DOTHAN, Ala. – Raise your hands if you remember John Russell Powell.
Think carefully, and then think some more.
Give up? It’s not surprising.
Powell has faded into obscurity in Alabama. Nevertheless, he remains a lightning rod for controversy in neighbouring states and is possibly on the verge of imprisonment.
Powell is waiting to be tried in Georgia on many charges of misusing his office.
Malfeasance of office in Georgia means doing something wrong while in a position of power, like being Chief of Police. According to Brunswick News, he was charged in two different waves. The last one was about two years ago.
He and other officers under his direction in Glynn County, which is on the Atlantic coast, were charged because an undercover drug agent is said to have had an affair with one of his informants and then tried to hide it.
Prosecutors say Powell did not look into the case well enough on purpose.
His trial is still pending.
There were also accusations, not criminal ones that Powell’s department ignored evidence and wrongly ruled that Ahmaud Arbery’s controversial hate crime shooting on a national stage was justified.
The case was taken over by prosecutors in another county, and three of the defendants were found guilty.
Powell didn’t have any trouble in Dothan like he did in Georgia, but his time there was still controversial.
One group of officers asked the state to look into whether Powell ran the force poorly.
Nothing came of it, but Powell’s connections with his officers, including some on his command staff, became tense, and his relationship with the media was rocky.
Powell had been chief for four years before he quit in 2009 to take a job with a code enforcement office in Florida.
But what he really wanted was to become sheriff of Escambia County, Florida. He had lost one bid before coming to Dothan but chose to try a second time after returning to Florida.
During the campaign, Powell was arrested because he was accused of taking a campaign donation. Some people thought that the charge was based on politics.
He lost the race badly, and a few months after that, the campaign charge was dropped.
Some people think that he is being used as an easy target in Georgia, where his trial could happen this year.
He has subsequently lost his position and is no longer a member of law enforcement.
Fresh headlines from Alabama – Phenix City: 3-year-old injured after allegedly shooting himself along Crawford Rd
