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Chase Dearman Felony Marijuana Attorney in Mobile AL

FOX10: Feds: Mobile ring laundered marijuana profits through casino chips, California cannabis firms

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Prichard police pulled over a car in December 2019, finding thousands of dollars in cash and a driver who offered contradictory explanations about the money.

It was no lucky bust. Court records show that federal law enforcement officers had been on to the driver and his partners for months, tracking a sophisticated network that regularly smuggled marijuana by the kilo from California to the Mobile area. Those court papers show members of the conspiracy then laundered the profits in a variety of ways – including casino chips, real estate, cannabis businesses in the Golden State and a dummy corporation set up by one of the conspirators as a supposed construction firm.

The investigation would lead to the indictment of 14 people on federal drug charges, including nine who already have pleaded guilty. That includes Mohammed Zohair Adi, who pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Also this week, a judge sentenced the man who was behind the wheel in Prichard that day in 2019, Damario Kentel King. The judge dismissed money laundering conspiracy charges as part of the plea bargain and sentenced him to 6½ years in prison for conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Among those named in the indictment is Jervoris Scarbrough, whom Mobile police in December charged with murder in connection with a 2014 shooting. Scarbrough was the first person Mobile County prosecutors sought to jail without bail under Aniah’s Law, which gives judges broader discretion to keep people locked up pending trial on violent offences. A judge, however, granted bail in that case.

Federal prosecutions of marijuana crimes are relatively unusual. And Chase Dearman, an attorney who represented King, said the network that prosecutors alleged here has a level of sophistication more typically found in criminal enterprises dealing in harder drugs.

“Usually, you see that kind of stuff in cocaine cases where there’s a lot more money involved. … The more complex systems I’ve seen have usually been about cocaine,” he said.

Enough marijuana for 3.1 million joints
King, 35, admitted responsibility for 400 to 700 kilograms of marijuana from January 2018 through May 2021. Based on recent University of Pennsylvania research, a kilogram of the drug is enough for 3,125 joints. That means the entire 1,000 kilograms alleged in the indictment, theoretically, could produce more than 3.1 million joints.

Court records indicate that the enterprise was quite lucrative for King. According to his plea agreement, he filed no federal income tax returns in 2017 or 2018 and yet had more than $1 million in unexplained cash income.

Prosecutors allege that drug couriers would smuggle kilogram-amounts of marijuana on commercial flights from California to the Mobile area and then transfer the money back to people and entities in California.

Court records describe a multifaceted money-laundering operation to process the drug profits. Adi’s plea agreement indicates that he and others made “structured” financial transactions of less than the $10,000 threshold at which banks are required to report activity to the government.

The conspirators also purchased and redeemed casino chips with drug proceeds and deposited money in California bank accounts and the Mobile area, the plea agreement states.

Adi and another money launderer used multiple businesses and personal financial accounts to move money from the Mobile area to California, according to the plea document. In one example listed in the document, he wrote a $20,000 check to Investors Inc., which he had registered in California in 2012, representing that it was construction business. But court records show that it was used to launder drug proceeds.

Investors Inc. received more than S100,000 in deposits made in Mobile, Pensacola and California from October 2019 to January 2020 – including some cash that bank employees reported literally smelled like marijuana.

Adi admitted that he and other launderers spent drug proceeds on investments in nine California properties – five in Sacramento, and one each in Merced, Shingle Springs, Rumsey, and Lodi. Prosecutors have asked a judge to order the defendants to forfeit those properties, along with a Mercedes.

In some instances, prosecutors allege, members of the enterprise deposited drug proceeds directly into the accounts of legal cannabis businesses registered in California. At other times, they would pay the expenses of grow operations with illegal drug proceeds.

Attorney: Defendant runs legit business
One of the defendants named in the indictment, Navjit Bhullar, owns one of those businesses and denies the allegations.

“My fella is a legitimate marijuana grower in California where (in) the state of California, it’s legal what he’s doing,” said Bhullar’s attorney, Jeff Deen. “Still against the law, federally, and therein lies the rub.”

Deen told FOX10 News that Bhullar is subject to – and complies with – detailed rules of operation under California’s marijuana laws.

“He’s heavily regulated by the state of California,” he said. “He can grow plants. And they have inspectors come in and tag ‘em, all your plants. And they’ll come back a few months later and tag ‘em, look at ‘em, make sure they can see you haven’t got any more than you’re supposed to have. And then the quality’s tested.”

