ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — A clerk who works for an Alabama sheriff on trial on corruption charges testified she sent him $1,000 after he claimed to have lost money gambling at a casino when he was supposed to be at a law enforcement conference.
Debbie Davis, who described herself as a longtime friend of longtime Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely, testified Wednesday as a reluctant witness for the state, news outlets reported.
Blakely, 70, went to the gambling center of Biloxi, Mississippi, while he was on the Gulf Coast for a conference in Gulf Shores in 2016, testimony showed. Davis said Blakely called her from Biloxi and said it was no fun being there after losing all your money.
Davis testified that she offered the sheriff money and he repaid it following the trip. Blakely is charged with violating state ethics law by asking Davis to send him the money, but she said they’d been friends before he became sheriff and she wired him the $1,000 because she wanted to do so.
Under defense questioning, Davis testified she wasn’t aware that Blakely had been invited to play golf in Biloxi with three Limestone County commissioners. She told a prosecutor she didn’t want to see Blakely convicted.