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Hayneville Municipal Judge Kameisha Logan dismissed charges against Sheriff Chris West Friday morning, June 13. Logan’s dismissal order comes after months of trial continuations, bringing an end to the case passed around like a hot potato since August 2024.

Attorney Richard Rice, on behalf of Sheriff Christopher West, issued the following statement today expressing satisfaction with the dismissal.

“This result reinforces what we have maintained from the beginning: the charges against Sheriff West were baseless, legally deficient, and driven by motives outside the rule of law,” Rice said. “We are grateful that the court carefully reviewed the facts and reached a just conclusion.”

Logan’s order cites jurisdiction as a vital factor in the decision, noting that the incident giving rise to the complaint occurred in Hayneville. The judge explained that City of Camden Magistrate Virginia Weatherly received the complaint in Wilcox County without proper approval from the appointing authority — the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) — to operate outside her jurisdiction and lacked authority to issue a warrant.

Logan’s order reads, in part, “Because the warrant in this case was issued by magistrate acting outside the geographical and legal bounds of their authority, and without proper appointment by the AOC, it is void ab initio.”

On Thursday, West had appeared before Logan for a trial, but the judge removed the case from the day’s docket since no prosecutor appeared on the city’s behalf. West’s attorney Richard Rice filed a motion for dismissal which Logan’s order grants.

An earlier ruling by now-retired Judge Fred Bell, had dismissed the same charges filed in August 2024 with prejudice, a decision which left the case open for Harris to renew his complaint in February. Both cases stemmed from a June 2024 altercation between the sheriff and Lowndes County Commissioner Robert Harris during a county commission meeting.

The two elected officials exchanged words over office space for the Sheriff’s investigators. Harris’s complaint alleged West threatened commissioners and interfered with the commission’s official business. 

The commissioner requested action against the Sheriff and on July 8, the Lowndes County Commission voted 3-2 to bring charges against West. The commission later overturned that decision and voted to support the Sheriff’s appeal to dismiss the charges.

The Sheriff stood trial before Bell on Nov. 13, 2024. Bell’s order to dismiss the charges without prejudice was signed later on Nov. 28, 2024.

Harris renewed the charges in February, filing a new complaint connected with the June 2024 incident. Weatherly issued a warrant for the complaint after Hayneville Magistrate Tamera McCord recused herself from the case.

A trial date set in March was continued in April and May prior to West’s June 12 court appearance. Hayneville prosecutor Michael Strickland recused himself from the case and the town council has been unable to fill the prosecutor’s role for the case.

According to Hayneville Police Chief Kelvin Mitchell, a deposition Harris submitted with his February complaint has since disappeared from the case file. Court officials have been unable to comply with the Signal’s repeated FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests for the document. Neither Logan, McCord, Mitchell nor Weatherly have a copy of the deposition, which is Harris’s statement of the events leading up to the charges.

“I do not have the documents,” Mitchell said. “I left Wilcox County with the documents. I definitely did, but I don’t have them any longer and I don’t know where they are.”

Logan’s ruling brings full dismissal of all charges stemming from both rounds of filings, allegations Rice said were a politically-motivated attempt to discredit West.

“We remain cautiously optimistic that today’s ruling will finally conclude what has been, in our view, a prolonged abuse of the legal process and a deeply troubling use of judicial resources to pursue political aims,” Rice said.

Rice emphasized that throughout the proceedings, West has continued to serve the citizens of Lowndes County with integrity and professionalism.
“He and his family express gratitude for the public’s support and commend Judge Logan for her professionalism and impartiality in resolving this matter,” he said.