Court records paint a picture of a thorough investigation that unfolded over many months and involved multiple seizures of cash, and in some cases, drugs. In addition to that stop in Prichard involving King, court records detail seizures at airports in Mobile, Sacramento, San Francisco, New Orleans, Houston and several other cities.

During one of those trips, King and a co-conspirator traveled in September 2020 from Mobile to San Francisco. After he returned two days later, according to his plea agreement, law enforcement authorities arrested him with 125 pounds of bulk marijuana packaged in multiple vacuum-sealed bags hidden in suitcases.

A subsequent search of King’s cell phones contained extensive evidence of his involvement in the drug organization.

Investigators tracked tens of thousands of dollars in deposits King made in 2019 and 2020 using case and wire transfers to California bank accounts, which co-conspirators quickly withdrew.

King is eager to put his legal problems behind him and start a new chapter, according to Dearman, his attorney.

“Mr. King is a is a client that I’m particularly fond of,” he said. “He’s very intelligent, very smart. And I’m sure that he will come out of prison, and he will be successful in whatever he does.”

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Original Article found here.
By Brendan Kirby
Published: Feb. 1, 2023 at 5:35 PM CST

Chase Dearman appears on FOX10 TV WALA

FOX10: Testimony: Mobile woman lured shooting victim into van to set up robbery

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A woman charged with helping to set up a robbery that led to a fatal shooting last year lured the victim from a Tillman’s Corner motel room, a police investigator testified Tuesday.

Detective Rory Graves, of the Mobile Police Department, said surveillance video from the motel on April 26 shows Dejean Washington getting into a van driven by Maranda Shardae Gamble. He testified that a passenger in the vehicle is not visible in the video but that investigators believe it was Jermi Anrichio Adams, who is accused of firing the fatal shots.

Mobile County District Judge George Zoghby ruled Tuesday that prosecutors had presented enough evidence for a grand jury to consider indictments against Adams, 28, for murder and Gamble, 21, for felony murder.

“There’s a couple different locations involved here,” Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said outside the courtroom.

The victim and the two defendants knew one another, but the precise nature of their relationship remains unclear. Graves testified that Gamble gave conflicting information to authorities but eventually said that she overheard a conversation between Adams and someone else talking about a robbery.

Graves testified that Gamble believed the three were going to go to New Orleans first and then would return to the Prichard area but that they ended up going directly to the Plateau community. At that point, Gamble told investigators, Adams pulled out a gun and that Washington tried to grab it. She also told investigators that Adams pointed the gun at her, according to the testimony.

Police responding to Center Street and Wood Alley that evening found the 34-year-old’s body on the ground with four gunshot wounds. Graves testified that investigators found nine 9mm shell casings but not the murder weapon.

Gamble’s attorney, Chase Dearman, pressed Graves during cross-examination about whether there is any evidence suggesting his client fired the gun.

“To my knowledge, no,” the detective acknowledged.

Police put out a Be-On-The-Lookout for a van driving by Gamble, and sheriff’s deputies in Georgia arrested her during a traffic stop early the next morning. She was not charged, however. Graves testified that investigators wanted to talk to her but that she was not at that time a suspect.

Charges did not come until after police arrested Adams this month and Gamble earlier this month.

“Maranda Gamble is charged with felony murder because we believe that evidence tends to show that she intended to participate in the robbery that then led to the death of the victim in this case,” Blackwood said.

But Dearman said after the hearing that Gamble was not part of any criminal plot.

“In that car ride, my client overheard something to do with a robbery,” he said. “And she didn’t know when or how it would ever take place. They go to a place. They get out of a car. The guy pulls a gun, starts shooting and both the victim and my clients start running. And that’s the simplest of it.”

Under felony murder law, a person can be convicted if prosecutors prove that he or she was committing a crime – in this case robbery – that led to the victim’s death.

Graves also testified that text messages from Gamble’s cell phone indicate that she was in on the robbery planning. But Dearman argued that it was Adams using her phone.

Dearman sought to dispute any suggestion that Gamble was fleeing when deputies on Georgia’s Coweta County pulled her over at about 3 a.m. He said that is where his client’s mother lives.

“She was simply going home,” he said.

