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Legal woes may keep Anderson from office

• Baker Sheriff Isaac Anderson wins re-election Tuesday, but he may not be able to stay in office, authorities say.

J.D. Sumner

NEWTON — Embattled Baker County Sheriff Isaac Anderson could be witnessing his final days as the top law enforcement officer in the Southwest Georgia county after state officials announced Wednesday they were drafting a letter declaring the office vacant, authorities say.

Anderson and POST — the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council — have waged a series of legal battles since Anderson was implicated in a plot to develop an alibi for a man accused of domestic violence in Florida.

Ryan Powell, the director of operations for POST, said Wednesday that his office had been granted approval from the Georgia Attorney General’s Office to draft a letter declaring Anderson’s office vacant under the rule of law.

“It’s being drafted now because the Attorney General’s Office notified us that the court had made its decision,” Powell said.

Probate Court officials in Baker County said Wednesday that they had not received a letter from POST authorizing Anderson’s ouster.

Anderson has long been embroiled in a legal battle with state officials who have continually sought to remove him from office since he was implicated in a 2002 incident in which he was accused of fabricating an incident report as an alibi for a man accused of assaulting his ex-wife in Clearwater, Fla.

It has been a legal tug of war in which Anderson has been both vindicated — when a federal jury acquitted him of criminal activity — and scorned — when the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by a superior court judge that had granted Anderson his credentials.

In an interesting twist, Anderson, whose term expires in December, was the only person to qualify to run for sheriff in Baker County in Tuesday’s primary elections, effectively handing him another term.

Officials at the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office said Wednesday that they were researching the possible options to fill the office if it were to be vacated, but no immediate resolution was discussed.

Phil Cannon, Anderson’s attorney, said in an earlier interview with The Herald that Anderson would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to keep Anderson in office.

Baker County Attorney Tommy Coleman said Wednesday that if state officials declared the office vacant, Probate Judge Angel Hendricks would ordinarily appoint a successor to fill the seat until a special election could be called, but other options, including an alternative that would allow Baker County Coroner Andy Belinc to step in to fill the unexpired term, could be considered.

Calls for comment from Anderson were not returned Wednesday.

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