MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The Alabama Supreme Court has ordered a county sheriff removed from office for corruption and neglect of duty.
Justices issued the unanimous decision Wednesday after more than two days of testimony in the impeachment trial against Sumter County Sheriff Tyrone Clark. State prosecutors accused Clark of a litany of offenses, including that he allowed an inmate to run a contraband operation from within the jail. They also accused Clark of running an unauthorized work-release program where inmates left the jail to do things like sell watermelons and then give Clark a percentage of their earnings
“Justice has been served,” Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange told reporters after the decision. “A violation of the public trust by a law enforcement official is about the highest level of corruption that I can imagine.”
Clark, who does not face criminal charges, had maintained his innocence and denied the allegations when he testified at the impeachment trial.
A lawyer for the sheriff called the case a political witch hunt rooted in allegiances between people opposed to the sheriff.