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Original Article found here.
By Brendan Kirby
Published: Jan. 31, 2023 at 5:25 PM CST

Chase Dearman Mobile AL NYE Attorney DUI

NBC15: NYE shooter held without bond under new Aniah’s Law

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MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — The accused killer in the New Year’s Eve mass shooting in downtown Mobile will be held without bond under Aniah’s law, which aims to keep particularly dangerous and violent offenders off the streets. A detention hearing was held Thursday afternoon for Thomas Thomas, who is accused of opening fire on Dauphin Street and killing Jatarius Rieves.

A homicide detective testified 22 shots were fired that night. The call to police came in at 11:14 PM. Four officers were in the immediate proximity. In total, 10 people were shot. One of the shooting victims told the detective it sounded like a machine gun. Police testified Thomas had a 40 caliber Glock handgun with an extended clip and modified it illegally by putting a switch on it, which turns semi-automatic guns into automatic ones. Police say ballistic evidence shows he fired 16 of the 22 shots. One of those struck Jatarius Rieves in the head. Another person 23-year-old Morgan Peters fired back 6 shots. He was also critically wounded.

Surveillance video captured the shooting and moments leading up to it. Both sides conceded the incident appeared to begin with words exchanged. But the defense claims after those words were exchanged, Rieves was the aggressor, and Thomas acted in self-defense.

“He said, ‘I’m going to shoot.’ I don’t wish to cuss on the news, but ‘I wish to shoot you.’ And then when he came back, pull this up. He thought he was pulling the gun to shoot it. I mean, it’s that simple. And unfortunately, not only is he denied bond, but he’s not going to be able to get an immunity hearing until he gets to circuit court,” said defense attorney Chase Dearman.

The court room was packed, and there were some tense moments in court. The judge ordered no contact between the two sides. The Public Safety Director, as well as Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine were in attendance, which is unusual for pretrial hearings.

“This is a new law and we want to make sure certainly that the judicial system, we want to make sure that the prosecutors are understanding just how important this law is for us and certainly for Mobilians here in the city,” said Prine.

The detention hearing district court also served as Thomas’ preliminary hearing. The case will now go to a grand jury. Thomas’ defense attorney says he plans to appeal the no bond order.

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Original Article found here.
By Andrea Ramey
Thursday, January 12th 2023

Chase Dearman Criminal Defense AttorneyWALA

FOX10: Fentanyl from I-10 seizure was enough to kill 1.5 million people, Mobile County prosecutor says

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A pair of California men on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and possession charges related to what authorities say was the largest fentanyl bust in Mobile County’s history.

Lener Daneski Jiron Solies, 27, of Norwalk, Calif., and Zeshan Malik Fayyaz, 26, of Hawthorne, Calif., appeared remotely via video hookup from Mobile County Metro Jail. Mobile County District Judge George Zoghby left in place bonds of $1.5 million each. The order requires those bonds to be paid in cash, a condition that the defendants’ lawyers said is tantamount to denying bail.

In a sign of how significant prosecutors consider the case, Mobile County Chief Assistant District Attorney Keith Blackwood personally handled the arraignment. He told Zoghby that the seized fentanyl bricks exceeded 3 kilograms, an amount he said could produce 1.5 million lethal doses.

“Fentanyl is presenting us with a complete paradigm shift,” Blackwood told the judge, later adding, “As bad as cocaine is, as bad as meth is, as bad as heroin is, fentanyl is a game-changer. People are dying from it every day.”

The arrest occurred on Oct. 8, hours after the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office announced an unrelated fentanyl bust at the Dreamland Skate Center in Tillman’s Corner.

According to authorities, Solies was driving a rental car when deputies pulled the vehicle over on Interstate 10 near the Dauphin Island Parkway exit for an expired tag. Blackwood said a drug-sniffing dog alerted to the presence of narcotics and that a subsequent searched turned up the fentanyl, along with 3 grams of cocaine.

Blackwood said Solies did not have a driver’s license. He said the defendants later told investigators that they were driving from the Los Angeles area to Pensacola.

Blackwood argued for maintaining the initial bonds set by Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis. He said the defendants have no ties to Mobile County and face, based on the volume of fentanyl, a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted. He also reiterated how deadly the drug is.

“That’s why it is so dangerous,” he said. “That’s why every aspect of the criminal justice system must take fentanyl prosecutions seriously.”

