March 5
I was scheduled for an arraignment in court, but I didn’t have to go.
The Attorney General’s office filed a motion to continue the cases since that office had not had time to prepare. Judge Ben Fuller denied the motion, and the hearing was set for April 10. Assistant AG Thomas Govan Jr. was assigned to our cases.
I received notice from attorney Earnie White’s office that a scheduling conference / motion hearing was set for April 10.
You may remember the AG’s office had the cases since DA Steve Billy recused himself.
March 12
An article published in The Atlantic titled “When Local Government Bullies the Press” addressed our situation. The author of the article is Afiq Amin, and the article was posted to Malay Morning March 12. Excerpts follow:
At a time of financial weakness and flagging public support, government officials are emboldened to bully the press.
Until a few months ago, the tiny town of Atmore, Alabama, was perhaps best known for the glitzy casino-and-hotel complex on its northern border and its proximity to the prison where the state carries out executions. Then Stephen Billy decided to pick a fight with the hometown newspaper, the Atmore News.
In October, the paper published a story, based on an anonymous leak, revealing that Billy, the county’s district attorney, was conducting a grand-jury investigation into possible financial fraud by the local school system. Shortly thereafter, Billy charged the paper’s publisher, 73-year-old Sherry Digmon, and its only reporter, 69-year-old Don Fletcher, with violating a state secrecy law.
Digmon and Fletcher were cuffed by deputies they’d known for years and charged with felonies that could land them in the local prison for up to three years on each count. They maintained they’d merely reported news of importance.
That a district attorney would use his official powers to criminalize an act of journalism, in defiance of both the First Amendment and the public interest, generated a brief ripple of national attention and criticism. (Billy did not respond to requests for comment. In February, he recused himself from the case, citing a conflict, though the prosecution is ongoing.)
But the Atmore arrests weren’t all that unusual: Reporters and news organizations in hundreds of communities have faced interference, intimidation, and harassment from local officials in recent years.
These episodes have occurred at a time of waning public support for the news media and amid the industry’s ever-deteriorating financial condition. In other words, officials may be emboldened to bully the press because they believe they can get away with it.
A few months before the Atmore arrests, for example, a similar scenario unfolded in Marion, Kansas (population: 1,922). Earlier that week, the Marion County Record had revealed that a local restaurant owner who was seeking a liquor license had a series of disqualifying violations on her record, including a DUI. The business owner accused the Record of breaching a confidential state database. (The paper denied doing so.)
The otherwise mundane dispute exploded into a national story because of what followed: The town’s entire five-member police force swept into the Record’s newsroom, collecting computers, cellphones, and files as evidence. A second group of officers descended on the home of the publisher, Eric Meyer, where Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, Joan, put up a spirited defense in a confrontation caught on video.
Less than a day later, she died, apparently of natural causes. The Record blamed her death on the “stress” of the police raid.
Small weekly papers like those in Atmore and Marion are among the most economically marginal entities in the media. This makes them easy prey for opportunistic or aggressive elected officials.
Although most publications are unlikely to face a police raid or arrests anytime soon, they are likely to go out of business: Nearly a third of America’s newspapers have folded in the past 20 years, and most of these have been weekly papers in small communities, according to the Local News Initiative at Northwestern’ s Medill School of Journalism.
Consider the plight of the McCurtain Gazette, a family-owned newspaper in rural Oklahoma. The paper reported in March that county commissioners had made a series of racist remarks during a meeting and had even discussed hiring a hit man to murder Gazette reporters who’d been digging into alleged misconduct – comments captured by a reporter who left a voice-activated recorder on his seat after leaving the meeting.
Instead of investigating the commissioners, however, the local sheriff’s office launched an investigation of the Gazette, accusing the paper of altering the recording and violating a state privacy law.
The Atmore, Marion, and McCurtain episodes are sensational data points in a larger, darker, and more varied picture.
A database maintained by the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation documents roughly 1,000 incidents involving alleged official interference with the U.S. news media since 2017, including arrests of journalists, denial of access to official meetings and proceedings, and equipment searches and seizures.
April 2
The AG’s office entered a Notice of Appearance and asked for additional time to review and prepare the case.
April 6
Judge Fuller denied the AG’s motion to continue and court date remained at April 10.
April 10
We had a court hearing for Don, Ashley and me. Cindy had a different judge, so her hearing was not scheduled at the same time, however, she did attend this hearing to support the rest of us. Attending from the Attorney General’s office were two assistant attorneys general and an investigator. The judge and all attorneys met behind closed doors for about 45 minutes. We waited.
