Updated 3/12/20

Lawyers for a longtime Alabama sheriff seeking a delay in his Monday theft trial wrongly claimed the officer was being tested for the illness caused by a new coronavirus.

With Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely set to go on trial on felony charges, his attorneys told a judge in a court document filed last Friday he was hospitalized and being tested for COVID-19.

But testimony during a rare Saturday hearing showed the 69-year-old Blakely was not being tested for the illness, and Circuit Judge Pride Tompkins criticized the defense for making claims that could cause a public panic.

Defense lawyer Robert Tuten said he was simply mistaken about the sheriff’s health problem and wasn’t “trying to pull a fast one”.

Records indicated Blakely was hospitalized with a respiratory problem, but a doctor testified there was no indication it was COVID-19 and such testing wasn’t needed.

A doctor testified during the hearing that Blakely was tested for several things, including influenza and walking pneumonia, but the results came back negative.