Alabama publisher charged over report on grand jury investigation

Atmore News publisher Sherry Digmon and reporter Don Fletcher filed a federal lawsuit against the district attorney, sheriff and various deputies in Escambia County, Alabama, on Nov. 22, 2024. They allege that their arrests in October 2023 for reporting on and publishing information from a “sham” grand jury investigation violated their constitutional rights.

According to the complaint, the felony charges against the journalists, later dismissed by the Alabama attorney general, “targeted their First Amendment right to publish news on issues of public concern.”

The suit seeks $75,000 in damages. It argues that the arrests were retaliatory and had a chilling effect, and that the government officials colluded to retaliate against critics of then-School Superintendent Michele McClung. District Attorney Stephen Billy also attempted to impeach Digmon from her position on the county school board and seized her phone.

School board member Cindy Jackson and board payroll supervisor Veronica “Ashley” Fore, whose cellphones were also seized, are plaintiffs in the suit as well.

Fletcher reported in October 2023 on a subpoena issued to Fore for information on COVID-19 relief fund payments to school board members. Billy maintained, as the basis for arresting Fore, Digmon, and Fletcher, that the subpoena was confidential “grand-jury evidence.”

The journalists argue in their complaint that there is no evidence to suggest that the subpoena was confidential or that a grand jury investigation had been initiated at the time.

The suit also claims that both Fore and Digmon were strip-searched and ordered to shower in a room with the door open, visible to passersby.

Digmon was arrested twice more in the following months — in November for selling advertisement space in Atmore News to the board, which Billy claimed was an ethics violation, and in February 2024 “to reprocess her after Billy had reduced her bond on his own initiative,” the complaint says.

That month, Billy recused himself from the journalists’ case and dismissed the impeachment case against Digmon because the “successful prosecution of her pending felony cases would have the same result as impeachment,” according to the journalists’ complaint.

The arrests caused the plaintiffs financial, mental and emotional damage, as well as “a lasting fear of speaking out against those in power,” the complaint says. “Plaintiffs now know they must weigh the benefit of speaking out against the misuse of governmental power against the very real chance that they could be punished for doing so.”

All criminal charges against Atmore News publisher Sherry Digmon and reporter Don Fletcher were dismissed on April 19, 2024, multiple outlets reported.

The Alabama journalists were arrested in October 2023 and each charged with a felony — Fletcher for reporting and Digmon for publishing an article on an ongoing grand jury investigation related to school board funds. They were placed under a prior restraint as a condition of bail.

Escambia County District Attorney Stephen Billy initially brought the charges, but later recused himself from prosecuting their cases, citing personal and legal conflicts of interest, WEAR-TV reported. The Alabama attorney general’s office then took over the case and in April requested that all charges be dismissed, according to AL.com.

An Alabama circuit judge agreed to the request and entered orders of dismissal for Fletcher, Digmon and a bookkeeper for the county school system, Veronica “Ashley” Fore, who had been charged with leaking grand jury information to the media.

Fletcher told WEAR-TV that the case had hurt him reputationally and financially, and accused Billy of abusing the power of his office.

“We’re just glad that these folks are able to get back to doing their job,” Earnest White, an attorney representing Fletcher and Digmon, told the Tracker. He speculated that the attorney general had dismissed the charges once “they realized it was just political.”

White criticized the district attorney, saying of his recusal, “Whatever conflicts he had, … he had the same conflicts before he indicted these people.”

Atmore News publisher Sherry Digmon and reporter Don Fletcher have been placed under a prior restraint as a condition of bail set on Oct. 30, 2023, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

The two were arrested in Atmore, Alabama, on Oct. 27, and each charged with a felony — Fletcher for reporting and Digmon for publishing on an ongoing grand jury investigation related to school board funds.

In the signed orders that followed their initial court appearance, both journalists were directed to have “no communication about ongoing criminal investigations, including school board matter.”

No such order was included in the bail agreement for Veronica “Ashley” Fore — a bookkeeper for the county school system who was charged with leaking grand jury information to the media.

Earnest White, an attorney representing Fletcher and Digmon, told the Tracker he has advised them not to publish any additional grand jury information to ensure that the judge does not revoke their bail.

Freedom of the Press Foundation — which oversees the operation of the Tracker — condemned the arrests of Fletcher and Digmon and called on the district attorney to drop the charges against them.

“The problem is that Alabama’s grand jury secrecy statute prohibits grand jurors, witnesses and others directly involved in grand jury proceedings from disclosing information about a grand jury,” the press release stated. “It does not — and under the First Amendment, cannot — codify a prior restraint that bars the press from disclosing grand jury information it obtains from a source.”