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CNN Live Today

Former Sheriff to be Sentenced

Aired August 15, 2002 - 11:15   ET

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

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A former Atlanta-area sheriff is going to be sentenced to prison today for ordering a hit on his chief political rival.
CNN's Charles Molineaux joins us now from Decatur, Georgia. He's got this sordid story of Sidney Dorsey.

Good morning -- Charles.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Yes, sordid really kind of sums it up. Prosecutors say this is a story of arrogance, abuse of power and man who turned the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department into a cesspool of corruption, as they put it, his own personal gravy train. But this could very well be the end of the line for Sidney Dorsey. In about two hours, the sentencing here will get under way for the murder of the man who was to be his successor, Derwin Brown.

Now, Dorsey stood pretty much impassive last month as he was convicted on 12 counts of murder and 11 counts of corruption, abuse of his office, theft, as well as racketeering. He was convicted for the murder of Derwin Brown.

Now, Derwin Brown was actually elected to succeed him, running on a platform of cleaning up corruption in the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department. Prosecutors say that made him a threat. He was a man who was going to derail this gravy train and could very well have ended up putting Dorsey in jail, so Dorsey decided to have him done away with. Prosecutors say there was a conspiracy of five men involved in killing him, but that Dorsey himself was the ringleader, and the jury agreed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STEEL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This was a tragic verdict for an innocent man.

J. TOM MORGAN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This defendant just could not let go of his power, and was totally consumed by it and refused to let it go, and ultimately committed the ultimate act of corruption, which was the murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINEAUX: Well, now Dorsey could be sentenced to as much as life plus 40 years in jail. Actually, when you add up the racketeering and murder charges, at the very least he could get 50 years, which would make him eligible for parole when he is, well, 102, but even that's pretty unlikely. The judge, Cynthia Becker (ph), has a reputation for being tough. In fact, she has been known to sentence defendants to more than prosecutors have asked for.

The court has blocked out a period of about three hours for this hearing, although the expectation is it actually could last less than one. And again, it is scheduled to get under way in just a little over two hours -- Leon.

HARRIS: Yes, but, Charles, how do they handle the big problem about where they put this man? I mean, this is a guy who has been responsible for the incarceration of a lot of the people who are in every single jail or prison in the state of Georgia.

MOLINEAUX: Well, yes, actually the fact is that before he was sheriff, Dorsey was an Atlanta policeman for almost 30 years. He was a beat cop and a homicide detective. So there is actually a pretty good chance of him running into somebody he put away somewhere in the prison system, but correction officials say this is something that they have dealt with before. In fact, unfortunately, Dorsey will make 92 former cops locked up in the system, and they say he will be evaluated just like any other inmate, and that will include questions about whether he could have any enemies in the system.

There have been questions in the local media about whether or not he could actually be dangerous in jail, maybe reach out through his contacts and try to harm somebody outside. But that doesn't take a bad cop to do, and that is something that corrections officials say that they have also dealt with before. They know what they're going to do with him, but he will have to be evaluated and put someplace where they know that he will not be a threat and will also not be in danger from other inmates.

HARRIS: Very interesting case here. Charles Molineaux reporting live for us from Decatur, Georgia -- thank, Charles.

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