By Kaylee Remington
cleveland.com
ATLANTA — Sidney Dorsey, the former DeKalb County sheriff who was convicted of orchestrating the assassination of his political rival more than two decades ago, has died while serving a life sentence in prison. He was 86.
Officials with the Georgia Department of Corrections said Dorsey died Monday night of natural causes at Augusta State Medical Prison, where he had been incarcerated for years following his conviction for the killing of sheriff-elect Derwin Brown.
Dorsey served as DeKalb County’s first African American sheriff from 1996 until 2000. His political career came to an end after Brown, a longtime DeKalb County police officer, defeated him in a runoff election for sheriff that year.
Just three days before Brown was scheduled to be sworn into office in December 2000, he was ambushed outside his home in Decatur and shot 12 times in what investigators later described as a political assassination.
A jury convicted Dorsey in 2002 of murder and additional charges including racketeering and violation of oath by a public officer. He was sentenced to life in prison plus additional years for corruption-related offenses tied to his tenure as sheriff.
Two deputies linked to the plot were also convicted in connection with the killing and remain imprisoned.
Years after his conviction, Dorsey admitted to investigators that he had ordered the hit out of bitterness following his election defeat, though he later claimed he had attempted to call off the plot before Brown was killed.
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