Wednesday, Mar. 9, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | County marshals case takes legal hitBy JOHN MUNFORD The Fayette County Commissions legal battle with Sheriff Randall Johnson over jailing prisoners collared by the countys marshals department may have taken another hit. In a recently published opinion unrelated to the pending lawsuit the county filed against the sheriff, the Georgia Assistant Attorney General Robert W. Smith Jr. notes that marshals do not have general police powers such as the power of arrest except as may be authorized by law. The opinion was requested by the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, who asked for a ruling on whether county marshals have authority to operate speed detection devices. Smith wrote that no such authority exists and any speed detection permits issued to county marshals departments are void and should be withdrawn. The countys suit against the sheriff came after Fayette jail staffers turned away a woman arrested by a county marshal for DUI in December 2003. Johnson argues that the marshals department is not a law enforcement agency according to state law, and accepting any prisoner from the marshals department would put the sheriff and his department at risk of a lawsuit. Since the suit was filed, the sheriff agreed to temporarily house marshals prisoners arrested for an indictable offense until the case could be ruled on. The county contends that the marshals department was created in 1983 as a law enforcement agency, a de-facto county police force, before a 1992 state law went into effect requiring counties to secure voter approval in a referendum. The marshals department was originally instituted to enforce county ordinance violations and they now handle internal investigations in addition to providing security for county property. A resolution passed by the county commission in 1989 specifically grants the marshals the power to make arrests and to execute and return criminal warrants and processes in Fayette County, and all the powers of the sheriff as peace officers in Fayette County. All county marshals are sworn police officers. Johnson said Tuesday he hopes to get the lawsuit resolved soon. The judge on the case, Senior Superior Court Judge William Ison, turned down a request to rule in the countys favor before a trial, indicating there are legitimate legal issues to be explored in the case. The latest attorney general ruling is certainly seen as a victory by Sheriff Johnson. This is what we have been saying all along, Johnson said, adding there is no reason for the suit to be prolonged. Really, its not their job, Johnson said of the police duties conferred to Fayettes marshals. Thats what the law says. Repeated attempts to contact County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn by press-time Tuesday were unsuccessful. |
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