Difference between revisions of "Fulton Sheriff wrongfully evicts Mother and children"

==The Usual Suspects: Fulton County Sheriffs and Judge Melynee Leftridge==

==The Usual Suspects: Fulton County Sheriffs and Judge Melynee Leftridge==

===Judge Melynee Leftridge===

===Judge Melynee Leftridge===

On December 28, 2022, Navigating Justice published an article entitled "[[Karma prevails and Recusal Motion ensues]]: ''Fulton Judge circumvents jury in an 'attempt' to distribute over $40K in Registry funds''," which was moderately popular on two major social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, garnering over 5,000 user engagements primarily from the Metro Atlanta area. The article explains how Fulton County Superior Court Judge, Melynee Leftridge, entered an order on December 21, 2022 releasing all money held in the Registry of the Court to a plaintiff despite the fact that ownership of over $40,000 of those funds is still left to be determined by the jury in that case.<ref>[https://thewikilaw.org/wiki/images/3/36/Motion_to_Vacate_12-22-2022.pdf Motion to Vacate Order Releasing Funds]</ref> Judge Leftridge further ordered that the defendant, Derrick Jackson, be evicted immediately and required that Mr. Jackson pay an additional $30,000 into the Registry by December 31, 2022. However, Mr. Jackson (represented by [[Matthew D. McMaster, Esq.]]) had already deposited over $190,000 into the Court’s Registry before November of 2022 making it mathematically impossible for the plaintiff to be entitled to all money already in the Registry and for Jackson to owe an additional $30,000 in rent through December 31.<ref>[https://thewikilaw.org/wiki/images/3/36/Motion_to_Vacate_12-22-2022.pdf Motion to Vacate Order Releasing Funds]</ref> The plaintiff in the case was represented by Hall Booth Smith, an Atlanta based law firm with at least one attorney on Judge Leftridge's donor list.<ref>[https://media.ethics.ga.gov/search/Campaign/Campaign_ByContributions_RFR.aspx?NameID=16478&FilerID=C2020000293&CDRID=156866&Name=Leftridge,%20Melynee%20&Year=2020&Report=June%2030th%20-%20Election%20Year Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report, June 30, 2020 (R. David Ware, Hall Booth Smith)]</ref> That donor, R. David Ware who is the former County Attorney for Fulton, was previously married to Sharon W. Ware, a former employer of Judge Leftridge according to her resume posted on [https://www.fultoncourt.org/judge/judge-melynee-leftridge fulton.org]. In light of the Judge's unconstitutional order and relationship with at least one attorney in the law firm representing the plaintiff in the case, counsel for Jackson filed a motion to recuse Judge Leftridge on December 28, 2022.

On December 28, 2022, Navigating Justice published an article entitled "[[Karma prevails and Recusal Motion ensues]]: ''Fulton Judge circumvents jury in an 'attempt' to distribute over $40K in Registry funds''," which was moderately popular on two major social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, garnering over 5,000 user engagements primarily from the Metro Atlanta area. The article explains how Fulton County Superior Court Judge, Melynee Leftridge, entered an order on December 21, 2022 releasing all money held in the Registry of the Court to a plaintiff despite the fact that ownership of over $40,000 of those funds is still left to be determined by the jury in that case.<ref>[https://thewikilaw.org/wiki/images/3/36/Motion_to_Vacate_12-22-2022.pdf Motion to Vacate Order Releasing Funds]</ref> Judge Leftridge further ordered that the defendant, Derrick Jackson, be evicted immediately and required that Mr. Jackson pay an additional $30,000 into the Registry by December 31, 2022. However, Mr. Jackson (represented by [[Matthew D. McMaster, Esq.]]) had already deposited over $190,000 into the Court’s Registry before November of 2022 making it mathematically impossible for the plaintiff to be entitled to all money already in the Registry and for Jackson to owe an additional $30,000 in rent through December 31.<ref>[https://thewikilaw.org/wiki/images/3/36/Motion_to_Vacate_12-22-2022.pdf Motion to Vacate Order Releasing Funds]</ref> The plaintiff in the case was represented by Hall Booth Smith, an Atlanta based law firm with at least one attorney on Judge Leftridge's donor list.<ref>[https://media.ethics.ga.gov/search/Campaign/Campaign_ByContributions_RFR.aspx?NameID=16478&FilerID=C2020000293&CDRID=156866&Name=Leftridge,%20Melynee%20&Year=2020&Report=June%2030th%20-%20Election%20Year Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report, June 30, 2020 (R. David Ware, Hall Booth Smith)]</ref> That donor, R. David Ware who is the former County Attorney for Fulton, was previously married to Sharon W. Ware, a former employer of Judge Leftridge according to her resume posted on [https://www.fultoncourt.org/judge/judge-melynee-leftridge fulton.org]. In light of the Judge's unconstitutional order and relationship with at least one attorney in the law firm representing the plaintiff in the case, counsel for Jackson filed a motion to recuse Judge Leftridge on December 28, 2022.

