Jefferson County sheriff's deputies warn of increased safety risks if budget cuts made Jeffco captain says staff 'bare bones' Sunday, July 12, 2009 VAL WALTON News staff writer Two Jefferson County senior sheriff's deputies testified Saturday that staffing in their divisions is already thin and public safety would be jeopardized if cuts are made in the sheriff's office narcotics division. The County Commission voted last month to trim Sheriff Mike Hale's budget by one-third as part of across-the-board cuts for all departments of the nearly insolvent county government. [continues 490 words]
Hundreds of felons in Alabama could seek new sentencing hearings in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on how criminal defendants are punished, legal experts said Thursday. The high court said Wednesday that federal judges are no longer bound by mandatory federal sentencing guidelines when handing down punishment. Instead, the court said, the complex formula used to calculate sentences can be used to guide their decisions. Some legal experts said they expect defendants who have not exhausted appeals to file petitions challenging sentences, thinking the decision could lead to shorter prison terms. [continues 361 words]
A former Dallas County sheriff's deputy investigator surrendered to county officials Tuesday to face charges he committed perjury and bribery. Nash Joe Gipson, 35, of Selma, turned himself in at the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, where he once worked as a narcotics investigator. He was released after posting bond. Efforts to reach Gipson were unsuccessful Tuesday. A grand jury indicted Gipson, who was working for the Uniontown Police Department, on April 8 on charges he committed perjury by making false statements on Oct. 21 in a deposition before a Dallas County circuit judge and in an affidavit for a search warrant, according to Attorney General Troy King. [continues 54 words]
Since their creation in 1987, federal sentencing guidelines have dramatically changed the way sentences are imposed in the nation's federal courts. Previously, judges had the final call, and their sentences varied from courtroom to courtroom and district to district. For example, one judge sentenced a defendant to three years and another judge chose 20 years for the same crime. Congress, responding to criticisms about the inconsistencies, set up strict guidelines that judges must follow. Using a complex mathematical formula that sets an offense level for each crime and each defendant's criminal history, judges, prosecutors and the probation department follow a grid to add and subtract prison time based on factors such as a defendant's admission of guilt, the amount of money stolen, the vulnerability of the victim and other factors. A guilty plea is rewarded, while a demand for a trial is punished by adding several prison points. [continues 656 words]
A judge sentenced a former Decatur policeman on Thursday to 10 years in federal prison for possessing and producing child pornography involving a teenage girl. Raymond Malone was taken into custody following his sentencing in Birmingham's federal court. Federal sentences do not carry parole. Malone also must pay a $2,500 fine. Malone pleaded guilty in October to charges stemming from a videotape showing Malone, 37, engaging in sexual acts with a 15-year-old girl, authorities said. Malone possessed the videotape at his Decatur home on Jan. 18, 2002. He had been involved with the girl since she was 14, authorities said. [continues 140 words]
Tough Federal Penalties Target Drug Dealers, Fugitives Federal prosecutors are hoping to see a meltdown in violent crime by turning up the heat on felons caught carrying guns. A 3-year initiative started in Alabama's Northern District known as Project ICE, or Isolating the Criminal Element is spreading across the state under a new spin-off strategy called Alabama ICE. The renewed prosecution of criminals violating gun laws is part of a nationwide push by the U.S. Justice Department through the program, Project Safe Neighborhoods, to reduce violence involving guns across the country. [continues 535 words]
In Walker County, narcotic officers discover meth labs in car trunks, motel rooms, unkempt houses and an upholstery business in the heart of Jasper. The cheap, highly addictive drug thrives because it's so easy to make. In this rural county of 72,000, methamphetamine now surpasses cocaine, crack and marijuana as the drug of choice, said Walker County Sheriff John Mark Tirey. Users eat, snort, smoke or inject it. The addict's high can last up to 12 hours; the addiction a lifetime. [continues 782 words]
An attorney for an Alabama man who was the first federal inmate to be sentenced to death under a 1988 "drug kingpin" law will ask the nation's highest court to spare his life. Atlanta lawyer John R. "Jack" Martin said he will appeal to the Supreme Court an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld a death sentence for David Ronald Chandler. The court July 21 ruled 6-5 that Chandler, who is on Death Row in Terre Haute, Ind., received effective representation from his trial attorney, Birmingham lawyer Drew Redden. [continues 217 words]
A former Sand Mountain drug kingpin got a new prison sentence of 33 1/2 years instead of life last week. Roy "Teeny Man" West had been sentenced to life in prison after his conviction five years ago of running an illegal drug operation that sold drugs from North Carolina to New Mexico. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this year sent West's case back to U.S. District Judge William M. Acker Jr. for resentencing. The appeals court threw out West's continuing criminal enterprise conviction, but asked Acker to reinstate West's conspiracy conviction. At the time of West's 1995 sentencing, Acker had set the conspiracy conviction aside. [continues 247 words]
