The Alabama District Attorney prosecuting cases against two school board members and journalists stemming from the non-renewal of a school superintendent is recusing himself from the lawsuits, claiming a conflict of interest.

Escambia County District Attorney Steve Billy, in court filings Wednesday, issued separate notices of recusal in cases involving four people charged with crimes related to the alleged release of grand jury evidence in October – Atmore News publisher and Escambia County School Board member Sherry Digmon, 73; Atmore News Reporter Donald Fletcher, 69; School board vice-president Cindy Jackson, 73; and the school system’s bookkeeper Vernoica Fore, 48.

All four face charges of violating the state’s grand jury secrecy law, with each count punishable by up to three years in prison.

The filings say Billy, as District Attorney, has both “a legal and personal conflict,” and that “justice would be best served” if he was not involved in the prosecution.

Billy did not return an immediate request for comment.

Ernest White, an attorney representing Digmon, Fletcher, and Jackson, said cases against his clients will be forwarded to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, which will be asked to assign a special prosecutor.

“He’s running from this case,” White, an attorney from Brewton, said of Billy.

Marshall’s office, in a response to AL.com Thursday, said they had not yet received a request to consider the case.

The impetus for the case stems from the publication of an Oct. 25, article in The Atmore News, written by Fletcher. Digmon is the newspaper’s publisher. Within it, according to Billy, are details that were included in a grand jury investigation and which should be protected under Alabama state law.

But the prosecution against the journalists has generated an unusual amount of attention for the tiny southeastern Alabama county over press freedoms. The arrests, according to a motion filed earlier this month, represent a “violation of the First Amendment and media and ethics experts have blasted Billy for levying charges against journalists for publishing what they said was leaked material.

In addition to the recusal, an impeachment charge against Digmon was dismissed on Thursday. According to the filing by Billy, Digmon “has been indicted for other felony offenses which upon conviction, would disqualify her from” public office, and prosecuting an impeachment would not be required.

The cases are part of an unfolding set of actions within the Escambia County School System that began in mid-October with a controversial 4-3 school board vote to not renew the contract of former Superintendent Michele McClung. The contract was originally set to expire in June 2024. The vote in October came during a meeting in which Billy was among those who voiced dissatisfaction over having McClung dismissed.

The charges against Digmon, Fletcher and Fore were originally assessed in October. They were indicted by an Escambia County grand jury in early December. Jackson was initially arrested and indicted on similar charges also in early December.

White said he believes the conflict of interest exists because Billy “when he took the case to the grand jury” claimed that he “controlled the grand jury of Escambia County.”

The arrests and indictments for disclosing grand jury evidence stem from an Oct. 25 article on a District Attorney’s investigation into federal COVID-19 funds that were possibly improperly paid to sever former Escambia County School System employees, the newspaper, said on its Facebook page last year.

A sidebar accompanying the main article on the investigation reported phones belonging to Digmon and Jackson were seized by sheriff’s deputies.

Both Digmon and Jackson voted against renewing McClung’s contract — an issue that has deeply divided the Escambia County School Board. The other two “No” votes included board president Loumeek White and Kevin Hoomes. Voting to support McClung were Mike Edwards, Danny Benjamin and Coleman Wallace.

The board then voted in December to dismiss McClung along the same 4-3 vote, and buyout the remainder of her contract. The school system has declined to release the terms of her buyout. It’s attorney, Kevin Garrett, declined an AL.com request for details about the terms.

Board member Mike Edwards, who was one of three board members supporting McClung, told AL.com in December that part of the controversy stems over the handling of the county’s accounting system which he claimed was being used by a previous superintendent to “hide corruption and mismanagement.”

Edwards claims that Digmon “demanded money from the previous superintendent and CFO to support her newspaper” in the amount of $800 a month for an “undetermined period.” He also said that Digmon and Jackson were part of a propaganda campaign against McClung in “fabricated untruths they shared against the county.”

Digmon faces additional charges including an ethics offense for using her public position for personal gain. The impeachment charged aimed to remove her from her school board seat. Digmon faced the potential of being the first school board member impeached in Alabama in 17 years.

The Alabama Association of School Boards had been assisting Digmon in her impeachment case, limiting their work to providing legal research and assistance. The impeachment proceeding was based on a violation to the School Board Governance Act of 2012, which establishes training requirements and accountability measures for all school board members.

Sally Smith, president of the AASB, called the impeachment charge in November the “most outlandish situation” she’s seen of outside influence in a school board matter in her almost 37 years. She was not immediately available for comment regarding the most recent developments.