Alabama sheriff Nick Smith and his chief deputy have been indicted.
Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith and his second in command have been arrested and indicted by a grand jury for hiring people who were not eligible to serve in law enforcement.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF WALKER COUNTY,
SUSAN ODOM, CLERK
STATE OF ALABAMA, PLAINTIFF,
vs.
SHERIFF NICK SMITH/ CUSTODIAN OF RECORDS
WALKER COUNTY SHERIFF
OFFICE, DEFENDANT.
CASE NUMBER
64-CV-2025-900113-HDF)
SHERIFF NICK SMITH’S
VERIFIED RESPONSE TO MOTION FOR CONTEMPT
COMES NOW, Sheriff Nick Smith, and files this his Sheriff Nick Smith’s Verified Response to Motion for Contempt as his response to the State’s Motion for Contempt (Doc. 4) states as follows:
1. That on April 21, 2025, as is routine from time to time, the Custodian of Records for the Walker County Sheriff’s Department was served a subpoena (Doc. 2).
2. That said subpoena requested specific records related to “incident/offense and arrest reports”, “(dispatch) logs and radio call signs for all members of the Walker County Sheriff Office’s Personnel,” and “incident/offense (sic) and arrest reports” for specific dates and case numbers.
3. That the foregoing request required the production of thousands of pages of documents.
4. That at 8:10 a.m., on April 22, 2025, the Custodian of Records for the Sheriff Department in an effort to minimize the time for the compliance with said subpoena sent an email to the Software Company that stores the digital copies of the requested documents that read in its entirety:
Jennifer,
Would you be able to assign someone to pull these records (attached) from CAD and RMS?
Thanks
5. That the Walker County District Attorney and the Chief Prosecutor were copied with the April 22nd email to the Software Company.
6. That approximately 2 ½ hours later at 10:43 a.m., on April 22, 2025, the Software Company sent an email to the Walker County Custodian of Records and ‘copied’ the Walker County District Attorney and its Chief Prosecutor with a response to said request with three (3) files attached thereto described as:
7. That at 1:38 p.m., on April 22, 2025, the Software Company sent an email to the Walker County Custodian of Records and ‘copied’ the District Attorney and its Chief Prosecutor with a response to said request with one (1) file attached thereto described as:
Walker CSO Case Exports.zip 6.0 MB
8. That the records produced in the files referenced in paragraphs 6 and 7 hereinabove were electronically delivered directly to the Walker County District Attorney and the Chief Prosecutor.
9. That on May 2, 2025, the Custodian of Records for the Walker County Sheriff’s Office was served with a copy a subpoena which was compared to and determined to be a duplicate copy of subpoena that had already been responded in the multiple files described hereinabove.
10. That at 9:00 a.m. today, May 8, 2025, the Walker County Sheriff Office was contacted by members of the media requesting his comment related to the “Contempt Petition” that had been filed against the Sheriff.
11. That said contact was first notice of said “Contempt Petition” (Motion for Contempt (Doc. 2)).
12. That the Sheriff response to the inquiry was that he had not received any such filing.
13. That thereafter, the Sheriff located said court filing and called the Custodian of Records into his office concerning the court filing.
14. That the Custodian of Records produced the emails reference herein to confirm said compliance with the aforementioned subpoena.
15. That neither the Sheriff nor anyone at his office, including the Custodian of Records, has ever been served with or seen the May 2, 2025, letter from the District Attorney Office (Doc. 3) which said office failed to deliver but instead had delivered the duplicate copy of the subpoena (Doc. 2).
16. That on today’s date, May 8, 2025, at approximately 11:25 a.m., the Custodian of Records was served with a copy of the Motion for Contempt (Doc. 4), with its attachments (Doc. 2 and Doc. 3).
17. That the Walker County Custodian of Records provided the member of the Walker County District Attorney’s Office with a copy of the emails referenced herein and requested that he advise and remind the District Attorney of his receipt of the information that he was provided on April 22, 2025.
18. That immediately thereafter, at 11:36 a.m., the Custodian of Records received a call from the District Attorney’s Office and almost immediately was speaking with the District Attorney who acknowledged that he had overlooked receipt of files referenced hereinabove but upon his first time inspection thereof he requested some additional information be provided to aid his review of the documents produced and said Custodian of Records agreed to promptly produce same to aid the District Attorney in his understandings of the data produced some 16 days earlier; a copy of the additional information is being produced contemporaneously herewith.
19. That neither the Walker County Sheriff nor the Custodian of Records for the Walker County Sheriff Office have engaged in any contemptuous acts as related to said subpoena (Doc. 2) but have complied therewith as supported by the foregoing detailed response; the Custodian of Records for the Sheriff Office will continue to supplement said subpoena if additional information is discovered as is required by the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure.
20. That it is noted that the Motion for Contempt (Doc. 2) was not filed by the District Attorney or the Chief Prosecutor but instead by an Assistant District Attorney who was not a ‘copied’ recipient to the aforementioned emails containing the data complained to having been withheld.
21.That based upon the foregoing response, SHERIFF NICK SMITH/CUSTODIAN OF RECORDS WALER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE asserts that this Motion for Contempt (Doc. 4) is due to be dismissed.
WHEREFORE PREMISES CONSIDERED, Sheriff Nick Smith/Custodian of Records Walker County Sheriff’s Office moves for the dismissal of the cause and request reimbursement for the attorney fees associated herewith.
Respectfully submitted,
NICK SMITH
WALKER COUNTY SHERIFF
Nick Smith, Walker County Sheriff, having read the foregoing pleading states that same is true and correct.
Kimbely Lauret Albred
NOTARY PUBLIC
MY COMMISSION
EXPIRES DEC. 27, 2025
NOTARY
PUELIGSTAIuiLAUA,
//s// Thomas L. Carmichael
THOMAS L. CARMICHAEL (CAR133)
Carmichael Law Firm, LIC
301 North Walston Bridge Rd., Suite 100
Jasper, Alabama 35504
(205) 302-0099