Clarke County Sheriff William Ray Norris has resigned, days before he was scheduled to answer impeachment charges before the Alabama Supreme Court.
Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Wednesday that Norris submitted his resignation to Gov. Kay Ivey on May 24, with the departure taking effect June 1. The state’s high court had ordered Norris to appear on June 2 to answer a two-count information of impeachment.
How the Case Developed
Marshall filed an Information of Impeachment and Prayer for Ouster against Norris with the Alabama Supreme Court on April 27. According to the attorney general’s office, its investigation began in early 2020 and led to the decision to seek the sheriff’s removal from office. Norris was charged with four instances of corruption in office and eleven instances of committing crimes involving moral turpitude.
Because impeachment proceedings exist to determine whether an officeholder is unfit to serve, Marshall concluded in a court filing that the resignation supersedes the pending case. If the Alabama Supreme Court agrees that the resignation nullifies the proceedings, the case is expected to be dismissed once the resignation takes effect.
Criminal Charges Still Possible
Marshall indicated the matter may not be closed. “It is more important than ever that the public be able to trust elected officials, especially when they occupy leadership positions within law enforcement,” he said. “It was my judgment that Sheriff Norris could no longer be trusted as a public servant or as a law enforcement official, and his resignation should be a welcome relief to the public.”
The attorney general added that the resignation “does not foreclose the possibility that criminal charges will be filed against him.”
Marshall credited his office’s Special Prosecutions Division and thanked several agencies for assisting, including the Alabama Securities Commission, the Investigations Division of the Alabama Department of Revenue, the FBI’s Mobile Field Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.