Ex-Limestone County Sheriff turns himself in at the Franklin County Jail

FRANKLIN CO., Ala. (WAFF) - Former Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely turned himself in at the Franklin County Jail Friday evening, marking the beginning of his three-year sentence.

Blakely’s legal team filed a new petition seeking to overturn his convictions Friday morning.

The over 100-page Rule 32 petition claims the conviction was “obtained by (a) judge not authorized to practice law in the State of Alabama. This was unknown until after the trial concluded.”

The petition filed in Limestone County Circuit Court goes on to say “it’s clear Judge Baschab did not have authority to preside over the case. Therefore, the convictions, as well as sentencing order, are void.”

Nick Lough, a member of the Blakely legal team, talked to WAFF Reporter Matthew King shortly after filing the petition.

“We’ve had to wait some time to file this,” Lough said. “We had to have the appellate process go through some other steps before we got to this point.”

When asked why the petition was filed the same day Blakely was scheduled to head to jail, Lough said unrelated matters delayed the filing until Friday.

“I talked to Mike Blakely a few minutes ago and he is in high spirits today,” Lough continued. “This is just the next step in this story.”

The former Sheriff posted to social media for a final time on Friday morning before heading to the jail.

He was the Sheriff for 38 years until he was convicted of felony theft and ethics charges after a weeks-long trial in August 2021. Blakely was found guilty of stealing campaign donations and using county funds as personal loans.

In 2019, Blakely faced over a dozen charges but a Limestone County jury cleared him of all the charges except two.

His legal team exhausted almost every route to keep him out of jail. Blakely appealed his conviction all the way to the Alabama Supreme Court but his attempts failed.

Ultimately, his conviction and sentence remain in place. Blakely will serve his three-year sentence in the Franklin County Jail instead of prison due to his years in law enforcement.

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