Judge denies Wanda Halbert's motion to dismiss ouster petition, sets trial for August
Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert's motion to dismiss ouster proceedings against her was denied by a Shelby County Circuit Court judge Friday morning.
Friday's hearing, which was set as a scheduling hearing, was the first time the parties met in a courtroom. Halbert, along with a group from the Shelby County Clerk's office, was present during the proceedings.
Friday's hearing was both a scheduling conference and a hearing for Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Felicia Corbin-Johnson and Darrell J. O’Neal, Halbert's attorney, to discuss which motions to handle first.
Days after the ouster petition was filed against Halbert, her legal team filed a motion to dismiss. Corbin-Johnson, in court Friday, questioned whether the motion was proper in an ouster proceeding.
Wamp argued that it was not proper and that ouster proceedings required an answer to the complaint.
"There is no answer or defense in the motion to dismiss," Wamp said in court. "There’s no denial, it is not an answer, which means it is not a placeholder."
O'Neal, in arguing that the motion was proper, cited a 2015 ouster case that allowed, and granted, a motion to dismiss. He also said the motion to dismiss worked as a placeholder for an answer to the petition.
Corbin-Johnson, in denying the motion to dismiss, said nobody alleged the motion to dismiss in the 2015 case was improper. She denied the motion without prejudice, allowing Halbert to question the sufficiency of the petition down the road.
Corbin-Johnson also said Halbert would be required to file an answer to the petition by Wednesday.
Get caught up: Everything you need to know about the possible ouster of Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert
Prior to Friday's hearing, Wamp filed a motion for default judgment. If granted it would mean Corbin-Johnson would rule on the petition without Halbert defending herself. The motion was filed since Halbert did not file an answer to the petition prior to the deadline.
However, with Halbert being granted an extension, Corbin-Johnson declined to rule on the motion until Wednesday passes.
Additional hearings, trial date set
Another motion, filed by Wamp to suspend Halbert while the case is pending, was scheduled for June 25.
O'Neal expressed concern about an apparent lack of notice being given by Wamp's office over witnesses they plan to call, and discovery they planned to use, during the suspension hearing, calling the move "a due process concern."
Wamp argued her office was providing more discovery than required, but Corbin-Johnson ruled in favor of O'Neal and said both parties would need to hand over a witness list prior to the suspension hearing.
Wamp will turn over a witness list by June 7 and O'Neal will have to turn over his witness list by June 14.
Trial was also set for Aug. 26 during the hearing Friday.
Why was the ouster petition filed against Wanda Halbert?
Wamp's office filed the petition to oust Halbert from office on May 6 and said incorrect financial reporting, strains on Shelby County's auto dealerships, comptroller deficiencies and Halbert not presenting a corrective action plan to the Shelby County Commission on May 1 as reasons for her ouster.
Halbert has been under investigation since June 2023, when Wamp was assigned to determine whether Halbert has been "willfully neglectful of office." In May, her investigation came to a close and Wamp filed a petition to oust her from office.
Among the findings were that financial reports from the clerk's office have been "consistently inaccurate, with collected dollar amounts not added properly," according to the petition, making it "impossible" for the county to rely on the office for funding distributions. Halbert has not turned in a single report in a timely, or accurate, manner, the petition alleged.
“This gross neglect of duties has, over time, caused county officials to have zero confidence in Ms. Halbert’s ability to run an office that collects large amounts of taxpayer dollars,” the petition read.
Since the beginning of the investigation, Halbert has had the Poplar Plaza clerk's office location lease expire, submitted numerous inaccurate and untimely financial reports which hindered the county's ability to prepare their fiscal year 2025 budget and had a visit from state auditors to remedy the issues within her office.
Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for the Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at (901) 484-6225, [email protected] and followed on X @BrookeMuckerman.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at [email protected], or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.
Nell Rainer is a news intern with The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @NellRainer96433.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County judge denies Wanda Halbert's motion to dismiss ouster
