Judge recuses himself from Blakely trial

Published 1:00 am Saturday, February 13, 2021

Another judge has recused himself from the trial of Limestone County’s sheriff, making him the fifth person to do so.

Retired Colbert County Circuit Court Judge Pride Tompkins has president over the Sheriff Mike Blakely’s criminal trial since Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker assigned the case to Tompkins in August 2019. On Wednesday, Tompkins said he couldn’t continue the assignment due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and his high-risk status.

COVID-19 has repeatedly been an issue for the case, not just because extra precautions must be taken to keep jurors, attorneys, witnesses and others safe. A special hearing held days before jury selection was set to begin last year was prompted by a motion to continue in which defense attorneys mentioned the sheriff possibly having the disease.

It turned out he didn’t, but a week later, life as Americans knew it was brought to a halt by the pandemic. Courts closed, trials were postponed, and it wasn’t until weeks after courts reopened and trials resumed that a status conference was ordered for Nov. 19, 2020.

A new trial date of March 29 was announced the next month. In January, the trial was once again postponed. It was not announced before The News Courier’s press deadline when the trial might take place or who would serve as judge when it does.

The four Limestone County judges who were on the bench when Blakely was indicted recused themselves within days of the indictment.

The case

Blakely, who was first elected sheriff in 1982, pleaded not guilty to a 13-county indictment at a November 2019 arraignment. Two of the counts were later dismissed.

Of the remaining counts, four charge him with thefts from his campaign account, totaling $11,000; three charge with theft or ethics charges stemming from money taken from Limestone County funds; another charges him soliciting $1,000 from an employee; and the final two charge him with using his position as sheriff to obtain interest-free loans, including from a safe that held money belonging to Limestone County Jail inmates.