Former Centre Attorney Rodney Stallings was handed a Guilty Verdict late Tuesday afternoon on Count 2 of his indictment which states that Stallings knowingly obtained by deception control over more than $2,500 from the State’s Fair Trial Tax Fund.
It took the jury only twelve minutes to complete their deliberations – Cherokee County Circuit Court Judge Shaunathan Bell will Sentence Stallings’ on January 6th.
Until that time Stallings’ was ordered into custody and is currently in the Cherokee County Detention Center without bond.
Stallings had entered a not guilty plea and was being defended by attorney’s Al Shumaker and Clint Eubanks.
The verdict comes after the Attorney General’s Criminal Trials Division presented evidence to a grand jury back on February 26th (2014) – which resulted in an indictment being filed the following day.
That case centers on Stallings’ alleged theft from the State of Alabama’s Indigent Defense Fund; specifically the indictment charges Stallings with one count of First Degree Theft by Unauthorized Control of more than $2,500 from the State of Alabama’s Fair Trial Tax Fund and one count of First Degree Theft by
Deception of more than $2,500 from the State’s Fair Trial Tax Fund. The charges filed involved more than 246 cases and in excess of $328,000 deceptively paid to Stallings’.
The State had continued to present their case at rested at around 2:00 Tuesday – the Defense likewise rested their case, with no witnesses being called –before the jury reached its verdict.
Cherokee County District Attorney Mike O’Dell had these comments following the trial.
