ATLANTA (AP) – A Georgia sheriff’s attorney charged Sunday with federal human rights abuses blew up the public release of a review board report asking the governor to suspend the sheriff.
Attorney Drew Findling told reporters the three-page report leaked to news outlets “poisons a potential jury pool” that will eventually hear the charges against Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill. He also called it a violation of Georgia law.
“Our concern is that this is another example of the unfair treatment of Sheriff Hill,” Findling said. “It’s another example of his being singled out.”
Governor Brian Kemp suspended Hill Wednesday on the recommendation of a review panel composed of Attorney General Chris Carr and two other Georgia sheriffs appointed to review the charges against Hill.
A state grand jury indicted Hill in April, accusing him of violating the civil rights of several people detained in the county jail by ordering them to put them in high chairs and leave them for several hours, despite not posing a threat and compliant with MPs were.
In addition to Kemp’s suspension of Hill order, a public document posted on the governor’s website Friday, several Atlanta news outlets also cited from the report, which was given to Carr, Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams and Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds was presented.
The document recommending Hill’s suspension states that evidence in the case “strongly suggests Sheriff Hill mixed his personal and professional affairs” when ordering the arrest of a man who was talking to the sheriff over the phone Used expletive language while complaining that one of his deputies owed the man money. The report says Hill detained the man for communication harassment and placed him in a shackle chair despite evidence showing that he was “fully compliant” with MPs.
The report concluded, “The sheriff appears to be using the restraint chair as a punishment rather than a security measure.”
Findling noted that Georgia law states that reports to the governor recommending whether elected officials charged with misconduct should be suspended are not a public record. He asked Kemp to investigate how the written recommendation for Hill’s suspension was passed on to reporters.
Hill remains bailed while his case is pending.
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This story has been corrected to show that the Georgia governor suspended the Clayton County sheriff on Wednesday, not Friday.
