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| Jury Acquits Two in Georgia Sheriff-Elect's Murder |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 04/05/2002 |
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Two men have been acquitted of murder and conspiracy in the brutal 2000 slaying of a Georgia sheriff-elect, whose murder was allegedly ordered by a political rival who lost a bitter election. A DeKalb County jury deliberated for four hours over two days before finding Melvin Walker and David Ramsey not guilty of the December 2000 murder of DeKalb County Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown. Prosecutors had contended that Walker and Ramsey, along with two other men, Patrick Cuffy and Paul Skyers, had conspired to kill Brown on the orders of former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who lost to Brown in the bitter 2000 election. Dorsey is being held in an Atlanta-area jail after being indicted last month for murder, conspiracy and other charges in a corruption probe, including theft, bribery and racketeering. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is scheduled for June. Cuffy, a deputy sheriff under Dorsey and the prosecutors' star witness, had testified that Ramsey, a boyhood friend, and Walker, a former sheriff's deputy under Dorsey, planned and committed the murder along with him and Skyers. The four men, Cuffy testified, killed Brown on the orders of Dorsey, whom Cuffy said was angry over losing to Brown in the runoff. Defense lawyers for Ramsey and Walker had argued that Cuffy lied about their clients' involvement, and committed the murder himself because Brown had pledged to fire him. Brown was shot 11 times in front of his suburban Atlanta home on Dec. 15, 2000, three days before he was to have taken office. He had pledged to audit the sheriff's department, informing dozens of workers, including Cuffy, that they would be fired. In a statement, DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan said he took 'full responsibility' for the prosecution of the case, including the immunity deal with Cuffy and Skyers. 'Without their cooperation, there never would have been any attempt to hold those responsible for this horrible crime,' Morgan's statement said. 'Unfortunately, no one can now be held accountable, and I must bear that burden.' But Walker's lawyer Max Richardson called for the district attorney to rethink the immunity deal to resolve the murder case. 'We need to prosecute Patrick Cuffy and Paul Skyers,' he said. When asked if the DeKalb County district attorney would re-evaluate its case against Dorsey in light of the acquittal of Ramsey and Walker, spokeswoman Susan Cobleigh declined to answer, citing a judge's gag order. |
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