A trial date was set on Friday for the trial to determine whether Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert should be removed from her position due to an alleged willful neglect for her official duties.
Tennessee 30th Circuit Judge Felicia Corbin-Johnson set Halbert’s trial date for August 26. Halbert will additionally appear in court on June 25, according to The Commercial Appeal, which reported that Corbin-Johnson will determine whether the clerk should be suspended from the job for the duration of the trial on that date.
During the Friday court appearance, Corbin-Johnson additionally declined the previous motion to dismiss submitted by Halbert’s attorney, Darrel O’Neal.
Corbin-Johnson questioned Wamp about whether the motion to dismiss was appropriate for a legal proceeding to oust an elected official, but ultimately dismissed Halbert’s motion to dismiss without prejudice, meaning she can refile it at a later date.
Halbert has since filed a response to Wamp’s petition for her removal. In her Monday afternoon response, Halbert reportedly claimed Wamp’s petition fails “to demonstrate a ‘mental attitude of indifference to consequences or failure to take advantage of means of knowledge of the rights, duties or powers of a public office holder.”
According to Halbert’s filing, “The state is essentially accusing defendant Halbert of simple negligence and attempting to cloak said simple negligence as ‘willful neglect.'”
The charges against Halbert were brought by Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp after Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy recused himself from the case.
Underscoring the rarity of the proceedings, Wamp reportedly acknowledged on Friday, “We’ve seen very few of these across the state in the last 100 years, and even fewer that have been brought by a district attorney general.”
Wamp’s 49-page petition, submitted to the court in early May, accuses Halbert of mishandling her office by allowing license plate renewal times to slow to a crawl, paperwork for car dealerships and sales of automobiles that formerly took hours to take weeks, failing to preserve physical locations for office buildings, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, and closing her office under the guise of addressing a backlog while actually vacationing in Jamaica.
While Halbert has yet to decide if she will opt for a jury trial or allow the judge to make her own ruling, a jury would likely be comprised of Shelby County residents who have experienced the alleged slowdowns at the County Clerk’s office.
Corbin-Johnson nonetheless explained she has little interests in arguments about selecting jurors from another county, with Fox 13 reporting she declared the citizens of Shelby County “more than capable” of judging Halbert.
Halbert’s attorney previously confirmed their motion to dismiss did not address the facts of the case, but rather whether it was appropriate and filed correctly.
The Shelby County Clerk has maintained her innocence, declaring in a May 14 press conference with her lawyer that she would not “apologize for not operating outside of the law.” Halbert also reiterated her claims that the Shelby County Clerk’s office should receive the majority, if not all, of the $12-$15 million it receives annually.
Before the suspension hearing was confirmed, Halbert previously said she would “absolutely not” resign from her post.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Wanda Halbert” by Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert. Background Photo “Courtroom” by Carol M. Highsmith Archive.
