Handling the Media

Our firm has experience handling media attention in criminal and civil cases. While we can handle media inquiries for our clients, we do not solicit media coverage of our cases unless we strongly believe it will benefit our client and the client agrees to have the media involved.
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Over the past several years, our firm has developed close relationships with the media. Our knowledge and experience help our clients in “high-profile” cases deal with the unpredictable consequences of media interest. In some cases, we are able to get favorable media coverage for our clients so that the public is able to hear their side of the story.

Summer Law Firm | Featured On:

TV Appearances

News Articles

Badge & Bar: Gainesville attorney honored with defense award
Gainesville Times

A local stalwart of indigent legal defense was honored Saturday at the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Dan Summer received the 2014 Indigent Defense Award presented by the association to honor Georgia lawyers who make strides in the field.“ He has always been vocally supportive of the formation of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council and has always stood up for the rights of indigent people to have good legal representation,” said Hall County public defender Nicki Vaughan. Read more....

​Charges against Katt Williams co-defendants reduced, dismissed
Gainesville Times

One of Katt Williams’ co-defendants had the charges dismissed against her, while the second agreed to a negotiated plea on lesser charges. Tatiana Shaquaese Smith and Lena Christine Smith were charged along with the comedian Williams in a March indictment alleging a bodyguard was assaulted with a bat. Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh dismissed the charges against Lena Smith because of her co-defendant’s pleas and that her “culpability was considerably less.” Read more...

Messages probed, request renewed for mistrial as Webster Daniel trial continues
Gainesville Times

An investigator testified Wednesday, Oct. 20, on the text and Snapchat messages discovered in the second day of trial evidence for a former Chestatee High basketball coach. Webster Daniel has been charged with sexual battery and other offenses involving a 16-year-old student. Daniel was the basketball coach at Chestatee High and was employed as an in-school-suspension teacher for the middle school, Chestatee Academy. Daniel “engaged in unwanted sexual contact with a juvenile female enrolled as a student” at the high school on Nov. 16, 2017, according to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. Read more...

Last of five charged in aftermath of Deputy Dixon’s murder takes plea deal
Gainesville Times

The last of five men accused of obstruction or hindering the arrests of the teens accused in the 2019 fatal shooting of Hall County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Blane Dixon has been sentenced, according to court documents. Dixon was killed July 7, 2019, after trying to pull over a car with four people inside. Investigators believed the car was connected to a series of burglaries at pawn shops and other businesses, including 27 firearms taken July 6, 2019 from Double Deuce Pawn & Gun in Gainesville. Four 17-year-olds — Hector Garcia-Solis, London Clements, Brayan Cruz and Eric Velazquez — were captured and originally charged with felony murder. Garcia-Solis, Clements and Velazquez went to trial and were convicted. Read more...

Main Street 'visionary' Dan Summer remembered, honored with plaque on Gainesville square
Gainesville Times

Before Dan Summer made his mark in Gainesville, the downtown square resembled a ghost town. Summer died in January at 55, after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The prominent Gainesville attorney and former Main Street Gainesville advisory board chairman was remembered Tuesday afternoon by friends and family on the downtown square. Main Street Gainesville chose to commemorate Summer and his legacy in Gainesville with a small, permanent plaque fixed in an island on the corner of Bradford and Washington streets. Read more...

Cleveland chain saw sculptor immortalizes beloved Gainesville attorney with wooden statue
Gainesville Times

Small chips of wood flew through the air as the buzz of a chain saw could be heard on a cool fall morning in Cumming. Handling the chain saw like a painter with his brush, sculptor John Robinson added details to his latest wooden carvings. Emerging from the statuesque logs were an 8-foot-tall bear and a 9-foot-tall bigfoot. The large grizzly bear with an arm extended will situate himself on a vacation property in Blairsville. Read more....

