Judge Michael T. Jones

With the retirement of Judge Mike Suttle, Judge Mike Jones has become the presiding jurist in the Lauderdale County court system. One would expect any judge to be criticized no matter the nature of his rulings; however, Judge Jones has recently been raked over the legal coals for accepting a plea bargain in the Shaun Shapley case.

Shapley, a resident of the small town of Lexington, murdered his 17 year-old stepdaughter in 2008. The murder ostensibly occurred during an attempted rape. DNA testing proved Shapley to be the father of two children belonging to the victim's older sister. Previously, Shapley had been charged with violence against women in his home state of Florida and his former residence of Huntsville, Alabama.

A murder committed during the commission of another crime is categorized as a capital offense--in other words, Shapley at the very least should have been subject to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Instead, Judge Mike Jones sentenced the convicted felon to a term of 25 years. A Class A felony, this conviction will allow Shapley to be eligible for parole after 15 years. Obviously many in Lauderdale County and the entire Shoals area have been outraged by this sentence.

Several, both in the legal and private communities, have made their displeasure known in the Courthouse Fourm: http://www.courthouseforum.com/forums/forum.php?id=6617

Jones' overall grade as a jurist is a C, but perhaps even more telling are the related comments. There is a strong thread of alleged racism in the criticism of Jones, as well as other enlightening remarks from the legal community concerning his performance. This forum is relatively new and has not become well-known in the Shoals area until now. I encourage anyone having contact with any courts in our area to rate the local judiciary. It will then be up to the voters to weigh the merits of those comments.

Tomorrow: Judge Jimmy Sandlin