Verdict In Sheriff Killing Trial

Two men accused of killing the sheriff-elect on orders from his predecessor were acquitted of murder and other charges Monday.

A DeKalb County jury deliberated for four hours over two days before finding Melvin Walker and David Ramsey not guilty of the December 2000 murder of DeKalb County Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown.

Prosecutors had contended that Walker and Ramsey, along with two other men, Patrick Cuffy and Paul Skyers, had conspired to kill Brown on the orders of former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who lost to Brown in a bitter 2000 election.

Brown was shot 11 times in front of his suburban Atlanta home on Dec. 15, 2000, three days before he was to have taken office.

The case against the two men was based almost solely on the testimony of two alleged participants in the plot who were given immunity from prosecution. They said that outgoing Sheriff Sidney Dorsey ordered the hit and that the four men carried it out, with Walker serving as the triggerman after the men drew straws.

Dorsey is set to go on trial in June on murder and racketeering charges. He has said he had nothing to do with the slaying.

Brown had defeated Dorsey in a bitter campaign four months earlier after promising to clean up corruption in the Sheriff's Department. Not long before his death, he had vowed to fire 38 of Dorsey's deputies.

Dorsey was alleged to have ordered the killing because he was angry about losing the election and because Brown was helping authorities investigate the corruption.

Walker was a sheriff's deputy and Ramsey worked for Dorsey's private security company.

Jurors leaving the courthouse Monday refused to comment. Brown's widow, Phyllis, also hurried away from courthouse in tears without commenting.

The defense rested its case without calling witnesses.

"The state has done nothing other than attempt to sacrifice David Ramsey and Melvin Walker in an attempt to get Sidney Dorsey," said Xavier Dicks, Ramsey's attorney, said in his closing argument.

In a statement, DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan, who was criticized by defense attorneys for the immunity deal, said he took "full responsibility" for the prosecution of the case, including the immunity deal with Cuffy and Skyers.

"Without their cooperation, there never would have been any attempt to hold those responsible for this horrible crime," Morgan's statement said. "Unfortunately, no one can now be held accountable, and I must bear that burden."

Morgan, citing a gag order in the case, would not say how the verdicts would affect his case against Dorsey.

Walker's attorney, Max Richardson, said, "The jurors have spoken, and they've expressed their feelings about the state's star witnesses." Richardson said he doubts Dorsey could be convicted on the same testimony.

Dorsey, who has been held in an Atlanta area jail since November, was indicted last month on a host of charges related to Brown's killing and a grand jury corruption probe, including murder, theft, bribery and racketeering. He has pleaded not guilty.