Letter: Summer was a community stalwart, will be greatly missed
​Gainesville Times

It was with tremendous sadness that I received the news regarding the passing of Dan Summer, as he was quite simply, one of the finest men I have ever met. Dan had a unique ability to make anyone around him feel comfortable, no matter their age, race, religion, social or financial status. Everyone who met Dan walked away feeling they had just gained a new friend, and that in itself is a wonderful feeling. Dan was able to take this inherent attribute and parlay it into an outstanding personal and professional life. Additionally, Dan had a zest for life that most individuals fail to ever enjoy. Not only was he genuinely happy, Dan appeared to have a joy and enchantment that transcended what most of us could ever begin to imagine. He had a great sense of humor and an infectious smile that just made anyone around want to be close to him. Read more...

What business owners think of new Main Street Gainesville boundaries
Gainesville Times

Joseph Summer manages Grove Street Station, a midtown event venue on Grove Street owned by his mother Chandelle. He said the downtown he sees now is an improvement on the one from his childhood. New people, and their businesses, are bringing fresh ideas, and he hopes to see that trend continue, he said. “I’m really pleased with the influx of new people. … I think that that is necessary for a vibrant city, and I think that Gainesville has become a vibrant city and can become even more vibrant,” Summer said. “It could really be a metropolis of North Georgia. Hopefully, midtown is an extension of that.” Read more...

Indictment: Katt Williams, 2 others charged with aggravated assault
Gainesville Times

Comedian Katt Williams and two others were indicted today by a grand jury for aggravated assault, among other charges, connected to a previous incident. The indictment claims that Corey Dixon, a bodyguard, was assaulted with a wooden bat Feb. 28 in Hall County. Lena Christine Smith and Tatiana Shaquaese Smith face charges as well, which include false imprisonment and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Read more...

Chestatee coach’s affair with student’s mother played role in accusations, defense attorney argues in first day of trial
Gainesville Times

The defense attorney for a former Chestatee basketball coach said Tuesday that an extramarital affair the coach had with a student’s mother led the victim to falsely accuse the coach of a sex crime.  The trial for Webster Daniel began Oct. 19 in Hall County State Court with opening statements from attorneys and testimony from the alleged victim. Judge Larry Baldwin II is presiding. “In this case, you’re going to hear one damning piece of evidence about my client,” defense attorney Joseph Summer told the jury. “And that is that my client and (the girl’s) mother … were having an extramarital affair six weeks prior to the allegations that she made on Nov. 16, 2017. We expect the evidence to show that (the girl) figured out about this affair, became angry with her mother and became very angry at Webster. And when she became angry at Webster, that anger turned into a lie.” Read more...

Closing arguments set for Friday in Webster Daniel trial
Gainesville Times

Attorneys will offer closing arguments Friday, Oct. 22, in the Webster Daniel sexual battery trial, and the jury will likely enter deliberations after that. Daniel, the former Chestatee High School girls’ basketball coach, was charged with simple battery, simple assault, reckless conduct and sexual battery involving a 16-year-old student in November 2017. Read more...

Prominent Gainesville attorney Dan Summer dies at 55
​Gainesville Times

Chandelle and Dan Summer shared a birthday before they ever thought about sharing a life together. “He used the line on me that he thought there was a bond between us,” she said. “I fell for it.” Two Hall County assistant district attorneys became fast friends and married a few years later. The two opened Summer and Summer, Attorneys at Law, in 1990. Read more...

Man sentenced to six years for grabbing children in Kroger, Chick-fil-A
​Gainesville Times

A Gainesville man was sentenced to six years behind bars in a child molestation case involving two boys, while one of the boy’s mothers described feeling “helpless and a failure” in a victim impact statement. James Jackson Hall, 56, was accused of grabbing two 15-year-old boys in separate instances at the Chick-fil-A and Kroger in the New Holland area in 2018. Gainesville Police Investigator Brad Raper testified Tuesday, Oct. 15, at the hearing before Superior Court Judge Kathlene Gosselin while standing next to a television showing surveillance footage of the Limestone Parkway Chick-fil-A. Read more...

