All Muck is Local: The Ballad of Ricky Headley

The long arm of the law is just a little too short to push Sheriff Ricky Headley from office.

A grand jury recently indicted Headley on thirty-seven drug related charges, among them twenty-one felony counts that include dispensing drugs illegally and official misconduct. That’s an increase from the original indictment, which included just two counts of wearing his uniform and driving his official vehicle while illegally obtaining prescription meds. Ricky, the sheriff for Williamson County, Tennessee, is facing expulsion from his job if found guilty of a felony; his trial is set for next July.

Until then, Ricky is sitting tight as sheriff. And, much to the chagrin of locals, there’s nothing anyone can do about it. In almost every case of police abuse, the accused officer is put on leave pending a resolution of his case. That would be true even for Ricky’s deputies, but not Ricky himself. As an elected official, no one can make Ricky do anything (with the exception of the state attorney general, who has not signaled an interest in the case). Local officials can’t force him to step down, nor can they require him to take leave from his position. They can’t even take away the car in which he allegedly made his drug runs.

Ricky has pleaded not guilty on all charges and says he intends to serve out the rest of his term (until 2010). And since he is all cleaned up (Ricky spent less than a month in rehab for his addiction to prescription drugs), he sees no reason not to be back out there enforcing the law. And so far, it doesn’t look like he’s going to change his tune.