Charges dismissed against Alabama journalists accused of revealing grand jury secrets

All criminal charges in a case involving journalists and school board members in a small southeastern Alabama county were dismissed Friday, ending a lengthy case that originally surfaced in October over a dispute about a school superintendent’s postion.

The dismissals, granted by Judge Ben Fuller, were requested earlier in the day by Assistant Attorney General Thomas Govan Jr., whose office had taken over the cases after Escambia County District Attorney Steve Bill recused himself from prosecuting it in February.

Dismissed were criminal charges of revealing grand jury secrets against Atmore News publisher and Escambia County School Board member Sherry Digmon, 73; Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher, 69; Escambia County school board vice-president Cindy Jackson, 73; and the school system’s bookkeeper Vernoica Fore, 48.

A criminal charge against Digmon for using her public position for personal gain was also dismissed. She was originally charged by Billy with impeachment, an offense that was aimed at removing her from her school board seat. But the impeachment charge was dismissed in February.

An attorney representing Digmon and Fletch could not be reached for comment.

The Alabama Association of School Boards had been involved in the case, assisting Digmon in her impeachment case before that charge was dismissed. The impeachment proceeding was based on a violation to the School Board Governance Act of 2012, which establishes training requirements and accountability measures for all school board members.

Sally Smith, president of the AASB, called the impeachment charge in November the “most outlandish situation” she’s seen of outside influence in a school board matter in her 37-year career with the organization.

In a statement to AL.com on Friday, Smith said she was concerned “as a matter of public policy” about “questionable criminal charges being used to intimidate school board members voting their conscience.”

“We are relieved this effort was not successful,” Smith said. “Decisions relating to Escambia County Schools should be made by local school officials and we will stand with them as they continue the important work of educating kids.”

The dismissals appear to put an end to a case that sparked unusual amounts of national attention for Escambia County over press freedoms and the extent in which prosecutors can punish the media for publishing confidential material.

The impetus for cases stemmed from the publication of an Oct. 25 article in The Atmore News, written by Fletcher. Digmon is the newspaper’s publisher. Within the piece, according to Billy in the original charges, are details that were included in a grand jury proceeding that he argued should have remained a secret and were a violation of state law.

The arrests of Digmon and Fletcher, according to their attorney Ernest White of Brewton, represented a violation of First Amendment press freedoms.

Media and ethics experts pounced on the prosecutions saying the charges were levied against the journalists for publishing what they said was leaked material, and for simply doing their job.

White cited past federal rulings that had been repeatedly protected press freedoms including the right to publish confidential proceedings.

“I’ve had a lot of cases in 44 years,” White told AL.com earlier this month. “I can’t say (this is the most unusual). It is the first, First Amendment case I’ve ever had, yes.”

The cases were part of unfolding actions within the Escambia County School System that began in mid-October with a controversial 4-3 vote to new renew former Superintendent Michele McClung’s contract, originally set to expire in June 2024. The vote came during a meeting in which Billy was among those who publicly voiced his dissatisfaction over having McClung dismissed.

The board remained splintered in December over McClung when the contractual buyout came up for a vote. The buyout, which terms were never released by the school system, was approved by a split board over their views about McClung: Four board members did not support her, including Digmon and Jackson. Three board members praised McClung’s tenure in the seat and said she oversee an improved academic environment as illustrated by a school report card that showed increasing test scores from prior years.

Former assistant superintendent Michele Collier has since replaced McClung.