A longtime Gainesville family made their mark in yellow brick
Gainesville Times

n 1920, Harmon Lee Edmondson paid $2,500 for a piece of property just outside the old Gainesville city limits. It sat on a hill on a dirt road called Green Street Circle, not far from the new Thompson Bridge Road. It was on this property that Edmondson, who earned his money in the textile industry, built a stately yellow-brick home with three bedrooms on the second floor, a carport and a deep front porch. He and his wife - known to friends and family as "Big Papa" and "Big Mama" - would sit on the porch in the evenings, like most folks in the neighborhood, and watch their four kids grow up. Built in 1921, the home has seen fewer than a half dozen owners in its lifetime, and today owners Dan and Chandelle Summer said they love the house so much, they can't see selling it anytime soon, even though they live a few miles away on Riverside Drive. Read more...

Old railroad warehouse gets a face-lift for its next job as an entertainment venue
​Gainesville Times

Back in the 1930s Grove Street Station was used as a railroad warehouse. But today, Dan and Chandelle Summer are getting the space ready for events and entertaining. The Summers bought the building, located at 610 Grove St. in Gainesville, in 1998 and have since been doing demolition and renovations to get the facility back to its original look. "Originally it was probably built in the 1930s or '40s," Dan said. "This was a railroad warehouse and there used to be railroad tracks right behind it. They (the city of Gainesville) have torn up the railroad tracks because the city has bought this from CSX, and this is going to be part of the greenway that's going to connect downtown, midtown, train station, park and lake." Read more...

Area lost its share of giants in 2016
Gainesville Times

Dan Summer, 55, died Jan. 14 after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The prominent Gainesville attorney and former Main Street Gainesville advisory board chairman was remembered for his historic preservation efforts with a plaque on the downtown square that calls Summer “a true visionary and preservationist for Gainesville.” Read more...

Letter: Georgias legal community mourns loss of attorney Summer
​Gainesville Times

On behalf of the State Bar of Georgia, I would like to express condolences to the family, colleagues and many friends of longtime Gainesville attorney Daniel A. Summer on his recent and very untimely passing. Mr. Summer’s distinguished career of three decades in the legal profession included service in the Hall County District Attorney’s office before entering private law practice in a firm with his wife and partner, Chandelle Summer, for more than 25 years. As a respected criminal defense attorney, he was responsible for introducing a number of positive changes to our justice system. A leader among his peers, Mr. Summer served on the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission, which has the duty of interviewing and recommending nominated candidates for the governor’s consideration when judicial positions in our court system become vacant. As a devoted member of the Gainesville community, he spearheaded the restoration and renovation of many local landmarks. Read more...

9th District House debate hits on abortion, taxes
​Gainesville Times

Collins, a Republican, and Cooley, a Democrat, who will face each other in the Nov. 6 general election, kept the 90-minute debate at the Gainesville Civic Center lively but mostly civil, fielding questions from three panelists, the audience and, briefly, each other. One of the highlights was a discussion of abortion, spurred by a question by panelist Chandelle Summer about whether the morning-after pill, which can prevent pregnancies if taken within a certain period of time after sex, should be available at no cost to “underprivileged or disadvantaged women.” Read more...

May 24 ballot includes hotly contested races
Gainesville Times

There was little time to enter the race for the House District 29 seat when Rogers announced his retirement after 22 years in office earlier this month. Several prominent names were floated as potential Republican and Democratic candidates to replace Rogers: Gainesville Councilman Sam Couvillon, Gainesville attorney Chandelle Summer, the Rev. Tom Smiley of Lakewood Baptist Church, Gainesville financial adviser Mark Turner and even Allen Nivens, who is married to Rogers’ niece. Read more...

Gainesville officials, businesses remain optimistic on future of Midtown
​Gainesville Times

The gleaming white pedestrian bridge spanning Gainesville’s Jesse Jewell Parkway doesn’t seem to fit in with the architectural landscape of 1980s-era brown brick government buildings. When it opened after several delays at the end of August, city officials called the press to capture Gainesville Mayor Danny Dunagan be the first to cross the bridge, holding the hands of two grandchildren, each taking steps that seemed to symbolize the city’s progress toward Midtown’s redevelopment. City officials took even more steps in the months that came before and the weeks that followed. Read more...

Radio Appearances

Chandelle Summer speaks with a caller about Fani Willis and Donald Trump
AccessWDUN

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