democratic Party’s stance on border security.

Now 67, she has served in the solicitor’s office for 27 years, rising to chief assistant solicitor in 2003 before her boss Ben Richardson was appointed a Superior Court judge. Her appointment to solicitor followed soon after.

The State Court she works in handles all misdemeanor cases forwarded to it after defendants have their initial hearings in either Columbus Recorder’s Court or Muscogee Municipal Court. Such cases often involve petty theft, marijuana possession, driving under the influence, simple assault or battery with family violence.

Goddard earned a bachelor’s degree in art from Columbus State University, and earned her law degree from the John Marshall School of Law in 1996.

Thomas is 60, opened his law firm Shevon Sutcliffe Thomas & Associates in 2006, handling criminal defense work as well as personal injury law.

He served 20 years in the Army, as a master gunner, platoon sergeant and master sergeant, earning a Bronze Star in the 1991 Gulf War.

He got a bachelor’s degree and later a master’s degree in political science from Troy University, where for 12 years he worked as adjunct professor teaching political science.

Like Goddard, he also got his law degree from the John Marshall School of Law, in 2003. He was an assistant solicitor general in Coweta County from 2005 to 2006.

Neither candidate faces opposition the May 21 party primaries, so the election will be decided Nov. 5.