A Bay Minette man facing theft and tax charges is asking a Baldwin County circuit judge to hold a hearing on his request to have the district attorney’s office removed from his case, after he accused DA Hallie Dixon of using her position improperly.
Edward Bushaw, 54, filed a motion this week seeking to bar Dixon and her office from prosecuting him, alleging in court papers that she used her role as the county’s chief prosecutor to pursue a personal relationship with an employee and then retaliated against that employee once the relationship ended. Bushaw has now asked Circuit Judge Joseph Norton to schedule a hearing so the allegations in his motion can be argued on their merits, though no date has been set.
Dixon’s office responded this week, calling the motion baseless and asking that it be thrown out. Separately, Dixon has acknowledged that a complaint was filed against her with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, though she has declined to discuss what the complaint alleges.
Bushaw is best known locally as the founder of the culinary arts program at Faulkner State Community College. He was indicted in the spring of 2013 on multiple charges, including second-degree property theft, attempting to evade state sales taxes, and three counts of misusing his official position for personal benefit. Prosecutors have accused him of using school resources for his own gain while running the program.
Bushaw maintains he is innocent of the underlying charges and is scheduled to stand trial in early October. His attempt to have Dixon’s office disqualified adds another layer to a case that has already drawn attention in Bay Minette’s legal community, where both the culinary school controversy and the DA’s office now face separate scrutiny.
For now, the case sits in a holding pattern: prosecutors want the recusal motion dismissed outright, while Bushaw is pushing for his day in court to make the case in person before Judge Norton decides how to proceed.