A Montgomery County circuit judge on Tuesday threw out Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner’s lawsuit against Probate Judge Carlton Hogue, ruling that Turner’s side could not say whom Hogue had certified as the Democratic nominee for the District 1 commission seat and that the legal deadline for certifying nominees had expired the day Turner sued.
Circuit Judge Monet Gaines denied Turner’s request for a temporary restraining order and dismissed the case in a three-page order filed at 1:36 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, a day after a hearing at which she had said she would likely grant the order but asked whether it would be moot because the certification deadline had passed, 1819 News reported.
Turner sued Aug. 26 in Montgomery County Circuit Court, asking the court to bar Hogue from certifying anyone but Turner as the Democratic nominee for Commissioner, District 1, to stay any certification of Donald Bennett and to compel Hogue to certify Turner. The complaint says the Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee declared Turner the nominee and sent its certification to Hogue, who serves as both probate judge and chairman of the Perry County Democratic Executive Committee, and it alleges that Hogue refused to forward that certification and submitted Bennett’s name instead.
Hogue did not attend Monday’s hearing, and no lawyer appeared for him. Turner’s attorney, Fred F. Bell Sr. of Montgomery, told the court Hogue had received notice of the hearing, but the order notes that the court file contained no completed return of service on him. Because the matter was presented as a request for a temporary restraining order, Gaines wrote, Hogue’s presence was not essential.
Dr. Joe L. Reed, the longtime chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, testified for Turner. According to the order, Reed said the race was highly contested, that multiple recounts had been conducted, that Turner sought the state party’s help in resolving the dispute and that the party ultimately determined Turner was the proper nominee and certified him to Hogue.
The case came apart on a basic question. When Gaines asked Bell to identify the person Hogue had certified, Bell acknowledged he could not say “whom, if anyone” Hogue had certified as the District 1 nominee, the order says, and neither Turner nor Reed could establish that any name had been certified for the Nov. 3 ballot. Bell had told the court that as far as Turner’s side knew, neither Bennett nor Turner had been certified, 1819 News reported, even though Turner’s complaint alleges Hogue submitted Bennett’s name.
If the state committee properly certified Turner, Gaines wrote, Hogue “would be required to comply with that certification in carrying out his ministerial duties concerning the general election ballot.” But with no evidence that Hogue had failed to comply, or of which candidate he certified, “the Court has no specific action to enjoin,” she wrote.
The order’s second ground is timing. State law requires party nominees to be certified no later than 69 days before the general election, which for Nov. 3 fell on Aug. 26, the day Turner filed his complaint at 4:37 p.m. “This Court cannot enjoin the performance of an act after the statutory period for performing that act has expired,” Gaines wrote.
In a footnote, Gaines noted that although the filing was styled a verified complaint, Turner never signed it. Both the complaint and its supporting affidavit were signed by Bell, and the court therefore did not give the allegations the deference a verified complaint would receive, she wrote.
Turner’s Facebook page offered a different reading of the ruling within hours. A post Tuesday afternoon headlined “Montgomery Circuit Judge Tells Party To Enforce Its Own Order!” said the judge had “instructed the Alabama Democratic Party to enforce its ruling in favor of Commissioner Albert Turner.” The order contains no instruction to the party, which is not a party to the case. It addresses only Turner’s request for relief against Hogue and denies it.
The post also said the state party had begun proceedings to remove Hogue as county chairman and possibly expel him from the party, with a show cause hearing being prepared under Article 3 of the party’s bylaws, and that Turner had filed a complaint against Hogue with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission over what the post called his defiance of a lawful order. It said Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Bobby Singleton had emphasized that the party, not Hogue, must be respected, and added, “This is the Alabama Democratic Party not the Carlton Hogue Party.” Complaints to the Judicial Inquiry Commission are confidential unless the commission files charges with the Court of the Judiciary.
The state party’s contest committee ruled Aug. 21 that a disputed ballot should be counted for Turner, putting him ahead 399-398, and ordered Hogue, as county chairman, to deliver an amended certification naming Turner by noon Aug. 24. Under the Secretary of State’s election calendar, Aug. 24 was the last day for a party to amend its certification of county nominees to the probate judge. That deadline passed without one.
The dispute has run since the May 19 primary. A July 9 recount produced a 398-398 tie, which Hogue broke in Bennett’s favor as county party chairman.
A separate petition Bennett filed in July to stop the recount remains pending before Circuit Judge Greg Griffin in Montgomery, who has set a status review for Sept. 10. Absentee ballots for the Nov. 3 election are due to be ready by Sept. 19.
Tuesday’s order leaves open the question no one in the courtroom could answer: whose name Hogue has certified. As probate judge, Hogue’s office prepares the ballot Perry County voters will see in November. With Turner’s suit dismissed, the District 1 name on it will be the one his office prints.
Hogue had a visitor at the courthouse Tuesday morning, hours before the order was filed. Former Secretary of State John Merrill, whose office oversaw Alabama elections from 2015 to 2023, posted a photo of the two men and called Hogue “a great man of principle, character, and integrity.”
