The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-23


 l The above is included in the report
 made by Frank V. Evans. state examiner, into the books and records of Ira De-
 ment, justice of the peace in Beat 22. The report is on file in the office of the criminal court.
 Under exhibit "E' MT. Evans addresses l the judge of the court as follows: q find the following counts against the said Ira Dement,:
 '1 That the absence of exact dates and | of perfect index to cases on his dockets I show that he is either careless and in- i different as to the law, or that he is in- competent.
 "2 That he has wilfully or carelessly
 made false entries on his dockets in the following cases. Case No. 9O1s, Lee Lucas,
 sentenced July 2l, 1909, to hard labor, for 90 days, and it is not of record that
 the said prisoner was ever turned over to the hard labor agent of the county; No. 2266 Ed Bagwell, sentenced to hard
 labor September =, 1911, with note, papers sent to criminal court and no record by the criminal court or hard labor agent.
 5. That ne IdS OUllllcu III O iluihbci
 or cases to show any disposition of such cases docketed by him. A. That he gave full authority to one l w w. Ellard, now deceased, a former constable of said court, to collect in the name of his court, certain sums of money as fine and costs of his court imposed | by him, and for which there is no &C., counting of record
 "5. That he has failed to cause the l imprisonment of any defendants where I jail sentence was by him imposed.
 '.6 That he has compromised cases with prisoners defendant without regard to | the rights of the state or the ends of | justice.
 "7. That in no case has he ever paid into the county treasury any sum of
 money for fines imposed. IS. That he has assessed and collected from prisoners defendant witness fees of record to the amount of $53 with
 no evidence of record that he ever paid any part of such sum to witnesses. ''9 That his dockets show number of open, where the defendants are charged with grave crimes and misdemeanors. no. That he or his constable, or both. have collected fines and costs in the name of his court, for which there is no record of payment on his dockets. '11. That he has collected certain fines without due process of law and made no accounting therefor.
 '12. That the said Ira Dement, is in- debted to the county of Jefferson in the sum of s2461. ST."
 Other Exhibits Made Exhibit "A" consists of the evidence of 20 witnesses, all of whom testified under oath, some of the witnesses being former defendants before Justice Dement,, pay
 masters for several corporations and three
 members of the last grand jury. Exhibit "B' consists of an alleged com plete abstract of each case upon !he dockets for the period through which the examination was carried. Exhibit "C' is a statement of fines all tleged to have been collected by or for Dement, in alleged cases which do not ap- pear upon the dockets and for which it is alleged he makes no record. Exhibit "D' presents brief of alleged |
 financial transactions of Dement, as shown by his dockets and testimony of others. Exhibit E. as shown above, consists of statement of the county treasury to the effect that Dement, is not credited with having paid any sum of money into the treasury of the county. The examination of Mr. Evans was
 made under instruction of Governor ON Neal following an allegation by the
 grand jury concerning Dement, The dock
 cts examined by MT. Evans embraced a period from March 2s, 1909. beginning with
 nse No. 1870, and coming to case No 2313. October =, 1911.
 l, The examination lasted throughout a period of about 10 days. Justice Dement,
 was not given an opportunity to testify
 Mir. Evans Informed that official yes- terday afternoon that the examination
 was altogether ex parte and that he could l explain in court if charges are preferred
 MT. Evans will begin today on an ex-
 animation of the books of the Jefferson county board of revenue.