By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

A federal judge has thrown out a pair of lawsuits filed by the widower of Beverley Watson and the top-ranking investigator in the Fayette County Sheriff's Department.

Judge Jack T. Camp ruled last week in the Newnan division of the U.S. District Court for the northern district of Georgia that Major Bruce Jordan acted properly when he ordered a search of Jim Watson's car during a traffic stop in July 1998, about seven months after Beverley Watson's disappearance.

A portion of Beverley Watson's remains was found last spring in south Fulton County. No one has ever been charged with a crime in the case, and the Fulton County district attorney's office has not yet decided what to do with it.

Atlanta attorney Marvin Devlin, who represents Jordan, said that Watson's car was pulled over for having illegally tinted windows, and a search found a gun in the car. Watson alleged that his constitutional rights were violated by the stop and search, and he sued Jordan on that basis.

Camp ruled that Jordan's actions were “by the book,” Devlin said. Watson admitted in a deposition that the windows were illegally tinted, he added, and the gun was returned to him when he was released after the traffic stop.

A countersuit by Jordan accusing Watson of slander and libel also was dismissed, as Camp ruled that federal court was not the appropriate forum for that action since Watson's case was thrown out. Jordan does have the option of refiling in state court.

Bill McKenney, who filed the countersuit for Jordan, said that he has Jordan's authority to refile the case but is waiting to see if Watson, who has 30 days to appeal Camp's decision, will take any further action.