Prosecutors say Alabama police chief Jerry Taylor didn’t steal overtime payments, request charges be dropped
Prosecutors are asking to drop theft charges against a former police chief in suburban Mobile. Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood told WALA-TV on Monday that prosecutors found evidence of “dubious bookkeeping” but concluded Jerry Taylor wasn’t illegally receiving overtime pay when he was police chief in Creola. Taylor is now police chief in Jackson, Alabama. Prosecutors asked Mobile County Circuit Judge Charles Graddick to dismiss the case, saying the charges should be dropped after “additional investigation.” In 2019, then-Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich had said that Taylor and former Creola City Clerk Kim Green had stolen from the city. “The investigation revealed both Green and Taylor received numerous unexplained checks from Creola during times that were not consistent with scheduled pay periods or typical reimbursement procedures,” Rich said at the time. But Blackwood said that prosecutors now believe Taylor was entitled to all the money he was paid. “We found that the time that he was paid for, he actually worked,” Blackwood said. “It was the way in which it was paid that sort of raised some red flags, because the schedule of payment was unusual. However, we did find that he actually worked those hours and, thus, there was no criminal activity involved.” Taylor’s lawyer, Stewart Hanley, said he showed evidence to prosecutors that would have exonerated Taylor. Prosecutors filed to dismiss charges Wednesday, in advance of a trial scheduled to begin Monday. “I think they made the right choice,” Hanley told the television station. Green pleaded guilty in January in state court to first-degree theft and using her position for personal gain. A judge sentenced her to a 2½-year suspended sentence and 2 years of probation. She pleaded guilty in 2020 in federal court to theft of federal funds and filing a false tax return in relation to money she embezzled from Creola between 2017 and 2017 and later from the city of Prichard, where she also worked, between 2017 and 2019. A federal judge sentenced her in 2021 to a year in prison in that case, ordering her to receive treatment for a gambling addiction and repay $444,000. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Alabama high court raises maximum bond for murder defendants
The Alabama Supreme Court has raised the maximum bail amount a judge can set for a state murder charge to $1.5 million. The change to Alabama’s criminal rules was approved by the high court on January 14, news outlets reported. It means murder defendants now face bail that’s ten times higher than the previous limit of $150,000. Alabama prosecutors had pushed for the change, saying the old bail limit was too low to keep some dangerous criminal defendants in jail while awaiting trial. In Mobile County, Dayvon Bray was released from jail on bond last year after being charged with murder, to be arrested again and charged with fatally shooting his girlfriend. Higher bails for those charged with murder could prevent similar cases in the future, said Mobile County Chief Assistant District Attorney Keith Blackwood. “It’s a better opportunity to keep these offenders incarcerated while they await trial rather than have them make a very low bond and be out,” Blackwood told WKRG-TV. “It’ll be really large bonds for people accused of murder, one of the most horrific crimes that we have.” Alabama’s bail schedule is a recommendation for judges, who have some discretion to set higher or lower amounts. But magistrates are bound by the upper limits of the rules, and they’re often the first to set bail for criminal defendants. Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey said he’d spent seven years advocating a higher bail amount for murder charges. “I’m very satisfied with the change,” Bailey told the Montgomery Advertiser. He added: “I think it’s ridiculous that you can be caught with drugs and get a $1.5 million bail, but if you murder someone, the max is $150,000.” Another measure aimed at keeping more criminal defendants locked away until their cases go to trial will be decided by Alabama voters in November. Voters on the fall ballot are being asked to approve Aniah’s Law, named for Aniah Blanchard, an Auburn teenager who was abducted and killed in 2019. That constitutional amendment, approved by state lawmakers, would give judges more discretion to deny bail to people accused of violent crimes. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
