Protect and Serve

It is a privilege to serve the community as a law enforcement officer. As an elected official the sheriffs duty is to enforce the law as stated in the Georgia statutes. This includes detaining law breakers and obtaining evidence to be presented to the District attorney who then presents the evidence to a judge to be considered in determining the guilt of said offender. The defendant is then in turn entitled to representation of their choice in defence of said crime. This is called a fair trail and is a defining trait of the American justice system. The roll of law enforcement does not and shall not extend influence over the courtroom. In other words the Judge and the prosecuting attorney are not at the whim of the sheriff. If it is found that the accused was wrongfully arrested, or there is not enough evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt, and decided the defendant shall be released or not tried, then the sheriff has no right or recourse to demand nullification of the courts decision. This is a tenant of justice. If the sheriffs sphere of influence includes the courtroom then what do we need a prosecuting attorney or a judge for? Citizens of Jeffersonville this is happening in your courtroom. I applaud the vigilance of your sheriff and and his deputies in their pursuit of crime. They are risking their lives to make that part of Georgia a safer place and deserve respect, but even police are humans and capable of making errors. What is so troubling in this situation is the inability of said officials to admit their mistake and move on. I implore the citizens of Jeffersonville to demand culpability in their officials and to question why a man has been on trial for three years. Why every offer from the courts in this case is negated by the sheriff. Demand a explanation from your elected officials. Realize you could be next.

There was a raid made on the mission offices at Yonder’s farm on April 13, 2006. The deputies searched the public area around the offices and supposedly found a small amount of marijuana in someone’s pocket, and they also claim to have found other small amounts in various places, and other things related to marijuana. They placed me only under arrest; for felony possession of marijuana and other contingent charges and took me to jail. I do not smoke anything, not even cigarettes. They did not search my residence or my cartel; and I was most certainly not in possession of anything at all.
They agreed to get the case dropped from the calendar if I would consent to and pass a hair follicle test, which I did at my own expense and presented it to my attorney. The case was dropped and I went on my way.
In July while I was in Wyoming the case was put back on the calendar and I was ordered to appear on July 29, which I could not do, but when I finally did get back to Jeffersonville I discovered that on July 22 more phony criminal charges had been brought against me in my absence—
I was living in a very cold country, had no income at all because my social security had been cut off due to the outstanding warrants for my arrest, and I found myself a fugitive, wanted by the FBI for unspeakable crimes that I was not guilty of. I called Judge David Brown who had always been as fair minded as any judge could be, and asked him to review the evidence, and he did, and ordered the charges to be dropped, but then the old drug related charges had been put back on the calendar and I was now a fugitive with a bench warrant for failure to appear in court.
I then called Judge Ken Fowler, another fair-minded judge who has the rare gift of knowing right from wrong, and he had the Superior court Judge Gillis call me back and agree to drop the bench warrant if I could appear in court on January 26, 2009. I told him this is an answer to prayer and I would most assuredly be there.
I was there, and he did drop the bench warrant as promised, but then the bondsman also went off my bond, kept the money and put me back in jail. I was expecting that I had to stay in jail until they decide to hear my case, but a neighbor put up his property for bond and got me out again, now I await trial again for the same phony three-year-old possession charge that was once dropped from the calendar after I proved my innocence. I feel that this is a case of double jeopardy.
On February 5 my attorney met with the assistant District Attorney to arrange for a plea bargain. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it is where you plead guilty to a lesser crime that you didn’t do in order to avoid going to trial for a greater crime. The plea they arranged for me was to plead guilty to misdemeanor simple possession even though I was not in possession at all. The assistant DA told my attorney that she was okay with that but she said:“Let me go ask the sheriff.” The sheriff said “no”. He wants me to plead to a felony, he said; so that he will be able to enter the farm anytime he wants without going through the inconvenience of our civil rights. I suppose they can do this anyway, as they did when they first made the no-knock raid without showing me a warrant or behaving in any form of civilized manner. They acted just like what you see on TV.
What I would like to know now is: Is the prosecuting attorney subject to the whimsy of the sheriff?
One more question I would like to ask, as I am about to be tried in the Twiggs County Superior court. Has there ever been anyone in this county found not guilty by a jury? Please let me know.–David Breedlove