Varnell solicitor says he saw 'nothing criminal' in Johnson email

Oct. 17—Varnell Solicitor Bryan Rayburn said he was "shocked" when he found out the Varnell Police Department had gotten an arrest warrant for Cohutta Town Attorney Todd Johnson for criminal attempt to commit bribery and criminal attempt to commit extortion, both felonies.

Rayburn prosecutes cases in Varnell City Court, and Johnson had sent him an email regarding a client Johnson represents as a private attorney who had been stopped for speeding and a window tint violation by then-Varnell police officer Shawn Norris on Sept. 10 on Highway 201. City courts typically handle traffic violations, violations of city ordinances and some misdemeanors.

Rayburn described the email as normal communication between opposing counsel.

"I saw nothing criminal about it," he said.

In the email, Johnson said Varnell had hired Norris, whom he called Morris, "against (District Attorney) Bert Poston's advice" and that because of certain allegations against Norris "Bert will dismiss any of his charges according to my information."

The copy of the email sent to the Dalton Daily Citizen by the city of Varnell after an open records request shows Rayburn forwarded the email to City Clerk Jamie Nance with a note that said "Just an FYI, criminal defense attorneys now know about Norris, and they all will start doing the same thing Todd is doing below."

What did he mean by that?

"In approximately late July/early August, Bert Poston took a stance that due to character issues with Officer Norris that he (Poston) was not going to prosecute any cases that were bound up to the DA's (district attorney's) office," Rayburn said.

"Bound up" means defense attorneys will seek to move a case to Superior Court, where the district attorney's office would prosecute the case, from city court.

"As the solicitor in Varnell, I was made aware of this at that time. Also, at that time, I notified the city (Varnell) that as soon as the news about Office Norris' character issues went public, that defense attorneys were going to start binding cases up and/or attempting to work out plea deals in order to have charges reduced," Rayburn said. "Flash forward to when I received the email from Todd, and my purpose behind sending the email to the city was simply to alert them that what I had warned them about six weeks earlier was coming to fruition, and that the news about Officer Norris had gone public in the defense community."

In an email to the Dalton Daily Citizen last week, Poston confirmed he would not put Norris on the witness stand.

"I found out in June about Officer Norris' history and reached out to (Varnell Police Chief Kyle Moreno) about it," Poston said. "I advised Moreno in early July that we would not, under any circumstances, put Norris on the witness stand in any case. It was my belief at the time that Norris would be terminated. I found out later that he had not been."

Poston normally would be responsible for prosecuting the charges against Johnson because they are felonies.

In an email Monday, Poston said he had "conflicted out" of the case, meaning a district attorney's office from another judicial circuit will be assigned to the case.

"I don't think it will take long for another prosecutor to reach a decision," he said. "I'll wait to say more once that decision has been made."

Why did Rayburn not forward Johnson's email to Moreno?

"I didn't forward the email to Chief Moreno because there was no reason to as it was never my intent to have criminal charges brought against Todd," he said.

Johnson's email to Rayburn noted the citation showed his client was traveling on Highway 71, when the stop was on Highway 201. He said he was trying to resolve his client's case.

"I was hoping a small donation to the Varnell cause would keep (his client) in Atlanta, but I await your sage advice, sir," the email said.

Moreno did see the email.

In an incident report, Moreno said based on the comments in the email about a donation, Johnson "is attempting to bypass due process and reward Varnell if his request is fulfilled."

The case was assigned to Varnell Police Department Lt. Winston Swilley.

In a supplemental report, Swilley said after reviewing the evidence he had determined Johnson "has willfully and knowingly committed the offense of criminal attempt to commit bribery and criminal attempt to commit extortion .. to bypass due process to get two citations dismissed by monetary means" and referenced the section of Johnson's email mentioning "a small donation to the Varnell cause." He said Johnson's reference to "Officer Norris' past shows a substantial step in (committing) extortion by stating events he states as fact even though the charges were dropped" against Norris.

Swilley obtained a warrant for the arrest of Johnson. Johnson was released from jail on bond.

Rayburn said he was not involved in the investigation and officers did not speak with him.

"I figured out about the criminal investigation and the warrant after the warrant had been issued by Magistrate Court," he said.

Johnson referred questions to his attorney, Leslie Waycaster, who agreed that Johnson's email is typical of communications between opposing attorneys. He said Johnson was pointing out weaknesses in the case against his client and trying to save his client from having to take a day off from work and travel to Varnell.

"Todd was just pointing out the officer's credibility would be in question (if it went to trial)," Waycaster said.

He said Johnson's remark about "a small donation to the Varnell cause would keep (his client) in Atlanta" was not an attempt at bribery.

"There is procedure in Georgia called a predisposition where if you get a ticket you can pay the fine and it stays with the city or county where the ticket was issued," he said. "But the ticket doesn't get reported at the state level, so it doesn't affect your points on your driver's license and it doesn't show up on your driving record where your insurance rates are affected. That's what Todd is talking about."

Rayburn said that is how he interpreted Johnson's email.

"Todd is a great attorney, and he and I have never had any issues whatsoever," he said. "His email was simply an attempt to advocate for his client. I never perceived the email as an attempt to bribe or extort me. These types of conversations are had daily between prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys."

In 2018 Norris and another officer with the Walker County Sheriff's Office were charged with attempted rape. The charges were dismissed in 2019.

"The district attorney indicated that the state would be unable to present sufficient evidence to prove the charges due to the general unavailability of the victim," according to an individual officer profile for Norris compiled by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST), which was provided to the Dalton Daily Citizen by an associate of Johnson at Johnson's request.

According to Norris' POST profile, before he was an officer Norris was found guilty in 2002 of misdemeanor stalking and harassing communication. For actions in 2011, he was indicted for criminal trespass, stalking, criminal attempt to commit aggravated stalking and obstruction of an officer while with the Ware County Sheriff's Office. In 2014, those charges were placed on the dead docket (not prosecuted) with several stipulations, including that he not have contact with another officer who was the subject of the allegations and that he was banned from the judicial circuit in which he had been working. In 2015 the charges were "nolle prossed," abandoned by the prosecutor.

In 2016, POST placed Norris on 36 months probation and ordered him to complete a domestic violence course and issued a public reprimand.

According to Norris' personnel file with Varnell, Norris received good references from a half dozen people at former places of employment.

A phone number for Norris could not be found. City officials said he submitted his resignation from the police department on Oct. 2, effective Saturday, Oct. 15. Moreno said Norris was looking for a job with health insurance.