Governor Kay Ivey

Alabama State Capitol

600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36130

Re: Pickens County Sheriff Todd Hall

Dear Gov. Ivey:

On July 24, 2019, you appointed Mr. Hall to replace convicted former sheriff David
Abston. Mr. Hall announced upon his appointment that he wanted to restore faith in the sheriff’s
office. Sadly, he has utterly failed and we call on you to mitigate the damage his appointment has
caused by replacing him immediately.

On August 29, 2019, barely a month after he became sheriff, Mr. Hall presided over the
shooting and killing of Wallace Wilder in his home in Gordo, Alabama. Mr. Wilder, who suffered
from paranoid schizophrenia, was well known to Mr. Hall, who had been Gordo’s police chief
before his appointment. Mr. Hall, along with several other members of law enforcement, went to
Mr. Wilder’s home to carry out a “welfare check.” Officers broke into Mr. Wilder’s home, where
ultimately, they shot and killed him. In fact, the Attorney General’s office presented the matter to
a Pickens County grand jury, which chose not to indict Mr. Hall. We can only say that we must
expect more from a sheriff.

If this were an isolated incident, it would be disturbing enough, but at least two other men
have died in the custody of the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office in the two and a half years of Mr.
Hall’s tenure. Glenn Foster, Jr., a former professional football player who suffered from bipolar
disorder, died in the Pickens County jail in December, 2021 after Judge Samuel Junkin ordered
him held without bond for a mental examination. Despite the indications that Mr. Foster was
suffering a mental health crisis, it appears nothing was done to protect him.

In between these two deaths, on August 22, 2021, Michael Broady, Jr. also died when in
the custody of the sheriff’s office. To date, there has been no explanation for how or why he died.
To further add to the absurdity of it all, the family of Mr. Broady, as of today, has still not been
provided with a cause of death, 4 months after burying their beloved. Any family of a deceased,
regardless of his cause and manner of death, deserves to know what happened to their loved one,
yet this has not been the case with Mr. Broady and his family.

What has been consistent throughout Mr. Hall’s tenure is a complete lack of transparency
in explaining these deaths. Nor can it be coincidental that all three men were African American.
Three deaths at the hands of law enforcement in two and a half years would be unconscionable
for any county. In a county with a population of less than 20,000 people, one can only conclude
that the leadership of the agency responsible is barbarous. All three Black men who have died in
the custody or care of this sheriff had families and communities that are devastated by their loss.

Mr. Hall’s tenure must end immediately before his department kills again.

1
 Respectfully submitted this the 13th day of January, 2022,

s/ Richard Rice
/s/ Richard A. Rice
RICHARD A. RICE
THE RICE FIRM, LLC
Public Interest Litigation Attorney
North 115 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. Birmingham, Al 35203
P: 205.618.8733
F: 888.396.7193
E: rrice@rice-lawfirm.com

/s/ Johnathan F. Austin

JOHNATHAN F. AUSTIN
Public Interest Litigation Attorney
AUSTIN LAW, P.C.
P.O. BOX 321173
BIRMINGHAM, AL 35212
P: 205-538-0169
F: 205-707-1168
E: austin@jaustinlawpc.com

CC:

Steve Marshall
Attorney General's Office
State of Alabama
501 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104