NCIS OFFICER ON LEAVE PENDING PROBE

The area drug enforcement officer at the center of a multi-million
dollar lawsuit stemming from the fatal shooting of a Lavonia pastor
last September has been placed on administrative leave.

A civil lawsuit filed last week in federal district court by Abigail
Ayers, widow of Jonathan Ayers, raised the question of whether drug
agent Billy Shane Harrison was a sworn peace officer at the time he
shot Ayers in Toccoa on Sept. 1, 2009.

"On March 16, I was notified by WSB-TV that Ken Vance, the director of
the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) council, had given an
interview in which director Vance said that on Sept. 1, 2009, the day
Jonathan Ayers was shot in Toccoa, deputy sheriff Billy Shane Harrison
did not have the law enforcement power of arrest," said Mountain
Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brian Rickman last week.

"Mr. Vance said that there was an issue whereby Billy Shane Harrison
did not have the requisite amount of training hours required by POST
rules and regulations and Georgia state law."

Harrison, was detached to the Mountain Judicial Circuit Narcotics
Criminal Investigation and Suppression (NCIS) team at the time of the
incident.

"Contained within the investigative file of the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation, as turned over to the district attorney's office and
subsequently released under the Georgia Open Records Act, are various
training records and an investigative summary concerning an interview
conducted by a GBI agent with a POST investigator during the course of
the investigation into the shooting death of Jonathan Ayers.

In that interview, which was a part of the investigative file relied
upon by the GBI and the district attorney's office, the POST
investigator is reported to have told the GBI in part that Billy Shane
Harrison was a certified officer, actively employed, with no
investigations.

"It is unclear at this point if this issue was later discovered by
POST, or if somehow this statement was not meant to convey that which
it seemed upon its face," Rickman said.

"What I am doing is trying to investigate it and find out," said NCIS
team commander Kyle Bryant said last week, when asked about Harrison's
certification. "I'm working with the folks who have the [training]
records - other departments - and I'm trying work with the folks at
POST."

"This has created an issue that must be addressed," Rickman said. "The
district attorney's office is making inquiry into this matter in an
attempt to determine exactly what the status was as to Billy Shane
Harrison's training requirements on Sept. 1, 2009, and what the status
is now

"This is important for two reasons. First, this should be examined to
determine what, if any, legal effect this issue would have on the
Jonathan Ayers case," Rickman said.

"Second, to determine what, if any, legal effect this issue would have
upon any pending criminal cases in which Billy Shane Harrison was
involved as a law enforcement officer," he said.

"This office will attempt to move as expeditiously as possible,"
Rickman said. "Once the facts are gathered and some definitive answers
obtained, this office will consult with (Gwinnett County) district
attorney Danny Porter and district attorney emeritus Mike Crawford,
the two outside district attorneys that assisted in the Ayers case."
Rickman said.

"The purpose of such consultation will be to determine what, if any,
legal impact this issue has with respect to the Ayers case," he said.

Citing pending litigation and an ongoing investigation of the
certification issue, Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell said it
would be inappropriate for him to comment at this time.

Harrison remains on administrative leave, "just until we get it worked
out," Bryant said last week.