Anson Sheriff controversy awaits judgment from NC Court of Appeals

WADESBORO — In December of 2022, chaos and confusion broke out with many different factions claiming either Wadesboro police officer Gerald Cannon or Anson County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Scott Howell as the presumptive Anson County Sheriff.

A record of appeal, a collection of court documents, affidavits, depositions and evidence, was finalized and submitted to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in December of 2023. 15 months later, it is unknown when, or even if, a judgment will be rendered.

Chronological buildup of events

Chief Deputy Scott Howell was unanimously appointed by the Anson County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 6, 2022, to fulfill the term of long-time Sheriff Landric following his passing.

On Oct. 10, the Anson County Democratic Party convened and cast 90 votes from their executive council.

The Anson County Democratic Party selected Sgt. Gerald Cannon , a 21-year veteran of the Wadesboro Police Department, for Sheriff for the 2022-2026 term. The press release from this decision, dated Oct. 17, 2022, was featured in the Anson Record. Reid’s name would still appear on the forthcoming November ballot according to existing North Carolina general statutes.

The selection of Cannon by the ACDP was subsequently overturned by the North Carolina Democratic Party weeks later. Petitioners for the grievance included Howell, who stated that the process that unfolded by the ACDP was unfair.

According to the grievance that was filed, a uniformed Wadesboro Town Police officer was given a list of names of names by the ACDP to decide which Democrats were allowed into the Oct. 8 Executive meeting. Registered Democrats were denied entry to the meeting. Anson County Democratic Party Chairman Dannie Montgomery testified that she did not know the open party provision of the meeting and that she had prepared the list of attendees for the meeting.

Proxy voting was allowed at the Executive meeting in writing or by a selected delegate, although those votes were incorrectly gathered in Anson County via text message or an unofficial delegate. Montgomery testified that she prepared proxies and signed them herself on behalf of other persons. Additionally, some individuals who were contacted to vote were not aware of what they were voting for, and notice of this meeting was not given to all committee members at the same time.

By unanimous vote, the Council of Review deemed the grievance valid and ordered that the Oct. 8 meeting of the Anson County Democratic Party was invalid. The selection of Gerald Cannon as Sheriff was voided. The Council of Review also condemned the use of uniformed law enforcement to restrict Democrats from attending meetings.

The ACDP was deemed unorganized by the state. A cluster meeting was held on Nov. 12, at the Hampton B. Allen Library in Wadesboro to verify precincts and determine who was qualified to vote in the recertification process. That day, Democratic voters exceeded the maximum capacity of the library and were tasked to formalize their chairs and delegates precinct-by-precinct.

On that day, registration was checked by Montgomery, who was appointed by then-NCDP Chair Dr. Bobbi Richardson to serve as temporary chair, and Chris Hardee, President of the Coastal Caucus of the NCDP. At one point during the reorganization, Howell asked for a redo for the Morven chair tabulation after he observed Montgomery telling people to change their vote. Afterwards, Montgomery denied the accusation.

Around that time, a message alleged to have been sent by then-commissioner Vancine Sturdivant seemingly alluding to Howell caused a buzz online. “I need as many as you can contact from Anson County, especially Morven, Wadesboro and Lilesville,” reads the phone message. “Our young males can not take 4 years of this racist. Please Come. Please do not put on Facebook. I love you. Momma V”.

On Dec. 1, 2023, a meeting of the Anson County Board of Commissioners declined to take any action on the sheriff vacancy. It was stated in the open meeting by chairman Jarvis Woodburn that action would not be taken until their next scheduled meeting on Dec. 6.

New county officers would be selected at a Democratic Party county convention on Dec. 3. Immediately following that meeting, a County Executive Committee would elect the nominee for Sheriff. Similar to their initial, invalidated vote, Cannon was again selected as the nominee for Sheriff. It remains unclear if this second voting process could be considered valid since Reid remained the nominee for Sheriff despite his death. The Nov. 7 election and Nov. 18 canvassing had already taken place and the votes could not be held in trust for such a period of time.

Dec. 5 and 6 — contested meetings occur

On Dec. 5, an emergency meeting was held at the Board of Elections in Wadesboro. There, Chairman Ross Streater read a letter from Paul Cox, associate general counsel for the North Carolina Board of Elections, stating that the local Board of Elections did not have the authority to fill the vacancy created by Reid’s death and couldn’t undo the canvassing results that declared Reid the winner and give them to Cannon. It was stated that the Board of Commissioners did have this power.

