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American Morning

Jury Finds Former Sheriff Guilty of Murdering Lawman

Aired July 11, 2002 - 10:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We move on to Georgia now, and a jury has found a former sheriff guilty of murdering the lawman who was just days away from replacing him in office. Prosecutors say it was a sordid tale of corruption, abuse, and cold-hearted vengeance; more now from our David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the fall of 2000, Derwin Brown won the race for sheriff in Atlanta's neighboring DeKalb County. Promising to end corruption, voters viewed him as a breath of fresh air in the management of the county's law enforcement and jail. But just three days before he was to take office, Brown was gunned down in his driveway, an assassination some said, ordered by the man he defeated, the outgoing Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, and Wednesday afternoon, a Georgia jury agreed, finding Dorsey guilty of Murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury, find the defendant as to Count 1, guilty.

MATTINGLY: The verdict was the end of a long, emotional journey for the Brown family.

PHYLLIS BROWN, VICTIM'S WIDOW: I'm glad that it's over. I'm glad that the jury in its wisdom saw what really happened, and now I can go face Derwin with a smile.

MATTINGLY: Two alleged co-conspirators had previously been acquitted, and concerns carried into the case against Dorsey that there might not have been enough evidence for a conviction. The prosecutor's case relied heavily on the shaky credibility of a former sheriff's deputy, who testified against Dorsey in exchange for immunity.

BRIAN STEEL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This was a tragic verdict for an innocent man that in no way belittles the loss of Derwin Brown.

MATTINGLY: Dorsey was also found guilty on 11 charges of corruption, two Georgia racketeering counts, one count of violating his oath of office, and eight counts of theft, for using county personnel for his personal use.

J.T. MORGAN, PROSECUTOR: The first suspect was this defendant, Sidney Dorsey. A corruption investigation had already begun by my office and by Derwin Brown.

MATTINGLY: The jury deliberated less than three full days. As late as Noon on Wednesday, the jury had remained deadlocked on the charge of Murder, and asked the judge if they should continue. Two and a half hours later, a verdict was reached, and the nearly too long search for justice in the murder of a reform-minded sheriff was over. David Mattingly CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And, we asked Sidney Dorsey's attorneys to come on with us this morning. They did not accept our invitation, but that invitation was accepted by the District Attorney for DeKalb County. That is J. Tom Morgan, joining us this morning from Albany, Georgia where the case took place. Mr. Morgan, good morning.

J. TOM MORGAN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: Good morning.

KAGAN: Your reaction to getting this verdict?

MORGAN: It was a long time coming. Justice has been served. This case began with a corruption investigation that ultimately ended up in a murder, and we are very grateful that this jury saw the evidence and rendered a verdict that spoke the truth.

KAGAN: People who have followed this case in Georgia and the southeast saw two trials. They saw one that took place in DeKalb County, your home county, and that was not successful in the prosecution of Melvin Walker and David Ramsey.

But this time around with Sheriff Dorsey, you were able to get the conviction. What was the difference this time, and did you go back and rework your game plan for this trial?

MORGAN: No, nothing was reworked. The difference was that the motivation was clearly understood in this trial. This was about a man who was so consumed with power that he would do anything to keep that power, and this jury understood that motivation. In the last case, it was hard to understand why two people would murder the sheriff.

KAGAN: And, another big difference was, one took place here in DeKalb County in the Atlanta area, the other moved, change of venue, to basically small town Georgia. How did that affect this case?

MORGAN: Well, they were going to have a tough time finding a jury in DeKalb County that did not know too much about this case, and so we came down here to Albany, which is my hometown where we grew up, and I knew that the jurors here would have a real sense of what was right and wrong and they did so. The jurors down here were amazing. They all wanted to come to jury service. They felt it was a privilege to serve on the jury, and every day they conscientiously listened to the evidence.

KAGAN: And because you know this town so well, I think people across America who are watching will be really interested to hear on how you built this case. You built the corruption side first and you led that step of logic up to murder, up to the charge of murder, getting people to think, well if he could do this, this, and this, then perhaps he is a killer. Share with us some of those other charges, some of the outrageous things that this man was found guilty of doing.

MORGAN: He used sheriff's deputies, for example, to drive his children to and from college, while they were on duty. He used sheriff's deputies to work in his private security firm while they were on the clock for DeKalb County. He used sheriff's deputies to fix his personal cars. Over and over, and over again he used the resources of our Sheriff's Department for his own personal use and private gain. I think the jurors understood that, and they understood that once he was capable of doing this, and he was going to lose those perks that he was stealing from the county, he was capable of murder.

KAGAN: And, most importantly, he was found guilty of not just murdering a man, but a man who the voters in your county had chosen to serve as sheriff. Why have you chosen not to go for the death penalty in this case?

MORGAN: This is the type of case when you're building it on circumstantial evidence and corroboration from co-conspirators, we knew that the death penalty would be very, very hard to get, and that's why we did not seek the death penalty.

KAGAN: And yet, you plan for Sidney Dorsey to spend a long time in jail or prison, I imagine?

MORGAN: We believe this man will die in the Georgia prison system. He's 53 years old. He's looking at a life sentence plus 20 years, and he'll have to serve every day of it.

KAGAN: J. Tom Morgan, District Attorney for DeKalb County, thank you for joining us today, the day after the verdict.

MORGAN: Thank you.

KAGAN: And once again, we do want to say that we did invite Sidney Dorsey's attorney Don Samuel (ph) to come on with us and he did not accept that invitation.

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