Chase Dearman, an attorney for Solies, objected to Blackwood’s characterization of how many people the drugs would kill.

“There is no chart that I’m aware of that’s been accepted in a court of law that converts a certain weight of a certain substance to a number of deaths,” he said.

Dearman acknowledged that fentanyl is a dangerous drug but added, “All drugs are dangerous. All of them are.”

Dearman said that although his client is accused of transporting drugs, no one has alleged that he is a drug dealer.

“My client is not guilty,” he said outside the courtroom. “He’s not admitting to anything at this time. Period.”

Stewart Hanley, an attorney for Fayyaz, said his client is the son of immigrants with no criminal record and a consistent work history. He noted that the defendant’s parents were in court Wednesday and argued that a $75,000 bond with electronic monitoring and other conditions would be more appropriate.

“He’s a 26-year-old born and raised in the U.S. … This is a young man with no criminal history,” he said.

A woman identifying herself as the defendant’s sister said, “We would take full responsibility.”

Dearman told the judge that he intends to wait until after the preliminary hearing to revisit bond, but he said after the hearing that $250,000 would be fair. He noted that the current $1.5 million is equivalent to the maximum bond amount set by the Alabama Supreme Court in murder cases.

“My client didn’t murder anybody,” he said. “And at this stage of the game, the law simply states he’s presumed innocent, and he should be entitled to a reasonable bond. There is no way he can afford a $1.5 million cash bond. Very few people can.”

Prichard Alabama Murder Attorney Chase Dearman

FOX10: Testimony: Surveillance video from hospital, strip club link Prichard man to murder

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Investigators used surveillance video from a hospital and a strip club to link a Prichard man to a fatal shooting that took place early in the morning on Easter morning, a detective testified Wednesday.

Mobile County District Judge George Hardesty determined prosecutors had sufficient evidence to send murder and drug charges against Algernon Devon Grayson to a grand jury. The judge also denied bail. Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Lauren Walsh argued against bail, noting that the 22-year-old Prichard man at the time of the shooting was out on bond for a charge of attempting to elude police.

In addition, Walsh said, Grayson has a previous homicide conviction. Initially accused of murder for the 2016 shooting death of a 15-year-old, he later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

“This is the second time he’s killed someone in about six years. … He, essentially, is a drug-dealing murderer,” she said.

Detective Kenyada Taylor testified that the Easter shooting resulted from an altercation that developed between two different groups of people who had gone to the University of South Alabama Health System’s University Hospital to check on separate shooting victims. She testified that a woman who was with Grayson spit on the victim, Robert McMillian, who had gone to the hospital to check on his son’s best friend.

That’s when the dispute turned physical, Taylor said. She testified that Grayson pulled a gun and fired 12 times at point-blank range, hitting McMillian four times.

Taylor said black-and-white surveillance video from the helicopter pad shows the shooting. She testified there is color video from another angle. By matching the two video feeds side by side, she said, investigators determined that the shooter was wearing a gray T-shirt and orange jeans.

That matches the clothing that Gayson was wearing hours earlier at the Lotus Gentleman’s Club in Prichard, Taylor said.

The detective offered the following timeline, based on the surveillance video time stamps: Grayson entered the club at about 2:30 a.m. and left at 3:42 a.m. A shooting in Prichard occurred at 3:55 a.m., which prompted Grayson to go to the hospital, arriving at 4:16 a.m. Taylor said the altercation began at 4:16 a.m. and that Grayson intervened at 4:34 a.m. The shots came at 4:35 a.m., the detective said.

Taylor testified that the defendant denied that he was at the hospital or the club. But she said offices confronted Grayson with images from the security footage.

“He laughed and said, ‘That’s my lookalike. You know, everyone has a twin,’” she testified.

Taylor testified that officers also obtained text messages from Grayson’s phone showing that a woman texted him at 3:15 a.m. asking where he was. “In Lotus,” he responded, according to the detective’s testimony.

Defense attorney Chase Dearman pointed to the detective’s testimony that none of the people who were in the University Hospital parking lot during the shooting have been able to identify his client as the shooter.

“There’s not one living witness that has seen him at the hospital or, according to her, at the strip club,” he said outside the courtroom.

Although a judge sentenced Grayson to 15 years in prison for the manslaughter conviction, her served only about five years before prison officials released him. Walsh said she had no explanation for why Grayson ended his prison term so quickly.

