Defense attorneys filed a motion this week seeking a new trial for Limestone County’s former sheriff, records show.

Former sheriff Mike Blakely was convicted Aug. 2 of first-degree theft and use of official position or office for personal gain, later being sentenced to 36 months in a jail other than Limestone County’s. He was released on appeal bond the day of his sentence hearing and has remained out on bond since.

On Monday, his defense team’s motion for a new trial was filed in the public court records system, revealing all the mistakes Blakely’s legal team believe took place during the ex-sheriff’s trial.

The 49-item list begins by noting a constitutional violation within the first days of jury selection — an attempt by Judge Pamela Baschab to shut out media and spectators, going against a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. Media outlets had filed a motion to intervene that was ruled moot after Baschab reversed her decision.

The list then moves on to accuse the trial court of error in Baschab’s decisions to deny various motions filed by the defense team, including motions to dismiss certain counts, declare mistrials and declare Blakely not guilty. They repeat arguments made during the trial — prosecutors alleged Blakely violated the Fair Campaign Practices Act but never charged him with a violation, instead charging him with theft.

Additionally, defense attorneys argued, a motion for mistrial should have been granted after a juror said health issues caused her to say Blakely was guilty when she didn’t believe he was. The state had noted in its response to the juror’s claims that the juror never mentioned health issues on her questionnaire and the law prevented her from testifying to events during deliberation at the time her affidavit was filed.

Defense attorneys said their motions to dismiss Count 2 should have been granted but weren’t, allowing jurors to hear evidence “contrary to the law,” causing “unreasonable prejudice” to Blakely and “poisoning” jurors. Attorneys did not detail the allegedly poisonous evidence in their motion.

Attorneys said they want all motions filed during the trial to be refiled as part of the appellate process, from those for dismissal or acquittal to those for mistrial or suppressing evidence, saying each should have been granted during the trial process.

Witnesses

Other alleged errors made during the trial include allowing a witness to testify before jurors were made aware the witness was under investigation; allowing an attorney with the Alabama attorney general’s office to testify as a witness in the case, which was prosecuted by the AGO; and allowing emails to be admitted as evidence based on the testimony of someone who did not send or receive them.

Defense attorneys further argued that the court erred in not declaring a mistrial after the AGO was accused of witness intimidation, one of many instances of alleged misconduct by prosecutors that the defense listed in its motion Monday. A Limestone County Sheriff’s Office employee had testified to feeling “beaten” by investigators during an interview years before trial, while another said he was pulled to the side before his testimony during trial and talked to by AGO investigators.

After hearing from the witnesses, state attorneys and the defense, Baschab ruled in favor of the state in each instance.

As for other instances of prosecutorial misconduct, the defense’s motion lists the following:

• Prosecutors made “overt and continuous efforts” to “confuse the jury by referencing local, county and state laws over objection”;

• Prosecutors “improperly” commented on the law after “invading the province of the Court”;

• Prosecutors interjected “their personal feelings about the evidence” and were “bolstering their witnesses”; and

• A prosecutor repeatedly used his personal views on the trial to vouch for witnesses’ credibility or evidence’s strength.

Jury/verdict

Once it was time for jurors to deliberate, defense attorneys say the trial court should have never allowed state visual exhibits to be taken to the jury room. And when jurors said they might be deadlocked, Baschab ordered them to continue deliberating — another err, according to the defense.

Jurors eventually returned a verdict of guilty on two of the 10 counts that remained in the indictment by the end of the trial.

“The verdict is contrary to law,” the defense said in its motion. “The conviction is contrary to law and evidence. … The judgment of the Court is contrary to the law.”

The initial motion for a new trial was filed Monday, and an amended version was filed about an hour later. The amended one included a new item that accused prosecutors of failing to prove Blakely acted with an intent to deprive, just as the previous motion had accused them of failing to prove money was missing or that the money that had been taken wasn’t used for law enforcement expenses. It also noted that despite being convicted of theft, Blakely was never ordered to pay back the funds he was accused of stealing.

To that end, the defense and Blakely request a hearing and a chance at a new trial.

“More than 45 separate errors or violations” were cited, and “the cumulative effect of the multiple errors in trial adversely affected the Defendant’s substantial rights and seriously affected the fairness and integrity of the trial,” the defense team wrote in a supplement to the motions.

As of The News Courier’s press deadline Tuesday, the courts had not responded to their request except to note that Blakely had paid the appropriate fee for filing it.