DECATUR - One of Atlanta's top defense lawyers has joined the legal team defending former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who is accused of ordering the murder of the man who defeated his 2000 re-election bid.
Don Samuel will join fellow Atlanta lawyer Brian Steel to defend Dorsey, who also faces state corruption and racketeering charges. Atlanta lawyer Dwight Thomas will no longer represent Dorsey, Steel said Monday.
Samuel, 48, has defended NFL star Ray Lewis in the Super Bowl stabbings; T.J. Solomon, accused in the Heritage High School shootings; and the Gold Club's chief financial officer.
On Monday, the state's key witness against Dorsey and two other men accused of killing Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown, said he would give up his immunity deal and go to prison if two of his alleged accomplices would admit their guilt.
Former jailer Patrick Cuffy finished three days on the witness stand in the murder trial of David Ramsey and Melvin Walker. Dorsey will be tried later.
Cuffy, who was given immunity in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors, said Ramsey and Walker were with him when Brown was gunned down late Dec. 15, 2000, in a hit ordered by Dorsey.
``I'm saying I'm willing to give up my immunity deal right here and now,'' Cuffy angrily declared at the end of 11.5 hours of cross examination. ``It's not a piece of cake for me to see them over there ... I'm just as guilty.''
Defense attorneys say Cuffy is a liar who made a deal to save himself. He was charged last year in a separate slaying near his home, but murder charges were dropped when he agreed to cooperate in the Brown case.
Prosecutors say Walker, Ramsey, Cuffy and another associate, Paul Skyers, carefully plotted the assassination under Dorsey's direction. Walker is the alleged triggerman.
Skyers also has immunity in exchange for his cooperation.
Attorney Xavier Dicks, who represents Ramsey, asked Cuffy if there is anyone else who could corroborate his account of the conspiracy and killing of the former sheriff-elect.
``The people who can give an account truthfully are your client, Melvin Walker, and David Ramsey,'' Cuffy said. ``If they will stand up and say Cuffy is telling the truth, I am willing to do time with them.''
Brown was shot to death in his driveway after a campaign in which he pledged to clean up corruption in the sheriff's office. He also planned to fire 38 employees, many of them hired by Dorsey.
Friday
May 23rd, 2025
11:34PM
