Two years after lying about being shot by a Black man, former police officer, Sherry Hall, was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison, and an additional 23 years of probation.
It took a Monroe County jury less than an hour to convict her on 10 indictments against her. This is what justice is supposed to look like.
Hall had been a police officer on the Jackson Police Department for all of three months when she decided to fabricate an entire story about a Black man shooting her and running away while on duty in the city about 50 miles south of Atlanta. The non-existent incident occurred on September 16, 2016.
She even credited her bulletproof vest with “saving her life.” A massive manhunt for a 6-foot, 230-pound African-American man wearing a green shirt and black jogging pants ensued. She claimed the shooting was unprovoked as she patrolled a neighborhood in the city. The “shooting” was said to have been in retaliation for white officers killing Black men nationwide.
At one point, a man who resembled Hall’s description of her shooter was taken in for questioning. But he was later released.
Hall’s story began to fall apart and the investigation took a shocking turn.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation stated: “It was revealed that inconsistencies existed with regard to Hall’s statements, witness statements, physical evidence and later examination of forensic evidence…”
Hall was arrested 10 days after the incident. She was also fired from the Jackson Police Department. Indictments by a grand jury followed in July 2017 on 11 charges: four counts of making false statements, four counts of violation of oath, two counts of interference with government property and one count of tampering with evidence.
Jackson Police Chief James Morgan, who’s Black, said he didn’t know why Hall did it as if white women lying on Black men in the south was a new phenomena.
“She did a great job for us, up until that night,” Morgan said. “So we didn’t see this coming. But this was not a mistake. It was a conscious decision and a choreographed act.”
He further stated: “We didn’t need an uprising. We didn’t want any racial tensions. This put a dim view on our department. But we rebounded. It defused pretty quickly.”
After being found guilty, Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson gave the disgraced liar a well-deserved 15 years in prison followed by another 23 years on probation.
In an ironic twist of fate, Hall could’ve taken a plea deal which would have given her only five years in prison. But white privilege, apparently, made her think that a jury and the judge would go easy on her. Surprisingly, it didn’t.
Her family has spoken out.
“She’s scared to death of prison,” Hall’s brother, Steve Weaver- a 47-year-old pastor of a small church in Griffin, said. “She wanted to take a plea, but not one that included prison time. She thought spending 90 days in jail before posting bond was enough.”
“She definitely didn’t get treated fairly,” he said. “As her brother, obviously it’s hard for me to admit she’s guilty. But if she is guilty, the sentence she received was especially harsh. We hope to seek a sentence reduction in the near future. I mean, this was a nonviolent crime.”
A nonviolent crime An innocent Black man going to jail over a lie isn’t violent but it surely should be punished severely considering the fact Hall was supposed to uphold the law with integrity and honor. Being a police officer is an act of service and officers shouldn’t manipulate the truth in any form. If they do, they should pay.
