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Swilley obtained a warrant for the arrest of Johnson. to bypass due process to get two citations dismissed by monetary means" and referenced the section of Johnson's email mentioning "a small donation to the Varnell cause." He said Johnson's reference to "Officer Norris' past shows a substantial step in (committing) extortion by stating events he states as fact even though the charges were dropped" against Norris. In a supplemental report, Swilley said after reviewing the evidence he had determined Johnson "has willfully and knowingly committed the offense of criminal attempt to commit bribery and criminal attempt to commit extortion. The case was assigned to Varnell Police Department Lt. In an incident report, Moreno said based on the comments in the email about a donation, Johnson "is attempting to bypass due process and reward Varnell if his request is fulfilled." "I was hoping a small donation to the Varnell cause would keep (his client) in Atlanta, but I await your sage advice, sir," the email said. He said he was trying to resolve his client's case. Johnson's email to Rayburn noted the citation showed his client was traveling on Highway 71, when the stop was on Highway 201. "I didn't forward the email to Chief Moreno because there was no reason to as it was never my intent to have criminal charges brought against Todd," he said.

Why did Rayburn not forward Johnson's email to Moreno? "I'll wait to say more once that decision has been made." "I don't think it will take long for another prosecutor to reach a decision," he said. In an email Monday, Poston said he had "conflicted out" of the case, meaning a district attorney's office from another judicial circuit will be assigned to the case. Poston normally would be responsible for prosecuting the charges against Johnson because they are felonies. It was my belief at the time that Norris would be terminated. "I advised Moreno in early July that we would not, under any circumstances, put Norris on the witness stand in any case. "I found out in June about Officer Norris' history and reached out to (Varnell Police Chief Kyle Moreno) about it," Poston said. In an email to the Dalton Daily Citizen last week, Poston confirmed he would not put Norris on the witness stand. "Flash forward to when I received the email from Todd, and my purpose behind sending the email to the city was simply to alert them that what I had warned them about six weeks earlier was coming to fruition, and that the news about Officer Norris had gone public in the defense community."

Also, at that time, I notified the city (Varnell) that as soon as the news about Office Norris' character issues went public, that defense attorneys were going to start binding cases up and/or attempting to work out plea deals in order to have charges reduced," Rayburn said. "As the solicitor in Varnell, I was made aware of this at that time. "Bound up" means defense attorneys will seek to move a case to Superior Court, where the district attorney's office would prosecute the case, from city court. "In approximately late July/early August, Bert Poston took a stance that due to character issues with Officer Norris that he (Poston) was not going to prosecute any cases that were bound up to the DA's (district attorney's) office," Rayburn said. The copy of the email sent to the Dalton Daily Citizen by the city of Varnell after an open records request shows Rayburn forwarded the email to City Clerk Jamie Nance with a note that said "Just an FYI, criminal defense attorneys now know about Norris, and they all will start doing the same thing Todd is doing below." In the email, Johnson said Varnell had hired Norris, whom he called Morris, "against (District Attorney) Bert Poston's advice" and that because of certain allegations against Norris "Bert will dismiss any of his charges according to my information."