Convicted Former Sheriff Brandon Wants Rights Restored



Convicted Former Sheriff Brandon Wants Rights Restored

Convicted former Cannon County Sheriff Charley Brandon, Jr., at right, is pictured during his 2001 trial. At left is Mike Simmons. Charges against Simmons for Coercion of a Witness and Conspiracy of a Witness were ultimately dismissed.

Convicted felon and former Cannon County Sheriff Charley Brandon, Jr. wants his rights back and he's suing the State of Tennessee to get them.

In a lawsuit filed today, Brandon is asking the Cannon County Circuit Court to give him all of his civil rights back, including the right to vote and seek public office.

Brandon lost his citizenship rights and resigned as sheriff after he was convicted of certain felonies while holding the office of Cannon County Sheriff.  He pled guilty to official misconduct in 2001 in Cannon County and was convicted by a jury that same year in Rutherford County of conspiracy to coerce a witness and coercion of a witness.
 
The convictions came after a lengthy investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation which led to Brandon's indictment on 40 counts of official misconduct, 1 count of sexual battery, 2 counts of tampering with evidence and 1 count of coercion of a witness.

Those charges stemmed from accusations by several female inmates at the Cannon County Jail that Brandon had sex with them while they were incarcerated and that he then attempted to intimidate witnesses involved in the case.

As a result of the indictments, all female inmates were removed from the jail and housed in Rutherford County for almost a year at Cannon County's expense.
 
Brandon received probation and the sentence period has expired. According Brandon, he has sustained the character of a person of "honesty, respectability and veracity, and is generally stemmed as such by his neighbors."

Brandon also says there is no reason why his petition should not be granted.
 
Brandon is represented by Murfreesboro Attorney Darrell Scarlett.  The case will be heard before Circuit Court Judge Royce Taylor on December 6th.

The Cannon Courier will bring you more details on this story as they develop over the next several weeks.