According to an affidavit from BoE member Kelly Newton, following the emergency meeting at the BoE, there was a “surge” to a soon-to-be called emergency meeting of the board of commissioners at the Anson Government Center. Anson County Attorney Scott Forbes attended the BoE as a member of the public. Following the meeting, he began to travel to Greenville to visit a friend. Forbes was unaware that an emergency BoC meeting was about to be called.

Then-chairman Jarvis Woodburn was responsible for calling the meeting. According to a deposition by Anson County Clerk Denise Cannon (wife of Gerald Cannon), she was notified at 4:46 p.m. on Dec. 5, shortly after the BoE meeting. Woodburn did not respond to four subsequent phone calls by Cannon for further details.. At 5:29, an email was sent to all of the Anson commissioners regarding the meeting. Only two commissioners, Vancine Sturdivant and Harold Smith, were physically present at the meeting. JD Bricken phoned into the meeting while he was driving and later hung up, Dr. Jim Sims was at the meeting via a conference call and Robert Mims stated to Cannon that he just got home but would be coming to the meeting. Two NC general statutes offer competing statements on whether this called-meeting was even possible due to the fact that two of commissioners may not have been eligible too vote. According to Forbes, one statute states that a commissioner’s term ends on the first Monday of that month, while another states that a commissioner retains their seat until the next commissioner is sworn-in.

A quorum of board members for the meeting could be considered established only if the non-physically present members were included. It remains unclear if commissioners who were not physically present at the meeting were able to establish the necessary quorum; Forbes has stated that the existing rules are unclear and there is much debate among the UNC School of Government regarding this topic.

It was stated in multiple depositions that county IT employees had already gone home for the day and were unable to post video of the meeting to YouTube. Audio recording of the called meeting was later posted to the county website.

At the called emergency meeting of the board of commissioners, Montgomery stated that the ACDP executive committee had completed their precinct reorganizing and Cannon was their nominee. Anson County Manager Leonard Sossamon read again the letter that was sent by Cox. Sturdivant made a motion to accept Cannon, seconded by Smith. Woodburn requested a roll call vote. Four out of the seven commissioners (Sturdivant, Sims, Smith, Woodburn) voted to accept Cannon, who then took an oath of office that was administered by a notary. A photo of this oath circulated on Facebook. “The board of commissioners do not have to have an attorney present,” Forbes said. “They’re like anybody else. They can act on their own. They do not have to take the advice of an attorney or seek the advice of an attorney.”

Cannon has stated that he received a phone call later from Forbes that the Dec. 5 commissioner meeting was not valid. Cannon states that Forbes told him not to show up on the morning of Dec. 6 to report to the position of Anson Sheriff.

In court documents, Howell’s camp has stated that the less than hour’s notice of the meeting and less than 20 minute notice for the commissioners violated North Carolina General Statutes regarding open, public meetings. “A public body must give notice of a special meeting at least forty-eight hours before the meeting,” states the NC GS. No notice was posted outside of the Anson Courthouse of the meeting, which is typically done. No media outlet received notice of the emergency meeting, although Cannon’s camp has stated that no media outlet has submitted the proper paperwork to be the recipient of such information. In a deposition, Forbes stated that the only times that an emergency meeting has been called before was in the event of a natural disaster. In a deposition, Sossamon stated that he did not believe, in his capacity as a long-time county manager, the events of that day constituted an emergency meeting. Meetings that are deemed a “true emergency” can bypass notice requirements.

The Anson County Board of Commissioners “took all reasonable efforts to notify the members of the board of the emergency meetings” reads an injunction filed by Cannon.

On Dec. 6, the always-planned meeting of the commissioners took place. It began with the swearing-in of new commissioners Jamie Caudle and Priscilla Little, replacing Sturdivant and Sims. Various citizens spoke about the sheriff debacle during the public comment section.

“In this process, democracy was what we were most focused on,” Montgomery declared at the meeting that had swelled to exceed the maximum capacity with well over a hundreds citizens waiting out in the cold. “Democracy is something we cannot afford to lose. We need to not let hate and bigotry get in the midst of us, Racist and racists’ behavior are a part of a system — it is not a people. It is not a people. We need to fight against our racist system.”

