Sheriff`s Corner

Hi everyone. Welcome to this week's Sheriff's Corner. This past week has been very busy and I have several items to talk to you about. The first will be the issue of Andrew and Leon Wiggins. As you know we had questions asked as to the identity of the person in a drug transaction video. Andrew Wiggins was convicted of this crime and sentenced to 60 months.

The question: Was the person in the video actually Leon Wiggins. We had a hearing in court before Judge Mary Day Coker as to that question. After listening to all of the testimony, Judge Coker took the case under advisement and will return a decision as to whether Andrew Wiggins should be re-tried. I'll keep you posted.

The next issue at hand had to do with the Matthew L. Arthur investigation. This was the case where our deputies were forced to shoot and ultimately kill Mr. Arthur. Subsequent to that FDLE investigated the case and shooting.

We met with FDLE last week to learn about their findings. We were told that our deputies had acted appropriately. They were also being released to go back to work. Due to the nature of the case our deputies have been offered and undergone a full evaluation in this issue. It is anticipated that a grand jury will be impaneled by the State Attorney's Office.

This has been a terrible situation. We are here to protect our citizens not hurt them. However, I'm happy and relieved that our men were not killed. I'm pleased that their training, experience and involvement in law enforcement enabled them to defend themselves. Our hearts go out to Mr. Arthur's family. We hope there are okay. We also hope this never happens again. Take care.

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