Mobile County License Commissioner Kim Hastie and her husband, John, are no longer facing federal charges after a judge dismissed the last count still hanging over the couple this week.
U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose granted a motion from federal prosecutors to drop the remaining tax fraud charge, ending a case that had already worked its way through a lengthy corruption trial and a subsequent mistrial on the tax counts. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown said that since a jury had already cleared Hastie of all but one of the original public corruption charges, further pursuit of the related tax evasion count was not in the interest of justice.
The dismissal clears the way for Hastie to keep her current office and, come October, take over as head of the newly restructured Mobile County Revenue Commission, a position she won in a county election last fall.
The case had a long and winding path. In May, DuBose declared a mistrial after jurors could not reach a verdict on the tax fraud allegations, which centered on claims the Hasties failed to report roughly $58,600 in income the IRS said came from land transactions and timber and land-clearing work. A month before that, a separate jury acquitted Kim Hastie of sixteen of seventeen public corruption charges, convicting her on a single lesser count tied to the improper release of a list of driver’s license holders. That list had reportedly been used by a mayoral campaign during a prior city election. Hastie’s deputy was acquitted of all corruption counts she faced in the same trial.
Attorneys for both Hasties said the tax charge never fit comfortably within the broader case to begin with, arguing federal tax allegations are typically handled through IRS channels rather than folded into a public corruption indictment. With the final charge now dismissed, the couple’s years-long legal fight appears to be over, though it remains to be seen whether the case will have any lasting effect on Hastie’s transition into her new elected role overseeing county revenue collection.