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===The SCORPION Unit===

===The SCORPION Unit===

It is that same court order described above that the Fulton County Sheriff's Deputies claimed gave them the authority to remove all residents from 955 Tiverton Lane, which is completely erroneous and a violation of the remaining residents' Due Process rights under both the Georgia and U.S. Constitutions. Though the typical eviction is conducted by the '''Civil Processing Unit''', that wasn't enough for Sheriff Pat Labat's team in this instance. Rather, the Sheriff's Deputies called the infamous SCORPION Unit for backup when Jackson's fiance refused to vacate the home. The Fulton County Sheriff's SCORPION Unit has been under fire as of late since the World watched recordings of the Memphis SCORPION unit beating Tyre Nichols to death in Tennessee. The NAACP has since put pressure on Sheriff Labat to disband Fulton County's SCORPION Unity completely. Ironically, in an article printed just weeks later in response to the NAACP's request, "Sheriff Labat said the main focus of the SCORPION unit in Fulton County is repeat offenders in high-crime areas with warrants out for their arrest."<ref>[https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/02/02/georgia-naacp-demands-fulton-county-sheriffs-office-disband-scorpion-unit/ Georgia NAACP demands Fulton County disband SCORPION Unit]</ref> Well, we'd be hard pressed to buy into the notion that this alleged focus should include evicting a woman and children without a court order in the Country Club of the South. Perhaps Sheriff Labat holds a more creative definition to the words "warrants" and "high-crime areas" than the rest of us.

It is that same court order described above that the Fulton County Sheriff's Deputies claimed gave them the authority to remove all residents from 955 Tiverton Lane, which is completely erroneous and a violation of the remaining residents' Due Process rights under both the Georgia and U.S. Constitutions. Though the typical eviction is conducted by the '''Civil Processing Unit''', that wasn't enough for Sheriff Pat Labat's team in this instance. Rather, the Sheriff's Deputies called the infamous SCORPION Unit for backup when Jackson's fiance refused to vacate the home. The Fulton County Sheriff's SCORPION Unit has been under fire as of late since the World watched recordings of the Memphis SCORPION unit beating Tyre Nichols to death in Tennessee. The NAACP has since put pressure on Sheriff Labat to disband Fulton County's SCORPION Unity completely. Ironically, in an article printed just weeks later in response to the NAACP's request, "Sheriff Labat said the main focus of the SCORPION unit in Fulton County is repeat offenders in high-crime areas with warrants out for their arrest."<ref>[https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/02/02/georgia-naacp-demands-fulton-county-sheriffs-office-disband-scorpion-unit/ Georgia NAACP demands Fulton County disband SCORPION Unit]</ref> Well, we'd be hard pressed to buy into the notion that this alleged focus should include evicting a woman and children without a court order in the Country Club of the South. Perhaps Sheriff Labat holds a more creative definition to the words "warrants" and "high-crime areas" than the rest of us.

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