Patrick Cuffy News Today

>> paul skyers testified that derwin brown was assassinated to pave the way for sidney dorseys comeback. the four co-conspirators, he said, were all promised promotions for killing brown. >> it was a very demented understanding and very irrational. but he believed that there would be a special election in which he could retake his office. >> full weight of the evidence against these two guys brought in the conspiracy that sid dorsey ordered it, brought in patrick cuffy, who was their star witnes...

Newspapers called a wild west shootout in his suburban atlanta front yard. cuffy had be ex-sheriff dorseys right-hand man and worked in dorseys private security firm and he was one of the deputies that derwin brown planned to fire. police had been watching cuffy for months. >> cuffy was, himself, kind of like a mini cult leader within the sheriffs office. when the police were able to fixate on cuffy, that led to them being able to see if they could solve the derwin brown assassination by making ...

Death benefits. >> there was an almost seven-day gap where technically he was unemployed as an officer. >> so the family sued dekalb county for wrongful death. >> they used county vehicles and county time to assassinate my father. >> the georgia court of appeals found the county was not liable. >> because dorsey was acting outside the scope of his employment as sheriff when he had derwin assassinated, the citizens of dekalb county and the state of georgia are not liable for his criminal actions....

With anyone. >> how dare they. how dare they. >> dorseys team tried to blame it all on patrick cuffy. >> no evidence that sidney dorseys involved and then telling a murderer, we know youre involved, but youll walk out of here if you say the name sidney dorsey. >> the only person who had the motive to kill derwin brown is none other than sidney dorsey, himself. >> and through it all sat phyllis brown, the final witness. >> im sorry. i looked to my left on the ground, and derwin was lying there. >...

Dorsey now says that right after the election, he wrote a note to patrick cuffy saying he should assassinate sheriff-elect, derwin brown. >> apparently, i guess, the only thing to say is he had the same -- he had the same evil within -- in his heart as i did. >> dorsey told the prosecutor that cuffy replied, quote, we are way ahead of you, and ate the note. >> he thinks he made a mistake and wanted someone to say whether his mistake made him a murderer. >> to me thats not really a confession. it...

Outgoing sheriff sidney dorsey was arrested and charged with ordering the ambush and assassination of brown. the man that defeated dorsey in the sheriffs race and with promising promotions to four of his deputies in return for the killing. >> did you do it? did you do it? >> innocent. innocent. >> two of those deputies, melvin walker and david ramsey, were also arrested. unable to crack the case for nearly a year, prosecutors agreed not to charge the other two admitted co-conspirators, patrick c...

An ambulance. people just could not believe it. >> and it was just holy smokes, how did that happen? >> and the jury could not wrap themselves around understanding why these people would do such a horrible act. >> nor could the jury believe patrick cuffy, an admitted liar, or find a clear motive for the murder. >> cuffys story deserved skepticism anyway because he conveniently flipped on sid dorsey when he got into trouble. >> how could anyone kill a sheriff-elect for nothing more than a promoti...

Triggerman and as long as he wasnt the master schemer then she was willing for us to go ahead and make deals with him and skyers so that we could convict the others. >> the indictment charged melvin walker and david ramsey with murder. walker for shooting brown and ramsey, who also worked at ex-sheriff dorseys private security firm, for being the armed lookout ready to kill anyone who intervened. >> walker was the triggerman. and skyers got rid of the gun. and cuffy drove the getaway car. >> cuf...

Interview hundreds of people. >> anyone who was going to be affected by the new administration now needs to be interviewed and accounted for for their activities that evening. >> two grand juries were impanelled. one who investigated the charges of corruption in the former sheriffs office. the other, the murder of derwin brown. >> i cant speak to whats going on in the prosecutors head or primarily what his motives are. my statement to you is that i am not guilty of any form of corruption and i h...

Into the political corruption. they went to the local library. and with the help of the librarian that they went through the stacks and figured out where i lived. and i said, well, mr. cuffy, why didnt you just look in the phonebook? he said, youre in the phonebook? i said, yes, im the only j. tom morgan in the phone book. he said, well, damn, we wasted all that time. right then i knew who am i dealing with? >> but perhaps the most stunning footnote to this story came late in the summer of 2007....