A Perry County circuit judge has entered an order requiring the defense in Sheriff Roy Fikes’ lawsuit against Commission Chairman Albert Turner Jr. and Perry County to produce and file outstanding trial exhibits after a Dec. 18 hearing.
In an order entered Dec. 19, Circuit Judge Marvin W. Wiggins wrote that the matter came before the court for trial and that, by agreement of the parties, “the defendant shall have five (5) to produce and file the outstanding exhibits from the trial.”
The lawsuit, filed earlier this year, centers on a dispute over courthouse security and control of personnel assigned to the sheriff’s office. In October, the Times-Standard-Herald reported that the defense filed an answer disputing the sheriff’s core allegations and contending Alabama law places day-to-day control of the courthouse with the county commission, not the sheriff, with Judge Wiggins resetting an early hearing by agreement of the parties.
Later that month, after an Oct. 9 hearing with no rulings yet entered, the county asked the court to “maintain the status quo” on whether various nondeputy roles assigned to the sheriff’s office remain classified as county positions under county personnel policies.
Court filings show the case moved into active discovery and pretrial preparations in December. On Dec. 3, Fikes filed a set of discovery requests seeking, among other things, the legal authorities the defense relies on, including local acts, Code provisions, attorney general opinions, and publications of the Alabama Association of County Commissions, as well as commission meeting minutes dating back to April 1, 2025.
He also noticed a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of Turner for Dec. 15–17 and included a document schedule requesting, among other items, materials about county-employee classifications for certain sheriff’s office or jail staff and minutes of commission meetings where the county contends it voted to assume responsibility for providing courthouse security.
On the same day, the sheriff asked the court to continue a then-scheduled Dec. 17 bench trial date to the next term, stating that plaintiff’s counsel had recently experienced a death in the family and that defense counsel did not oppose a continuance.
As the mid-December setting approached, both sides filed witness and exhibit lists. The sheriff’s trial witness list included Melvin Turner, Lashonda Brown, Claudine Heard, Ruby Walker and Beverly Gordon, along with any defense witnesses and rebuttal witnesses, and his exhibit list referenced applicable statutes, judicial authorities and the county employee handbook.
The defense filed a witness list naming Beverly Gordon, Valerie Lockett, Quentin Jones, Patrick Essex, Debra Billingsley, Albert Turner Jr., and Billy Jones.
In another filing dated Dec. 15, Fikes also asked the court to join the other members of the county commission as parties, arguing that because Turner was the only commission member currently named as a defendant, the remaining commissioners were needed for complete relief. The motion sought to add commissioners Anthony Long, Thomas B. Harrison, Barbara Howze, and Carlton Lewis.
The Dec. 19 order does not address the merits of the sheriff’s claims or the county’s defenses, but it indicates the case will proceed to a trial setting and that the parties agreed to a schedule for filing remaining exhibits.
