Mike Blakely, once the longest serving sheriff in Alabama, will remain behind bars for now, as Alabama today denied his parole before a packed audience.

The parole board hearing was filled with dozens of Blakely supporters, occupying all 30 seats on the ‘supporters’ side of the room, forcing some of the group to overflow into the ‘opposition’ seating area. But the attorney general’s office also spoke, opposing release of the longtime Democrat from north Alabama.

In the end, the state parole board split, voting 1-1. The stalemate means a new hearing will have to be held next month.

Blakely, a Democrat, was the elected sheriff of Limestone County in north Alabama for nearly four decades until he was convicted of two felony charges of theft and abuse of power on Aug. 2, 2021. He has served just over a year of his three year sentence.

John Plunk, former Athens District Attorney, gave testimony in support of Blakely and spoke of his success in his 38 years on the job, saying “there will never be a TV program about cold cases from Limestone County because he solved every single murder case in his 40 years…he’s risked his life on numerous occasions to protect us.”

He also said supporters were ‘not arguing innocence’ but instead wanted to demonstrate his remorse.

“One of the things y’all look at is whether or not somebody has remorse and he obviously does,” Plunk said. “In the year and a month he’s been in jail, he knows that no one is above the law.”

Littleton then asked whether Blakely was a risk to public safety.

“Absolutely not,” Plunk responded, then listed the letters of support sent to the parole board on Blakely’s behalf, including from members of the legislative delegation, police chiefs, mayors and John Wahl, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.

Along with Plunk, former Lauderdale County District Judge Deborah Bell Paseur and Maggie Settle, a former employee of the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office, spoke in support of Blakely.

Blakely was removed from office immediately after a Limestone County jury found him guilty of stealing from his campaign account and abusing his power to get interest-free loans from a safe that held cash belonging to county jail inmates.

After a three-week trial, the jury convicted Blakely of stealing $4,000 from his campaign account by funneling the money through Red Brick Strategies, a Huntsville consulting firm. The jurors also found Blakely guilty of obtaining$29,050 in interest free loans from a safe that held money belonging to inmates in the county jail he oversaw as sheriff. They found him not guilty of eight other charges of theft and abuse of power.

The office of Steve Marshall, Alabama’s Republican attorney general, prosecuted Blakely’s case.

Sarah Deneve, a representative of the attorney general’s office, spoke against his release.

“Throughout this process, this inmate has shown little remorse and now apologizes to suit his own needs,” Deneve said. “The actions of this inmate as an elected official and law enforcement officer harm society as a whole and diminish public trust and confidence in those who are supposed to uphold the law.”

Parole board member Gabrelle Simmons was absent. The board declined to say how the other two members, Darryl Littleton and Leigh Gwathney, voted. However, Gwathney used to work at the attorney general’s office and an ACLU analysis of 10 weeks of hearing last year found that every time the attorney general’s office opposed parole Gwathney voted against release.

A new hearing for Blakely will be held on April 11.