“I would ask you to ask the Department of Corrections about that, because it’s not a decision that we made,” she said.

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Original Article found here.
By Brendan Kirby
Published: Jul. 20, 2022 at 7:23 PM CDT

Mobile Alabama Wrong Way Driver Fatality to Grand Jury

FOX 10: Judge sends allegations of Mobile wrong-way driver fatality to grand jury

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A Semmes man traveling north in Schillinger Road drifted into the southbound lane and collided with an oncoming vehicle, killing the other driver, a police investigator testified Monday.

After hearing the evidence, Mobile County District Judge George Zoghby sent the homicide by vehicle charge against John Criswell IV, 22, to a grand jury to consider an indictment.

During Monday’s hearing, defense attorney Chase Dearman repeatedly pressed Mobile police investigator Wildfredo Fernandez about whether he determined if alcohol was a factor or if Criswell had suffered a medical emergency.

That line of questioning brought an objection from Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Wright. She noted that prosecutors have not alleged an alcohol-related offense in the criminal complaint, only that Criswell caused a death by violating a traffic rule.

“Not part of the charge,” she said. “Not relevant to probable cause.”

But Dearman pointed out that prosecutors during Criswell’s bond hearing had made a point to say that he had just left a bar on the early morning of Jan. 31.

The judge allowed Fernandez to answer a question about whether surveillance video indicated that Criswell was impaired.

“There’s no way I can tell whether he was impaired or not,” he said.

Fernandez testified that Criswell traveled about 1,700 feet from a self-storage facility to the point of impact. He said the car was traveling an estimated 58 mph. He said the driver of the other car, which was going about 39 mph, seemed to try to avoid the collision.

“It does appear she swerved because the majority of the damage, I believe, was on the passenger side,” he said.

Dearman told FOX10 News outside the courtroom that client is a law-abiding citizen.

“He’s a good young man,” he said. “He’s had steady employment, and he is well-liked and actually loved in the community. And he’s never been in trouble before in his life.”

Dearman declined to discuss whether Criswell was suffering some sort of medical crisis on the morning of the accident but faulted investigators for not pursuing that possibility. He characterized the wreck as an accident.

“It seemed very evident that they have not looked to see whether or not there was any kind of medical emergency, whether or not there was a malfunction in the vehicle,” he said. “But the officer did testify by looking at three cameras, which tracked his pattern coming down, and he did not see him driving any way erratic or anything like that.”

Original article at: FOX10

Chase Dearman, Dearman Law Firm, Attorney - Mobile, AL - Client Charles Robinson Charges Dismissed

Dearman Gets Robinson Distribution Charges Dismissed

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Mr. Charles Robinson faced two felony charges of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and a probation revocation due to those charges. On March 4, 2021, after a lengthy preliminary hearing, Judge Hardesty dismissed both charges. Mr. Robinson’s probation was terminated later that same day and Mr. Robinson was released from custody.

If you are facing a criminal charge in Municipal Court, State Court or Federal Court because of a crime in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, or anywhere in the State of Alabama, put The Dearman Law Firm’s years of experience to work for you. Call attorney Chase Dearman today and discuss your legal situation. Don’t wait. Call us at 251-445-6997 before things get out of hand. If you need an attorney in Mobile, Alabama, call us. We’re here to help you with your legal and federal charges in Alabama and the United States District Court. Our goal is to have your charges dismissed.

Police Cars at Police SceneWPMI NBC 15

NBC: Exclusive NBC 15 Obtains Report Showing How Much Law Enforcement Seized

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MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — The state is shining the light on what’s been criticized as the secretive practice of civil asset forfeiture, where police can take what’s yours if they believe it’s tied to criminal activity even if no criminal charges are ever filed. State law now requires more transparency. NBC 15 News has obtained a copy of the first state report released showing how much and what was seized in Alabama.

“If they find cash in a search warrant, they will take it,” said defense attorney Chase Dearman.

As was the case in 2013 when Mobile Police seized $15,000 from William Anderson’s home. The state had to give it back after the Alabama Circuit Court of Appeals later found the money was “illegally obtained” because the search warrant was “improperly executed.”

“This is the United State of America. It’s called due process,” said Dearman.

Dearman is highly critical of civil assets forfeiture and has successfully fought against it. In another case, he says police seized hundreds of thousands from a drug suspect who just so happened to have also won a large worker’s compensation settlement.

