Key witness in DeKalb sheriff's death is shot in Virgin Islands

<p>A former DeKalb County sheriff's deputy who was the key witness in trials involving the 2000 assassination of Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown was shot and wounded while working a nightclub security job in the Virgin Islands, authorities said Monday.</p><p>Patrick Cuffy had asked a patron to leave Club Passion on the island of St. Croix and was outside early Sunday when he heard a popping sound and realized he had been shot, said Shawna Richards, a spokeswoman for the Virgin Islands Police Department.</p><p>"It was a single gunshot wound to the right side of the neck," Richards told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She said Cuffy was hospitalized in stable condition.</p><p>Cuffy was given immunity for his testimony in the shooting of Brown in his driveway on Dec. 15, 2000, three days before he was to be sworn in as sheriff. His testimony helped convict former Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who is serving life in prison.</p><p>Cuffy testified that he, Paul Skyers, former Deputy Melvin Walker and David Ramsey killed Brown on Dorsey's orders. Cuffy said he was the armed lookout in the shooting, while Skyers _ also granted immunity _ said he was the getaway driver.</p><p>The defense argued that Cuffy and Skyers were the real killers and that the two were accusing Walker and Ramsey to save themselves.</p><p>Walker and Ramsey were acquitted in a DeKalb County trial but later convicted of conspiracy to violate the federal murder-for-hire statute, firearms crimes, and using interstate facilities to kill Brown.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd9eec)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/5/123921