FORMER FAYETTE SHERIFF RELEASED

James Turner, the former Fayette County sheriff who pleaded guilty in
1998 to extorting money from a drug dealer, has been released from
federal prison into a Montgomery halfway house.

Turner was placed in Bannum Place in Montgomery on Nov. 5 and is
scheduled for release from custody on May 2, 2004, to return to the
general population.

Turner and deputy Todd Strickland were charged with two counts of
conspiracy and accepting illegal payments from a drug dealer during a
two-year period leading up to their 1998 indictment.

Federal prosecutors said Turner and Strickland extorted "protection"
money from Darrell Rogers, who they said was a known methamphetamine
drug dealer. The two arranged payoff drops and gave Rogers information
about law enforcement activities, the indictment said.

Turner, 58, pleaded guilty in August 1998 and was sentenced to seven
years in federal prison. He began his sentence at a federal
correctional institution in Yazoo City, Miss., on Jan. 5, 1999, and
was transferred to a facility in Talladega on Aug. 26, 2002.

While a resident of Bannum Place, Turner will be allowed to leave to
seek employment, said Jama Acuff, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau
of Prisons.

After proving their trustworthiness, halfway house residents are
sometimes allowed to leave in the evening to spend time with their
families, but they have a curfew. Near the end of their stay, some
halfway house residents are allowed to return home but must wear
monitoring devices on their ankles, Acuff said.

Because there is no parole, federal prisoners earn 54 days of credit
for good behavior each year if they have no disciplinary problems,
Acuff said. This is why Turner is scheduled for release after he will
have served just more than five years in custody.

Strickland was incarcerated at a correctional facility in Edgefield,
S.C., from Feb. 16, 1999, to Sept. 18, 2001. He spent three months in
a Birmingham halfway house and three months in home confinement before
his release on March 1, 2002.

Turner was elected sheriff in 1990, a year after Fayette County
Sheriff Hubert Norris resigned as part of a plea agreement with
federal authorities. Under the agreement, Norris admitted to
racketeering and tax evasion charges in connection with accusations
that he accepted bribes from bootleggers.

Norris was released in 1992 after served 32 months in prison and was
elected sheriff again last year. Attorney General Bill Pryor attempted
to remove Norris from office this year, arguing that his 1989
conviction precluded him from serving. But the Alabama Supreme Court
ruled in Norris' favor in October.