Attorneys for Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill notified the judge in his pending racketeering case on Thursday that they will not ask that he remove himself because of any “known” conflicts of interest.
Last Friday, Clayton Superior Court Judge Albert Collier detailed for prosecutors and defense attorneys his connections to both sides of the case should they believe he had a conflict of interest. Collier said the case would not go to trial on Aug. 5 if either side declined to waive raising objections. Prosecutors waived raising any objections on Friday and Hill’s defense team on Thursday told the judge they, too, waived objections to “any known conflicts” Collier might have.
Collier said in court last week that he sings in the choir with District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson and is in the same Sunday School class at the First Baptist Church of Jonesboro as the DA’s husband. Collier also said Hill’s office is responsible for the security of the judge, his staff and the courthouse and that Collier, when he was an assistant DA, often worked cases with Hill when the sheriff was a homicide detective.
Hill is charged with 32 felony counts that include racketeering, theft by taking, influencing a witness, making a false statement and violating his oath of office. The charges are that he used his office for personal gain when he was sheriff 2005 until the end of 2008.
Hill was re-elected to the office in last year’s elections despite the pending criminal case.
