Read the response to Department of Justice allegations from Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson’s attorney here.
Regarding DOJ’s allegation that Johnson set up checkpoints targeting Latinos, attorney Chuck Kitchen responds:
Here again you make allegations of misconduct which are at odds with the facts. If the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office were indeed making arrests instead of giving tickets to Spanish speaking persons, why would the deputies give out 237 citations and 226 verbal warnings to Spanish speaking people with only 226 arrests as was done in 2011? If indeed there were any truth to your allegations, the numbers should be reversed with an overwhelming number of Spanish speaking people being arrested and very few being cited.
Kitchen added that Johnson “does not believe a negotiated settlement with the DOJ is necessary or advisable.” So the ball is now in DOJ’s court; let’s see how they push it. At issue, however, is whether or not Alamance County will spend the money to defend Johnson should DOJ take him to court.
