Steve Marshall pleased with Court of Criminal Appeals upholding convictions of former Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely

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Steve Marshall_Alabama AG
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall

Attorney General Steve Marshall announced on Friday that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the felony ethics and theft convictions of former Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely.

“I am pleased that the Court today upheld the conviction of Mike Blakely and that he will not evade justice for his abuses of the public’s trust,” said AG Marshall. “I am proud of the excellent work performed by the attorneys and agents of our Special Prosecutions Division, who handled the case at trial, with the valuable assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

Blakely had argued both that there was not enough evidence to convict him and that he was entitled to a mistrial, because retired Judge Pamela Baschab had not paid her bar fees and was thus not a licensed attorney.

Blakely of using his official position for personal gain and of first-degree theft of property. Blakely was convicted of borrowing $29,000 from money he was holding for his inmates. The jury heard testimony that Blakely routinely directed his subordinate to give him hundreds of dollars in exchange for IOU notes. He then later wrote a personal check to cover the debt and ordered his subordinate to hold the check until he had the money in his account to cover the no-interest “loans.” He was also convicted of stealing $4,000 from his campaign account for his personal use. Blakely laundered that money through a third party and then used a fraudulent invoice to cover up the theft.

“There is nothing that I did that I ashamed of or that I felt was wrong,” Blakely told reporters following his conviction.

Baschab was appointed to preside over the case by the Alabama Supreme Court.

The Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Blakely’s appeal for his conviction to be overturned, and that he should be given a new trial.

Baschab sentenced Blakely to serve concurrent three-year sentences in the Franklin County Jail. That was the maximum available sentence under Alabama’s sentencing guidelines.

Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Kyle Beckman for his successful work on the appeal of this case.

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