Bayou La Batre Mayor Brett Dungan is appealing a harassment conviction stemming from a heated confrontation with a city councilwoman, with his attorney filing notice of appeal immediately after a Mobile County District Court judge issued the guilty verdict.
“We filed a notice of appeal before we left the courtroom,” said Dungan’s attorney, Michael Hickman, who said he expects the case to move to Mobile County Circuit Court for a new trial before a jury — a step known as a trial de novo.
“We’ll do it all over again — we’ll have an arraignment, a status hearing,” Hickman said. “He realizes that this is just part of the process.”
The case stemmed from a May 14 Bayou La Batre City Council meeting, where Dungan and Councilwoman Annette Johnson clashed during a heated exchange. Deputies with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office later arrested Dungan in connection with the incident. Evidence submitted to the court included photographs showing bruising on Johnson’s arm and a cracked table, which Johnson said resulted from the confrontation. Audio from the meeting captured Johnson telling Dungan to keep his hands off her.
Johnson said after the verdict that she planned to keep her distance from the mayor going forward but expressed confidence that a jury would reach the same conclusion as District Court Judge Bob Sherling. She said her focus remained on the city’s finances and day-to-day operations, adding that the council could not afford to be distracted from getting the city’s bills paid.
Because the charge is a misdemeanor, the conviction does not affect Dungan’s status as mayor while the appeal proceeds. A timeline for the case’s move to Circuit Court had not been set as of the appeal filing.
The episode added friction to the small Mobile County fishing town’s local government, where Dungan and members of the council have periodically clashed over city business in recent years.