Walker County DA moves to have sheriff held in contempt for failing to turn over records

The Walker County District Attorney’s Office has asked a judge to hold Sheriff Nick Smith in contempt, claiming he has failed to comply with a subpoena to hand over records involving a deputy.

The motion for contempt was filed by District Attorney Bill Adair’s office Wednesday, and is a result of an apparent investigation into the qualifications and eligibility of Deputy Andrew J. Neves-McDonald to serve as a law enforcement officer in Alabama or elsewhere.

Smith on Thursday filed a response to the district attorney’s motion, claiming not only had his office already complied, but said Adair earlier today acknowledged he had overlooked receipt of the files.

Smith denies the contempt allegations.

According to the contempt motion, Adair’s office on April 21 served a subpoena to the sheriff’s office at the request of an investigator with the Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, which certifies law enforcement officers in Alabama.

Adair attached a copy of the subpoena which requested records for numerous cases between Sept. 15, 2024, and Feb. 11, 2025.

Those cases included a death investigation, theft, auto theft and assault that apparently were handled by Deputy Neves-McDonald.

The district attorney asked that all records be turned over to his office no later than 1 p.m. on May 6.

As of that deadline, the contempt motion stated, Adair had not received the requested incident/offense report.

In Smith’s response, filed at 2:01 p.m. Wednesday, said after receiving the initial subpoena in April, the sheriff’s office custodian for records sent an email to the software company that stores the digital copies and requested the cases be pulled.

Smith said he copied the district attorney’s office on that email.

Roughly 2 ½ hours later, according to Smith’s response, the software company sent an email to the Walker County custodian of records and copied the district attorney’s office on the email, which contained three files attached.

On May 2, according to Smith’s response, the Walker County Sheriff’s Office was served with a subpoena that was a duplicate of the previous subpoena.

Earlier today, Smith said, he began to receive requests from the news media requesting his comment on the contempt petition. Smith said that was the first time he was made aware of the contempt petition.

He immediately looked into the matter, his response states, and the custodian of records produced the emails that complied with the subpoena.

It wasn’t until just before noon Thursday, Smith contends, that he was served with the contempt motion.

Moments later, the response states, “the custodian of records received a call from the district attorney’s office and almost immediately was speaking with the district attorney who acknowledged that he had overlooked receipt of the files.”

At that point, the sheriff’s response states, Adair asked for additional information to be provided, which Smith said the custodian agreed to do.

Smith is asking for the contempt motion to be dismissed.

A judge has not yet ruled on either motion.