Mike Blakely still waiting on parole release, appeal of sentence has been denied

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Former Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely has been granted parole and is awaiting release from the Franklin County Jail.

However, a Tuesday hearing that had been set in Blakely’s appeal of his sentencing – filed months before his parole is now unlikely to happen.

Retired Circuit Judge Tim Jolley is hearing Blakely’s appeal. Late last week Jolley rejected the defense claims that Blakely should have been released even sooner. Prosecutors argued Blakely’s parole makes the issue moot.

Blakely, 73, was convicted on theft and misuse of office charges in 2021 , after a jury found he’d placed a campaign check into his personal banking account. And, that he’d used jail inmate funds for personal use. The defense argued no funds were ever missing, that he’d paid it all back. Blakely had been the sheriff in Limestone County for 38 years before his conviction.

Blakely was sentenced to three years in the Franklin County Jail.

He was allowed to remain free on bond during his direct appeal process. When those arguments were rejected, he reported to jail in February 2023.

In subsequent appeal arguments challenging his sentence, the defense argued Blakely should have been given “good time” credit during the time he was serving. But, prosecutors from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, which brought the case, had asked the judge at sentencing not to sentence Blakely “to hard labor.” That sentencing designation removed the good time option, prosecutors argued.

The defense appeals also argued that Blakely had a parole hearing set for August 2023, but Attorney General Steve Marshall wrote a letter to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles chairperson in July, asking that she consider the hearing date.

His parole hearing date was changed later that month from August 2023 to March 2024, the defense argues.

The defense also says under the law, Blakely should have been released in December. But in his order last week denying the appeal Judge Jolley said the sentence was legal, and Blakely has now been granted parole.

In the March hearing the Board of Pardons and Paroles deadlocked in a 1-1 vote, with one commissioner missing. On April 11, a second hearing was held and Blakely was granted parole by a 2-1 vote.

A Blakely attorney told News 19 there is no update on a likely release date. Blakely appears to be waiting for a final state review and related paperwork ensuring his release is allowed.

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