COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Editor's note: The video above is from a previous story when Vic Reynolds was name the GBI director in 2019.
Gov. Brian Kemp has appointed the leader of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to fill one of two vacant seats on the Cobb Judicial Circuit Superior Court. The positions became vacant after Judge LaTain Kell and Judge Mary Staley Clark retired in May.
Vic Reynolds, the current head of the state's investigative agency, became the GBI director in February 2019 after holding the position of Cobb County's district attorney, where he was elected twice.
Reynolds took the job as GBI director one year before the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was chased and gunned down while jogging by white men in a south Georgia neighborhood. The case didn't gain much attention until video posted on social media, showing the moments leading up to Arbery's death, went viral. While movement in the case seemed slow on the local level, GBI's quick independent investigation led to the arrests in that case.
Reynolds also took over the agency as the GBI had a massive backlog of rape kits that continued to grow.
Over the past few years, the GBI has also worked to crack down on gang activity across the state.
Reynolds previously served as a police officer, as the former Chief Magistrate Judge of Cobb County, and as a partner in the law firm of Berry and Reynolds.
11Alive has reached out to officials to find out when Reynolds will leave the GBI to take on his new appointment. It's also unclear who will fill his role at the GBI.
As for the second vacancy on the Cobb Judicial Circuit Superior Court, Kemp appointed Julie Adams Jacobs. Kemp's office said prior to being appointed to this position, she she served as the Deputy Attorney General of the Commercial Transactions and Litigation Division of the Georgia Attorney General's Office.