Barbour County Deputies To Face Criminal Charges

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Posted by: Jon B. Carroll
Date: Mar 17 2015 10:00 PM

In three illegal raids of an inmate's cell in the Barbour County jail, Barbour County deputies, reportedly, acting on the orders of Presiding Circuit Judge Leon “Burt” Smithart and Sheriff Leroy Upshaw, have violated a court order that Judge Smithart himself ordered and signed. The deputies, documented by video, repeatedly raided former Alabama Football Player Will Dickerson’s cell in an attempt to interfere with legal proceedings and obtain confidential information that was attorney client privileged, which then would have been shared with District Attorney Ben Reeves. The raids were documented in a way that give irrefutable evidence of the three deputies involvement on three separate occasions on Feb 17th and twice on Feb 27. The documentation has been forwarded to the civil rights division of the US Justice Department to be included in the previous formal complaint filed with Assistant US Attorney General Anita Gupta.

As of this evening, District Attorney Ben Reeves has been unavailable for comment on whether his office was aware of these actions. Republicans in the county though have quietly been making a few phone calls, I understand with attorneys in Barbour and Bullock county who might be willing to step forward as a candidate, if Ben Reeves is forced to resign in light of the recent complaint filed with the US Justice Department. One prominent Eufaula republican said, speaking on the condition of anonymity,

“ this is Barbour county, we have lost one before if you remember for corruption (Sam LaMaistre). Reeves makes him look like a choirboy. The bottom line is with Reeves is, at some point if he becomes a liability, he has to go. Whether Paul Brunson ended up taking over, or if it was one of our (republican) guys, the office would improve by a country mile.”

Barbour County Sheriff’s Department deputies Ryan Conner, Investigator Jay Brice and Deputy Rickey Dollar we are told will face criminal charges for violation of a court order and the county potentially face a civil suit.

If convicted, two of the men would likely lose their APOST certiifcation and be ineligible for any positions in law enforcement. Ryan Conner is not legally a law enforcement officer, but he could be removed from his position as jail administrator and the county face civil rights charges for his behavior.

Dickerson’s attorney Jon Taylor has filed a legal motion (attached below) for Will Dickerson to be removed from the Barbour county jail and moved to Montgomery with Judge Albert Johnson.One of the deputies is reported as saying that “he was just doing what he was told to do”. Which brings up the the real question – who ordered these men to break the law and violate the court order? Smithart, Reeves or was it Upshaw????

We intend to get that answer and whether people like Ryan Conner or Rickey Dollar, want to believe it or not, when they are placed under oath I suspect someone will start talking.

Below is a copy of the court order the men violated.

UPDATED 11:45 PM:

As a update I received this text from Deputy Ryan Conner. The questions respectfully still stand  Deputy Conner. Do you deny the charges made against you of violating the protective order and raiding Will Dickerson's cell ? Just a simple Yes or No Conner?

UPDATE: 7 AM  Ryan Connor has admitted to raiding Dickerson's cell in violation of the court order, Dollar and Brice are still denying it. 

 

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