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Executive session follows judge, chief courtroom disagreement

The Hayneville Town Council held an executive session on Monday, May 12, as part of its regular monthly meeting to hear from recently sworn-in Municipal Judge Kameisha L. Logan. During the session, council members also heard from Hayneville Police Chief Kelvin Mitchell.

For more than an hour, the council heard from Logan, discussed her concerns amongst themselves, then asked Mitchell into their chambers. After hearing from Mitchell, council members remained in their chambers for some time before adjourning the session with no decision pending research by Town Attorney Michael Strickland.

While Logan was listed on the council’s meeting agenda, the council requested she hold her address for the executive session following town business discussion. The session followed the Hayneville Municipal Court’s hearing day on May 8, during which the judge and police chief are said to have disagreed with recent changes to court procedures. 

Hayneville Mayor Jimmie Davis was not present during the opening of the town’s court day on Thursday but said he was called to the courtroom to mediate between Mitchell and Logan.

“Ms. Logan said she did a petition for Chief Mitchell not to be in the room because of some alleged threat that he may have made to her about a ruling on [a] case, about dismissing it for some reason,” Davis said. “They got kind of heated once the judge said, ‘I’m going to hold you in contempt of court,’ and the chief said, ‘I’m going to throw you in [jail] for disorderly conduct.’”

According to Hayneville Magistrate Tamare McCord, Logan had requested a change in the officer who handles security for the court, a role currently filled by Mitchell. She was not present to hear the exchange, but had stepped out of the room during the discussion between the judge and the town’s leading law enforcement official.

“As for now, the judge is making all new changes,” McCord said. 

Logan declined to comment on the incident but did explain recent changes she has implemented in the Hayneville courtroom.

“I’ve been working to change the fairness in the courtroom,” Logan said. “I’ve been working to make sure the courtroom runs swiftly. We are trying to dig into old cases so that we can try to get those on the court docket. I’m really just trying to make sure the court is fair and I’m going to stand on that.”

“I’m going to make sure that when everybody comes through this courtroom, they have a fair judge, not a judge that’s influenced, not a judge that’s being threatened, but a judge that is fair. I’m getting a little pushback, but I’m going to keep pushing, because I’m going to make sure that when the people of Hayneville come through my courtroom, they know they’ve got a judge who’s going to hear their case and decide based on the law.”

Mitchell agreed the two had engaged in a heated exchange during court, but declined to comment on the nature of the incident. He said he was unfamiliar with Logan’s request to assign a new bailiff for the courtroom.

“She had some issues that she thought were relevant, and that just didn’t fly,” Mitchell said. “I am not at liberty to go into depth with it; we call it, I guess, in house.”

Mitchell denied any knowledge of his alleged threat to arrest Logan. He also denied any attempt to direct Logan’s ruling on any cases.

For now, the decision of whether to remove Mitchell from court security remains unanswered.