After attending to various other small matters, the commissioners entered into closed session.

“After consulting with the attorney, through a very difficult, a very, very, tricky issue, I make a motion that we appoint Mr. Scott Howell as the Anson County Sheriff immediately and extending through the next four years,” commissioner Lawrence Gatewood said after the over 30 minute wait.

Bricken, Mims, Gatewood and the newly-sworn in Caudle had voted for Howell. Woodburn, Smith and Little had voted for Cannon.

“It’s been a long ride,” Howell said after the vote to a group of reporters. “My best friend passed on Sept. 21 and I was appointed by the county commissioners. It’s been heavy on peoples hearts. ….As we go forward, I promise to lead this community with honesty, integrity and professionalism as I always have for every citizen in this community.”

According to Montgomery, there were 59 votes for Cannon and 54 votes against him at the Dec. 3 meeting of the ACDP. It was shared that an upcoming meeting of the Anson NAACP would discuss the “travesty of justice” that ignored the votes favoring Cannon.

Where everything stands now

Cannon filed a second preliminary injunction following the Dec. 6 meeting. Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell’s ruling stated that the Monday, Dec. 5 meeting was not a legitimate meeting. “Judge Futrell is very thorough and listens to both sides and makes a decision based on what he understands the law to be,” Forbes said. “As far as research and precedent and laws, you won’t find somebody who can outresearch or outstudy him.” Cannon was advised that he could file a writ of quo warranto, which can be used to challenge a person’s right to hold public office. Forbes said that a somewhat similar quo warranto case was last raised to the NC Court of Appeal in the 1950s to challenge a city councilman dispute from the small town of Marven. No decision was issued in that case.

The appeal by Cannon states that defendants Anson County, the Anson board of commissioners, the individual commissioner and Howell have prevented him from the position of Sheriff. “Anson County has refused to allow the plaintiff to assume his office as Anson County Sheriff,” states the court document, adding that Howell has since “purported” to be the Anson Sheriff. It adds that the second, Dec. 6 meeting of the commissioners, was illegal and not the Dec. 5 meeting.

A public hearing was held on May 8, 2023, for this matter. “A hearing was held before a Superior Court Judge in the matter of the Office of Sheriff,” stated the ACSO Facebook page at the time. “The case was dismissed in Sheriff Howells favor, and he is to remain the Sheriff of Anson County.” This was the Sheriff’s Office second public statement on the matter, following a February 2023 post that stated that the initial lawsuit was dropped and a second lawsuit was filed.

“Going through all the components was a law school exam,” Forbes said. “Because of the statues and the scenarios changing day to day, and the outside actions of the local Anson County Democrat party, things changed. This would have been a completely different scenario, and would not have exacerbated to this , and would not have have transpired to where they are had it not been for the….overturning of the Democrat Party decision.” Forbes said this incident has certainly been the most controversial in his role as attorney for Anson.

Cannon’s injunction states that the emergency meeting of the board of commissioners was not property challenged within 45 days of it taking place. This is included in the record of appeal. They also state that Forbes said in open court that the Dec. 5 meeting was ‘illegal’ and that the county wouldn’t be taking further action on the sheriff decision since they “were out of this fight”; Forbes said that he apologized for stating his opinion in open court and that he was wrong to assume the intention of the board for their pending decision.

Forbes made sure to be clear that both Howell and Cannon have valid, legal arguments. In his deposition, Forbes was very clear to refer to both as Sheriff Howell and Sheriff Cannon.

“If [Cannon] is successful [in his lawsuit], then he’s the sheriff,” Forbes succinctly stated. “Both men are professional and, if that happens, I expect and would be surprised if anything less than a professional exchange of office happens. Cannon would be sworn and follow the procedure of being the sheriff. Whatever the court decides, we need to support the sheriff, whichever side that may be,” Forbes said. “Both men have a tremendous amount of support.”

The three-panel North Carolina Court of Appeals has not decided if it will hear the case. If there is a hearing, it’s expected that oral arguments will be made. If the Court of Appeals declines to the case, Futrell’s ruling will stand, unless Cannon would like to appeal it to the State Supreme Court.

Both Howell and Cannon did not respond to a request for comment for this article.