Suspended Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill is asking to the state Supreme Court to help him get his job back.
Sheriff’s office attorney Alan Parker said Tuesday in a post on the department’s Nixle social media page that his team has filed an appeal with the court to reinstate the controversial lawman.
Gov. Brian Kemp suspended Hill from duty last June, two months after the sheriff was indicted by federal authorities.
“The law states that if a suspended official is not tried at the first term of court, he is to be reinstated to his office,” Parker said in the post. “The law is very clear that suspension of officials by the Governor is of a limited duration.”
The sheriff’s appeal comes after a Fulton County Superior Court judge rejected a similar lawsuit Parker filed in October. Parker made the same argument in the lower court, which denied the request to lift Hill’s suspension in December.
U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Christopher Bly in December denied a different request by Hill to drop federal charges against him. Bly also certified the case “ready for trial.”
Hill, who has been sheriff since 2013, was indicted last April for allegedly violating the civil rights of four Clayton County jail detainees by strapping them to restraining chairs as punishment. A fifth count was added in August in a superseding indictment.
Hill has denied the charges. Parker could not be immediately reached for comment.
Kemp suspended Hill after a three-person panel advised that the sheriff could not carry out his duties while under indictment.
Parker, who said in the Nixle post that Hill is being unfairly targeted, added that the sheriff will be cleared of the accusations when he goes to court.
“Sheriff Hill’s defense attorneys are ready to go to trial to get him vindicated from charges that are clearly politically motivated,” he said.
Sheriff Hill’s controversial tenure
2005: Fired 27 employees immediately after taking office, placing snipers on the sheriff’s department roof as they were escorted out.
2012: Accused of several counts of racketeering, theft by taking and making false statements, though he would later be acquitted of all charges.
2015: Accidentally shot a female friend while demonstrating “police tactics” during a date.
2017: Law enforcement certification put on probation for two years by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
2018: Linked to Mitzi Bickers, a Clayton Sheriff’s chaplain indicted in April in connection to the bribery scandal at Atlanta City Hall.
2021: Indicted by federal authorities for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of Clayton County jail detainees by using restraining chairs as a punishment.
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