“And he had it in his shoe box, and they took every bit of it despite the fact he had documentation of the source of the income,” said Dearman.

A new report that’s now mandated by law to be published shows Alabama last year seized $4.8 million. District attorneys and the arresting agencies keep all of it. The report also shows 470 weapons were seized, 94 in Mobile County alone. That was the highest of any county in the state.

“It’s a very important law enforcement tool that can be used to protect the public. I don’t think anybody wants a drug dealer to profit from what he’s doing,” said Baldwin County District Attorney Robert Wilters.

Wilters has a very simple counter to critics of civil assets forfeiture.

“If we can’t prove our case, we don’t win. We don’t get it,” said Wilters.

Wilters also believes more transparency with reports like this will lead to less distrust of law enforcement.

“The only way we can do that is get the facts to the public,” said Wilters.

To view the full report, click here.

chase dearman elingzhmDearman Law Firm

Chase Dearman Wins Drug Trafficking Appeal, Life Sentence Reversed

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On May 29th, 2020, the following Conclusion was issued from a ruling by the ALABAMA COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS on the matter of CR-18-0332 Ezingim Demetrius Earl v. State of Alabama as stating the following:

Because the affidavit lacked sufficient probable cause to support the issuance of a search warrant for apartment 206, the circuit court should have granted Earl’s motion to suppress the evidence found in apartment 206. We therefore reverse the judgment of the circuit court and remand this case for further proceedings. In doing so, we note that Earl was originally charged with nine counts but that, because Earl agreed to plead guilty to one count of trafficking in marijuana, the State dismissed eight counts. Because this Court holds that the circuit court erred in denying Earl’s motion to suppress as to the apartment, this Court is also setting aside Earl’s guilty-plea conviction for trafficking in marijuana and his resulting sentence of life in prison.

Chase Dearman reverses a life sentence for trafficking marijuana conviction for 27.5 pounds of marijuana. William K. Bradford and Mr. Chase Dearman successfully argued that the search conducted by the police was illegal. The entire ruling by the ALABAMA COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS may be read here.

At The Dearman Law Firm, there’s not a criminal case we won’t handle. From drug felonies to all other criminal charges, give us a call and set up a free consultation.

Chase Dearman of the Dearman Law Firm is a Mobile, Alabama criminal defense attorney handling state and federal criminal cases in Mobile County, Baldwin County, and South Alabama. He has successfully defended countless clients in trials and appeals on all manner of criminal charges.

CONTACT CHASE DEARMAN AT THE DEARMAN LAW FIRM
(251) 445-6997

Alabama Supreme Court

LAGNIAPPE: Judge, lawyer take war of words to Montgomery

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“OK, Let me know when I can speak.”

“If you’re going to make an objection, you’re not going to speak.”

“May the record reflect that I’m not allowed to make…”

“Get him out of here. Take the lawyer out. Get out.”

“May the record reflect…”

“Get out.”

“… that I’m being ordered out of the courtroom…”

“Get out.”

“… and the judge has lost his temper…”

“Get out.”

“…. Again.”

“Get out. Take him back.”

From Lagniappe Mobile: Posted by Jason Johnson | Nov 6, 2019 | Bay Briefs

That was the official court transcript from a heated exchange in February between Mobile County Circuit Judge Jim Patterson and local defense attorney Chase Dearman after a probation revocation hearing for one of Dearman’s clients appears to have run entirely off the rails.
The incident led to Dearman being held in contempt by Patterson, and since then, the issue has been appealed, remanded, affirmed and appealed again all the way up the Alabama Supreme Court. It’s one of two cases Dearman has challenged from Patterson’s courtroom and taken up to the high court this year.

Both he and Patterson declined to speak on the record, though much has been laid out in public filings.

The contempt case started during a probation revocation hearing for one of Dearman’s clients who was allegedly found in possession of synthetic marijuana. At the hearing, Dearman objected to a patrol officer positively identifying the substance he found in his client’s car, claiming the officer had “no training in narcotics whatsoever” and that synthetic marijuana was not “regularly identifiable.”

Patterson shot down the objection and maintained the rules for a trial wouldn’t apply during a simple probation hearing, and that the officer was allowed to testify to what he found during a traffic stop. Still, Dearman wanted to object in order to preserve the issue for the record and persisted.

