Carl Cansino (left) talks with his newest lawyer, Fredric D. Bright at The Cansino Law Firm in Milledgeville following a recent interview with The Union-Recorder concerning Bright’s role-reversal from being a longtime prosecutor to that of a criminal defense attorney now.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Longtime former District Attorney Fredric D. Bright, who prosecuted hundreds of defendants accused of various crimes, including 13 death penalty cases in the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit, is now working in private practice as a criminal defense attorney.

Bright is now an attorney-at-law with The Cansino Law Firm in Milledgeville.

The 62-year-old Bright worked in the district attorney’s office for 34 years. He worked as an assistant district attorney until he was elected district attorney in 1994. He held the office for 21 years in a circuit comprised of Baldwin, Putnam, Greene, Morgan, Hancock, Wilkinson, Jones, and Jasper counties.

When Bright discovered he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that it had spread to his lymph nodes, he decided to retire as district attorney on Aug. 21, 2015.

He said he knew right away that he would have to focus on his health and develop the kind of attitude necessary to see him through the rigorous treatments his body would have to undergo if he was to someday bounce back to a productive lifestyle.

“All I could do at that time was take one day at a time,” Bright recalled. “That’s really all I could do.”

Instead of dwelling on all the things he wanted to do during retirement, he was forced to instead concentrate on his health. He went through a series of “heavy-duty” chemo treatments, as well as a bone marrow transplant. His doctor at Emory in Atlanta eventually told him the news that he and so many others had hoped for and prayed for — he was in remission.

“All of this happened 18 months ago,” Bright told The Union-Recorder in a recent interview. 

Since then, Bright has maintained a healthy lifestyle, walking three miles a day and eating right, as well as helping his wife, Cindy, keep their home in order while she continues working as Wilkinson County Clerk of Superior Court. 

“I’m not doing it now because I’m back at work, but I was doing yoga, too.”

He called what he has been through with his personal health a life-changing journey.

Bright said he really wanted to go back to work.

“After 18 months, I figured I’m probably driving her crazy,” said Bright, referring to his wife who has been right by his side. “I figured it was time to get out of the house and go back to work.”

Before deciding to go back to work, he said he actually had friends who told him he shouldn’t. They suggested that he stay at home and enjoy retired life.

“I just wasn’t ready to do that, though,” Bright said. “It’s important for someone like me that’s been through what I’ve been through to get back to a normal life. I had a normal life and I wanted to get back to it. I’m just not one that likes sitting around the house all day. I’ve got to be active.”

Bright said he finished all the “honey-doo” projects around his home that his wife had wanted him to do.

“We remodeled 2 1/2 bathrooms,” Bright said. “I would go to Lowe’s everyday and pick out the fixtures, and the tile, things like that because I had the time to do those things.”

It also afforded him time to venture to Kroger where he often ran into people he knew.

“They would give me hugs and talk for a while, so it was nice, because I had the time to do it,” Bright said.

One of the biggest projects he accomplished while recuperating at home was sorting through old newspapers that he had saved since 1981.

“I had these newspapers in stacks and in tubs,” he said. “I literally cut out the articles that I wanted to save and [threw] away the rest of those newspapers. “All of those articles are now in albums. I call it 34 years of a project that I always wanted to do around the house.”

Bright did the same thing from his high school and college days, including the days he spent attending law school. Everything was arranged just the way he wanted it.

“I’ve never been so organized in my life,” Bright said. “I feel really good about that.”

Several months ago, he found out about a vacancy for U.S. attorney so he applied for the position, which is made by presidential appointment. Even though he wasn’t selected, he continued searching for a job that would put him back in familiar surroundings — a courtroom with judges, attorneys, and his law enforcement friends.

“This is what I know; and this is what I love doing,” said Bright.

Carl Cansino couldn’t be more pleased to have Bright on board as the newest lawyer in The Cansino Law Firm.

“I am very pleased to have Fred as a member of my team,” Cansino told the newspaper. “Fred officially joined the local law firm back in January, and has been adjusting to the role reversal ever since.”

Bright is known for having prosecuted 13 death penalty cases during his career as a prosecutor — the most ever by a prosecutor in Georgia, according to The Atlanta-Journal/Constitution. Several of those cases were ones that happened in Baldwin County.

Ironically, it was Bright who once hired Cansino to be one of his assistant district attorneys when he was a prosecutor. And now Cansino has returned the favor to Bright having hired him earlier this year as an attorney, “Of Counsel.”

Bright said he looks forward to the many challenges that his new role in the practice of law presents.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”