IAPE Evidence Blog

Dothan Eagle, Tech­nol­ogy Mar­ket­ing Corp., tmcnet.com

Link to Article

New­ton, AL

NEWTON, Oct 14, 2011 (Dothan Eagle — McClatchy-Tribune Infor­ma­tion Ser­vices via COMTEX) — Multiple pieces of evi­dence, includ­ing drugs, were taken from New­ton Police Depart­ment some­time between Thurs­day night and Fri­day morn­ing dur­ing a bur­glary, accord­ing to authorities.

An inves­ti­ga­tion by the depart­ment, Dale County Sheriff’s Office, and Alabama Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion was under­way through much of Fri­day as author­i­ties fol­lowed up on poten­tial leads.

New­ton Police Chief John Beist­line declined to com­ment pend­ing fur­ther inves­ti­ga­tion. New­ton Mayor Ted Stan­ford said the depart­ment was in the process of tak­ing inven­tory Fri­day, but that mul­ti­ple pieces of evi­dence appeared taken, includ­ing drugs.

It was not imme­di­ately released what kind of weapons — if any — were taken in the burglary.

Stan­ford said offi­cers work on call through­out the night but that the town does not oper­ate the police department’s office full-time.

“We’ve tried at one point to have offi­cers inside the depart­ment at all times but we’ve not been able to with our income down as much as it is because of the econ­omy,” Stan­ford said.

“This is one inci­dent, how­ever. We just have to fix it and move on.”

- — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — -
Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

Birm­ing­ham News (Alabama)
BYLINE: VICTORIA CUMBOW and BRIAN LAWSON The Huntsville Times

Madi­son County, AL

A vet­eran court reporter in Madi­son County Cir­cuit Court has been arrested on charges stem­ming from miss­ing evi­dence at the courthouse.

Shawn Gra­ham was arrested last Thurs­day and charged with four felony counts of second-degree theft of prop­erty and five mis­de­meanor counts of inter­fer­ing with judi­cial pro­ceed­ings, accord­ing to the Madi­son County Sheriff’s Office.

Pre­sid­ing Cir­cuit Court Judge Karen Hall stressed Wednes­day that the evi­dence allegedly found in Graham’s pos­ses­sion dates back some 10 years and is not related to any ongo­ing cases.

Gra­ham, who has resigned his posi­tion, was a court reporter under Madi­son County Dis­trict Judge Den­nis O’Dell.

He had worked for recently retired Cir­cuit Judge Loyd Lit­tle for 14 years.

A court reporter tran­scribes a trial record, but also han­dles evi­dence intro­duced dur­ing tri­als and trans­ports and pre­serves evi­dence in stor­age after trials.

The charges involve ”inap­pro­pri­ate activ­ity regard­ing the cir­cuit court’s evi­dence room,” said sheriff’s Inves­ti­ga­tor Chad Brooks.

”Shawn Gra­ham is a fine man and he is a fine court reporter and I don’t know a sin­gle attor­ney in town who doesn’t like that guy,” Graham’s attor­ney Patrick Tuten said.

Hall said the prob­lem that led to Graham’s arrest was dis­cov­ered dur­ing a cleanup of evi­dence rooms. The cour­t­house has some evi­dence dat­ing back decades that had been the respon­si­bil­ity of now-retired court reporters, Hall said.

Each court reporter is respon­si­ble for evi­dence in the court­room where he or she works, and each has an indi­vid­ual stor­age area that can­not be gen­er­ally accessed. Evi­dence remains in their stor­age area if a case is not appealed. If a case is appealed, the evi­dence becomes the respon­si­bil­ity of the cir­cuit clerk’s office and stored separately.

Dur­ing the cleanup, the court reporters and the clerk’s office worked together, Hall said. Last week, Cir­cuit Clerk Jane Smith noticed some items miss­ing from her stor­age area and an inves­ti­ga­tion was requested. Gra­ham was arrested a few days later.

- — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — -
Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

Huntsville Times (Alabama), LOCAL NEWS; Pg. 1A
BYLINE: Vic­to­ria Cum­bow & Brian Law­son, Times Staff Writers

Madi­son County, AL

A vet­eran court reporter in Madi­son County Cir­cuit Court has been arrested on charges stem­ming from miss­ing evi­dence at the courthouse.

Shawn Gra­ham was arrested last Thurs­day and charged with four felony counts of second-degree theft of prop­erty and five mis­de­meanor counts of inter­fer­ing with judi­cial pro­ceed­ings, accord­ing to the Madi­son County Sheriff’s Office.

Pre­sid­ing Cir­cuit Court Judge Karen Hall stressed Wednes­day that the evi­dence allegedly found in Graham’s pos­ses­sion dates back some 10 years and is not related to any ongo­ing cases.

Gra­ham, who has resigned his posi­tion, was a court reporter under Madi­son County Dis­trict Judge Den­nis O’Dell.

He had worked for recently retired Cir­cuit Judge Loyd Lit­tle for 14 years.

A court reporter tran­scribes a trial record but also han­dles evi­dence intro­duced dur­ing tri­als and trans­ports and pre­serves evi­dence in stor­age after trials.

The charges involve “inap­pro­pri­ate activ­ity regard­ing the cir­cuit court’s evi­dence room,” said sheriff’s Inves­ti­ga­tor Chad Brooks.

“Shawn Gra­ham is a fine man and he is a fine court reporter and I don’t know a sin­gle attor­ney in town who doesn’t like that guy,” Graham’s attor­ney Patrick Tuten said.

Hall said the prob­lem that led to Graham’s arrest was dis­cov­ered dur­ing a cleanup of evi­dence rooms. The cour­t­house has some evi­dence dat­ing back decades that had been the respon­si­bil­ity of now-retired court reporters, Hall said.

Each court reporter is respon­si­ble for evi­dence in the court­room where he or she works, and each has an indi­vid­ual stor­age area that can­not be gen­er­ally accessed. Evi­dence remains in their stor­age area if a case is not appealed. If a case is appealed, the evi­dence becomes the respon­si­bil­ity of the cir­cuit clerk’s office and is stored separately.

Dur­ing the cleanup, the court reporters and the clerk’s office worked together, Hall said. Last week, Cir­cuit Clerk Jane Smith noticed some items miss­ing from her stor­age area, and an inves­ti­ga­tion was requested. Gra­ham was arrested a few days later.

Hall said the judges and cour­t­house staff who know Gra­ham were sad­dened and shocked by the arrest.

“The evi­dence at the Madi­son County Cour­t­house is secure,” Hall said. “Each room has its own sep­a­rate lock, and the poli­cies and pro­ce­dures regard­ing access to those rooms have been revis­ited since Mr. Graham’s arrest.”

- — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — -
Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org