That’s where things seemed to go awry.

According to the transcript, when Dearman tried again to get his objection on the record, Patterson told him “there was no objection” and then repeatedly stated “the rules don’t apply” over Dearman’s continued efforts to support his position. It doesn’t appear Patterson formally overruled the objection.

Patterson later wrote that he threw Dearman out of court because he felt his conduct was “a challenge to the court’s authority” and it was necessary to “promptly punish” him for the behavior. Dearman disagreed and quickly appealed to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.

That appeals court found Patterson erred because he never actually told Dearman he was being held in contempt while kicking him out of the courtroom, and because he didn’t allow him “a reasonable opportunity” to excuse or mitigate his actions. However, after it was remanded back to Patterson and a hearing was held to correct those procedural concerns, the appeals court upheld the contempt charge.

Dearman has argued he couldn’t have been challenging Patterson’s ruling on his objection because Patterson never made one saying instead that “there is no objection.” The next stop was the Alabama Supreme Court, which is currently considering an appeal of the lower appellate court’s decision.

It’s worth noting Dearman has had issues with other judges this year as well. In April, District Judge Joe Basenberg held him in contempt and actually briefly detained him for an alleged comment he made after a ruling denying a motion to adjust the conditions of one of his client’s bonds.

Basenberg claims that after his order, Dearman immediately said in open court that the court’s decision was “ridiculous” or “absolutely ridiculous.” Basenberg went on to state that “both the manner and tone of the statement displayed an extreme level of insult and disrespect to the court.”

The other case involving Patterson that Dearman has appealed to the supreme court is also pending, but it has already led to an accused murderer being released from jail. In that case, Dearman claims Patterson revoked a client’s bond “without any legal basis” over his concerns with local court funding.

That client, Calvin Barnes, was charged with murder in 2016 for allegedly killing his brother-in-law, Eric Smith. He was initially scheduled to go on trial in 2018, but was delayed on multiple occasions, some at Barnes’ request and some at the state’s. Eventually, the trial was reset for May 13 in Patterson’s court.

However, three days before the trial began, Barnes made the decision to drop Dennis Knizley as his attorney and replace him with Dearman, who at the time was still in the middle of his appeals battle with Patterson over the contempt charge mentioned above. Patterson perceived the change of attorneys as an effort to delay the case and revoked Barnes’ bond despite the state never asking him to do so.

“This has the feel of the purpose to delay the inevitable. That’s what it feels like to me,” Patterson said at the hearing that day. “And so, frankly, I’m going to revoke his bond because I think — we are too broke. This circuit is too broke to [allow] another precious trial setting to pass.”

Court funding has been a significant focus for Patterson, who has drawn attention on several occasions by stating publicly that the local judicial system is “dead ass broke.” He also attempted to take legal action against the state last year to prevent money collected in local courts from going to the general fund in Montgomery — an effort that led to him being sternly admonished by the Supreme Court in June.

In the Barnes’ case, Patterson set a bond revocation hearing the day after he’d already ordered the bond revoked, which is allowed under the rules of criminal procedure. At the hearing, Patterson himself seemed to acknowledge he was getting into uncharted territory by revoking Barnes’ bond of his volition.

“I will tell you on the record that I did some research yesterday, and I don’t know that there’s any precedent for what I did. This may be an issue of first impression,” the transcript reads. “I stand on the record that I made yesterday about how this case proceeded. I stand on the record about the defendant terminating Mr. Knizley, who has an excellent reputation as attorney, on the eve of trial.”

Last month, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals stayed Patterson’s order revoking Barnes’ bond as it considers Dearman’s appeal of the decision. He has since been released from custody at Mobile Metro Jail and has a new trial date set in 2020. Dearman withdrew from his case altogether in August.

Update: After this article was published, Dearman sent the following comment on his contempt previous charge in Judge Basenberg’s courtroom.

“The law of contempt clearly states the attorney shall be given an opportunity to mitigate his actions. The reason for that mitigation is to allow things to cool down. An adversarial proceeding can make for a heated atmosphere. The actual freedom of a citizen is at stake. After five minutes, that is exactly what happened. Both the judge and myself settled down. Although I don’t believe my conduct met the definition of contemptuous, I was wrong and Judge Basenburg was right to call me out on it. I have the utmost respect for Judge Basenburg personally and as a judge.”