Then everyone took their places in the courtroom. I don’t remember exactly what the judge said but something to the effect that this case had been going on too long. He asked the attorneys if they would be ready to go to court in September or about that time. They agreed they would be.
The cases were continued to May 16.
My heart sank. Since attorney Cierra White had filed a motion to dismiss, I was hoping at least one of the cases would be dismissed at this hearing. Then to hear tentative plans were being made for court in the fall, well …
April 19
I received an email from the Whites’ paralegal Jeri Webb late on Friday afternoon – the AG asked the court to nol pros the two cases against me. Jeri did not have orders signed by the Judge, but the motions had come down. The impeachment case had already been dismissed, so the two cases pending were the grand jury secrets and ethics charge.
April 19
Judge Fuller issued an Order of Dismissal with prejudice on one of my cases, meaning I could not be charged again on the same count. However, he dismissed only one charge, not the second. Jeri contacted the judge and apparently he was out of town at that point. He said he would review the paperwork when he got back to his office.
April 26
Through the months, I received so many Facebook messages, texts, and emails, but I also received many cards and notes through the mail. One friend sent me a small wooden cross. Some were prayers. Some “Thinking of You” cards.
On April 26, I received a card from Lottie United Methodist Church. All the members had signed it. Enclosed was a church bulletin with my name circled on the prayer list.
I’ll say again, so many of you told me your church was praying for me and the others. How very humbling. And how appreciated.
April 27
Judge Fuller issued an Order of Dismissal on the second charge, with prejudice. I got the paperwork a couple of days later.
April 29
I wrote in my day planner: “Got my last filing paper from the judge. It is finished.”
I was not being sacrilegious, but that’s how I felt.
May 16
On April 10, court was scheduled for this date. In my day planner, I had written in “Court.” When May 16 came, I wrote NO beside that entry.
Closing remarks:
- About the March 12 entry – you can Google the Marion, Kansas newspaper case. What a sad situation at the hands of law enforcement who seemingly thought they were above the law. There were new developments in the Marion case within the last couple of weeks as special prosecutors are filing criminal charges against the former police chief. He is also facing a civil suit by the Marion County Record.
- Also on the March 12 entry, the author notes DA Steve Billy did not reply to requests for comment. We heard the same from numerous journalists around the country who tried to get in touch with him for comment and/or to answer questions.
- Also on the March 12 entry, some journalists have undergone much more than Don and I did. We didn’t have our computer equipment seized or our office raided. My heart goes out to those who did – especially the folks in Marion, Kansas.
- May 16 – and suddenly it was over. Months of wondering. Months of knowing we were all innocent, yet also knowing if someone could make the charges stick, we could be looking at prison time. Many people told me it would never come to that … but we would not have ever thought we’d be arrested either.
- So many elected officials not involved with the school board vote or the cases came to the school board meetings to support the other side – not to support me, Cindy Jackson, Loumeek White or Kevin Hoomes, but the other three – Coleman Wallace, Mike Edwards, and Danny Benjamin.
I could name some of these officials from Atmore and Flomaton, and you might be surprised. You might even be surprised at a preacher from Atmore who showed up and spoke on the former superintendent’s behalf. And there were businesspeople too.
Why? Why were these people involved in a vote by the school board? At times the board room was packed, literally standing room only as people spilled out into the hallway.
At one school board meeting, a man (elected official and businessman) very loudly berated Cindy Jackson in front of everyone. Even though there were people there who could have called him down, no one did until he started again later in the meeting. This same man called Cindy on the phone later and left her a horrendous voicemail. He called me too but I was not in the office. He told Don to tell me what a vile and evil person I am. (By the way, he also pulled his advertising from our newspaper.)
Understand – this is because of a vote on the school board. A vote I had the right to make. And I will say again, I voted my conscience. I voted for the school system – not for a particular person. - In a previous article, I had said I was going to go through the items in the Impeachment and Prayer of Removal from Office charges. I’ve decided not to do that right now. Maybe at some point, but not now. I’m hoping Don or Cindy or Ashley will write their story, as I’ve written my story.
- I didn’t make a note of the date, but I’ll relate one more incident. I was buying two 12-packs of Pepsis at Buy Rite one day. When I paid for them and was ready to take them out, a younger woman near me at the counter said she would take them out for me. I thanked her but said I could take them, I had done it numerous times. But she was insistent, even as I kept protesting. I finally gave in. When we got to the car, she put the drinks in the back seat, then turned to me and said, “You’re gonna be all right.” And she turned and walked away. I didn’t know her, had not seen her before, and haven’t seen her since. But I’ve thought of her many times. I’m not saying this was in any way a supernatural encounter. I’m just saying … well, I’m just saying.
- God is faithful.
The end … for now