CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Attorneys for suspended Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill have filed an appeal in an effort to get the sheriff back to work.
Hill was suspended by Governor Brian Kemp back in June after the sheriff was accused of violating the civil rights of inmates in the Clayton County Jail.
The suspended sheriff’s lawyers say the governor’s suspension is only temporary. They say that, according to state law, the sheriff should have been reinstated in September.
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They say the statute says Hill should be returned to office if he is not tried at the next term of the court after he was indicted.
When Governor Kemp signed the executive order calling for the suspension, he said it would last until the case is decided or the end of Hill’s term in 2024, whichever comes first.
The federal indictment alleges that Hill strapped inmates into a chair for hours and then locked in them in a suicide watch cell in nothing but a paper gown.
Attorney Alan Parker said in a release that the appeal was being filed because the Fulton County judge assigned to hear the case “stated on record that she did not think she had the authority to make the decision to reinstate Sheriff Hill.”
Hill has said the prosecution is politically motivated.
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Many people in the community supportive of the sheriff, saying that although he has his flaws, he has been effective in lowering crime in the county.
“I think he is doing a great job. He’s keeping crime off the street,” said Clayton County resident Anna Sury.
Others are not as complementary of the sheriff.
“Victor Hill is a human tornado. He’s a criminal with a badge,” said former Clayton County Jail Chaplain Rodney Williams. Hill had him arrested for sending an email Williams says he did not send.
“I hope and I pray that Victor gets everything he deserves,” Williams said.
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