After filing a motion for a Temporary Restraining order against Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman when he restricted their visitation at the Walton County Jail, two local attorneys now have full access back.
Attorney Eric Crawford of the Crawford and Boyle Law firm said the situation was rectified at a meeting Wednesday morning in Courtroom 4 at the Walton County Government building. He said they were notified by the county attorney that the sheriff had rescinded the order restricting their access on Tuesday.
However, Crawford was not happy with the way in which it was resolved.
“We met in Courtroom 4 of the government building at 9:00 a.m. The attorneys were instructed to come back to Judge (John) Ott’s chambers. Present were (District Attorney) Layla Zon, Assistant DA Jacqueline Payne, County Attorney Chris Atkinson, and myself. Judge Ott inquired if the policy restricting our visitation had been rescinded; Atkinson responded that the policy was changed as of yesterday evening,” Crawford said.
He went on to say, however, that when Ott asked if that satisfied everyone, he responded that it did not.
“I was still concerned with future harm and interference with the attorney-client relationship with my clients, so I wanted the order issued so there would be clear consequences for interference,” Crawford said, adding that Ott responded that he doesn’t concern himself with “possible future harm or future occurrences.”
Crawford said he found that ironic, “since the entire purpose of a temporary restraining order is for the court to inject itself into a situation, based upon the past conduct of the parties, to prevent future unlawful conduct.” Crawford said he had wanted the motion to be heard.
“Despite the requests made in the motion, no public hearing was held, my client was not present during this conference in chambers, the Sheriff was not made to explain his illegal actions under oath and penalty of law, the Court declined to issue a restraining order, and it appears that the Court will not be asking the GBI to investigate these blatantly illegal actions,” Crawford said. “On the plus side, I was able to meet with my client this morning, and it appears that I can go to the jail this afternoon to begin trial prep work with him.”
Chapman said the reason the motion was not heard was because the matter had been resolved by that time.
“As soon as I heard of the complaint I rescinded that order. It was not my intent to prevent them from seeing their clients. I was wrong in that and I have resolved it,” Chapman said. “We have a problem with security in that area of the jail and I had said I do not want the attorneys from Crawford and Boyle having free access, but I never intended to keep them from their clients.”
Chapman said that contrary to what he had claimed in his motion, Crawford did not have access to his client denied on Tuesday afternoon when he went to the jail, but he didn’t wait to see his client. Chapman produced video surveillance from the jail that showed Crawford had been given access. It showed him waiting about 10 minutes before entering the visitation area, waiting about a minute to see his client and then leaving less than a minute before his client arrived.
“He just wanted to prove a point and it was not about seeing his client at all,” Chapman said. “Judge Ott said he shouldn’t have involved the courts – he could have just called the County Attorney or up here to fix it.”
Crawford said resolving it the way it was done, outside of the courts, prevented him from publicly filing a legal action to protect his client’s legal interests when illegal conduct had occurred. Crawford said he had filed an open records request for the posted order restricting visitation to the jail, but as of Wednesday he had not received any documentation from WCSO.
The dispute between the law firm of Crawford and Boyle and Chapman has played out in the media since a drug case of one of Boyle’s clients was thrown out after investigators from WCSO arrested her with drugs that were given to her by a confidential informant. Zon dismissed the charges against Renee Jones after the allegations arose that investigators with WCSO conspired to have a confidential informant give Jones drugs or hide them in her vehicle before pulling her over and arresting her. While she expressed displeasure at the way the case had been handled when dismissing the charges, Zon did not call for an independent GBI investigation into the actions of the WCSO. Boyle represented Jones and both he and Crawford have repeatedly called for that independent investigation. But Chapman said the GBI has been asked to weigh in on the case.
“By me,” Chapman said. “As soon as I heard about what had happened and long before these attorneys represented her – when she was still represented by a court appointed attorney – I contacted Special Agent Ayers with the GBI and asked him what I needed to do. He said I needed to have an internal investigation to see if criminal charges needed to be filed against anyone. We are a small department – I don’t have an internal investigations division – but Gwinnett County does. That is why I called them.”
Chapman said that neither the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office nor Zon felt that criminal charges needed to be filed. He said he first learned about the confidential informant giving Jones the drugs when he was contacted early in June by the confidential informant.
“He wanted me to give him some money and buy him a 4-door pick up truck and then he wouldn’t go to the media,” Chapman said. “That was when I contacted the GBI.”
Chapman did agree, however, that the sting should have been shut down when Jones refused the drugs.
“First the CI should never have gone to her house and when she refused the drugs, it should have stopped right there,” Chapman said.
However, it didn’t. According to documents from the investigation, the CI then requested a drive home and Jones complied with his request. The CI left the drugs in the console of her car and told the investigators where they were. She was subsequently stopped, the drugs were located and she was arrested. Chapman said that Jones was, however, aware that the drugs were left there.
“She knew they were there and she did not refuse them,” Chapman said, admitting, however, that the sting was not handled correctly and should never have progressed to the arrest. He also addressed allegations that he had put pressure on investigators.
“Yes, I put pressure on my investigators. That’s what I do and that’s what I will continue to do,” Chapman said. “I put pressure on everyone who works here to get the job done.”
Chapman said Jones had been stopped more than once, and not always by WCSO. He said other agencies in the area also had stopped Jones for alleged drug activity. CBS News reported that she has been stopped four times this year, twice by WCSO and twice by Monroe Police Department. CBS also reports that Jones has filed a lawsuit, but Chapman said at this time he has not received official notification of a lawsuit.