FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A community advocate says Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat tried to silence her for criticizing him publicly by taking out a temporary protective order against her.
Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes was in federal court Friday. The judges there are trying to decide if her civil suit against the sheriff can move forward.
“I finally felt like we are about to get justice,” Laquana Alexander said.
Friday’s hearing inside a federal courtroom at the U.S. Court of Appeals made the community advocate feel like her truth is finally coming out.
About two and a half years ago, Alexander was criticizing Labat on her personal social media page and other public pages.
She accused him of misappropriating jail funds and not having the moral character to be sheriff.
In April of 2024, someone called Alexander and said Labat filed a temporary protective order on her.
“I was like, ‘Huh? This can’t be so - not me’ … and then when I found out it was the sheriff I was like, ‘This gotta be a joke,’” she said.
She knew her speech was protected under the first amendment and she said she had never spoken to the sheriff or been in the same room with him.
When she started asking questions about how the order could be approved when she was never notified, Labat dropped it.
Federal judges said in court Friday, Labat claims he’s not the one who signed the paperwork for the order, his attorney did.
“That’s crazy to me, and I think it’s unlawful,” Alexander said.
After the order was dropped, Alexander filed a civil lawsuit, accusing the sheriff of retaliation.
Months later, a federal judge dismissed the case.
“Not even looking at any evidence, not looking at anything in the case, just dismissed it based on once again the sheriff.
Now that she appealed and her attorney argued the case in front of three federal appeals judges, they will decide if alexander can move forward.
“Then we can get Labat under oath. We can ask for emails. We can ask for text messages. We can go further to figure out who really did what,” attorney Mario Williams said.
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