By Ray King
A current Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy has filed a lawsuit against Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson and three unnamed individuals, alleging he was slandered by statements Robinson made to a Little Rock television station last year.
The lawsuit was filed by Courtney Kelly on April 4 and is seeking damages for mental anguish and “extreme emotional distress,” as well as punitive damages “to punish defendant Gerald Robinson for his conduct and to deter other persons from engaging in the same or similar conduct that causes harm to another person’s reputation and that causes money losses and damages, adverse health effects, mental anguish and extreme emotional distress.”
Kelly is a Sergeant at the sheriff’s department and the lawsuit alleges that between April 5 and 6, 2022, Robinson was interviewed by a reporter for KATV Channel 7 and claimed that Kelly had stolen work time from the sheriff’s office while working security at CARTI which was under construction in 2021.
It went on to claim that an internal investigation by the sheriff’s office said the allegations were not true, saying there was no overlap of work hours between the two jobs. However, a report dated April 19, 2021 by then Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Joseph Gorman determined that there was overlap between the two jobs and recommended Kelly be suspended for five days and be prohibited from working off-duty for one year.
That report was included in a package of documents alleging misconduct against a number of deputies that was presented during a hearing for Tri-County Drug Task Force Investigator Joseph O’Neal, who was fired by Sheriff Lafayette Woods and appealed that firing to the Quorum Court which agreed that O’Neal was not given due process and recommended he be reinstated.
