Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith said he found out about a motion to hold him in contempt of court through the news media.
The motion, which has since been dismissed, was filed Wednesday by Walker County District Attorney Bill Adair, Jr. It stated Smith refused to submit records requested by the Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission (APOSTC).
In response to the motion on Thursday, Smith provided emails proving that he sent the requested documents on April 22. The DA moved to dismiss the motion, and the judge dismissed the case two hours later.
Smith said he was disappointed in the "political gamesmanship" of the DA's office and said the move is related to the sheriff campaign of J.C. Poe. Smith said Poe, who is the current Jasper police chief, employs an investigator who Smith claims is married to Assistant District Attorney Kristin Kiefer Huddleston, who signed the motion for contempt of court. Poe announced his candidacy on Thursday.
"The motion was filed in a hurry," Smith said in a video response. "The motion is full of editing marks, proving how hurried it was put together. But it had to be. They wanted it filed the day before J.C. made his big announcement to give him something to talk about."
Smith was also disappointed that the court clerk did not give him a copy of the motion; instead, he learned about it from local news media.
"Our circuit clerk is responsible for the issuance of absentee ballots and should not be participating in this kind of foolishness," Smith said. "People should not be leaking out information out of their office, and I would encourage that the district attorney's office and the circuit clerk's office look into who is leaking this information out to the public before people have proper notice to be served."
Further, he said the filing directly interfered with governmental operations because he was pulled away from a school where he was filling in for a student resource officer.
"I have worked tirelessly to create a different sheriff's department," Smith added. "I was hopeful that this race would be a clean one. I refuse to be drawn into a mud bath. However, I will not sit quietly while others make accusations that are clearly false."
Smith said he expects retaliation for the video response.
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