Beavers gets 60 months probation

A man called a hard worker, great father and husband and “absolutely” respected in the community was sentenced to 60 months probation two months after being found in violation of an Alabama law that prohibits possession of a pistol by anyone convicted of a violent crime.

Dale County Circuit Judge Bill Filmore sentenced Robert Earl Beavers to 15 years in prison and granted 60 months probation to be served instead at a hearing in Dale County Thursday, July 6.

Beavers was also ordered to pay $1,000 court costs and $100 in victims compensation in connection with the Class C felony conviction.

Michael Beavers told the court July 6 that despite multiple felony conviction some 25 years ago, his brother has worked hard since that time to build a career and family. Tommy Andrews, a retired trucker who said he had come out of retirement to work for Robert Beavers, called his former employer “absolutely respected in the community.”

At the center of the trial before an eight-woman, five man jury that ended May 3 were two pistols: a Sig Sauer P250 and a Ruger P95. Both weapons had barrels less than 12 inches long and that was an issue in the two day trial that ended in the conviction of Beavers, who remained free on $15,000 bond awaiting sentencing.

Trial testimony revealed that the weapons, purchased on April 18, 2011 from Mike’s Gun Shop in the Dale County town of Pinckard by Justin Bright, had been purchased for Beavers because Beavers, as a convicted felon, was not legally able to do so.

Court testimony revealed that some two years later, those pistols were sold by Beavers, who was prohibited from being in possession of pistols in accordance with state law.

The case was prosecuted by the Alabama State Attorney General’s Office, represented by assistant attorneys general Kyle Beckman and Katie Langer. Beavers was represented in court by Geneva County Attorney David Harrison.

Alabama law prohibits possession of a pistol—defined as any gun with a barrel of less than 12 inches—by anyone convicted of a violent crime. In a pretrial agreement, both sides agreed that Beavers was a four time convicted felon, without disclosing details of his 1984 arrest. The jury was told only that Beavers’ status as a convicted felon was not in dispute by either side and that the jury would not be asked to decide on that pre-determined status.

Whether Beavers was a convicted felon, whether the weapons had barrels under 12 inches in length and whether Beavers was in possession of said weapons were the only other things that needed to be established in order for a conviction, Beckman and Langer said.

Two former friends and co-workers told the court that Beavers was in possession of the weapons at the time that the weapons were sold. One described poker games that included several state and county law enforcement officers as participants. During one such game, the Dale County Sheriff gave Beavers a rifle in exchange for a seat in the game, the witness testified.

“That is untrue,” testified Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson, who was called to the stand as a defense witness. “That never happened.”

“And now for the rest of the story,” Beavers’ attorney told the jury, calling his client “simply a peon” in a much larger investigation. Beavers’ arrest was part of a plot on the part of the Dale County Commission Chairman Mark Blankenship, former Dale County Commissioner Wes Strickland, retired military police chief Ron Watson and Beavers’ former coworkers, Harrison said.

Beavers echoed the conspiracy theory on a recording made by law enforcers who interviewed Beavers prior to his arrest. On the recording, which was played in court, Beavers called himself “just a small fish,” and asked the law officers who they were wanting him to “flip” on.

On the recording Beavers said the pistols were his wife’s but said that he had taken them to a firing range to test, in the presence of a Dale County Sheriff’s Department Firearms Instructor.

“The more you dig, the more you will find ethics violations but if you think it’s Wally Olson, you are wrong,” Beavers told the law enforcers on the recording. “By no means do I think I am smarter than you are but I do know I am just a peon in this and we need to move on to something else.”

Beavers said that the reports maligning him are part of an effort on the part of the “Four Horsemen” to try to remove the Dale County Sheriff from office. Beavers identified the “Four Horsemen” as Blankenship, Strickland, Watson and Beavers’ former employee Christian Carroll. None of those men were called to testify during the trial.