Sidney Dorsey, the former DeKalb County Sheriff who was convicted of orchestrating the assassination of Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown in 2000, has died at the age of 86. As reported by Fox 5 Atlanta, Dorsey passed away Monday night of natural causes at Augusta State Medical Prison, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Dorsey, who served as DeKalb County Sheriff from 1996 to 2000, was unseated by Derwin Brown in a contentious runoff election. Brown campaigned on a platform of rooting out corruption within the sheriff’s office, a stance that ultimately made him a target. Just three days before he was set to take office, Brown was ambushed and fatally shot outside his Decatur home on December 15, 2000.
The murder sent shockwaves through metro Atlanta and garnered national attention as a chilling case of political assassination. In 2002, Dorsey was convicted of ordering the killing and sentenced to life in prison, along with an additional 23 years for racketeering and violating his oath of office. Two co-conspirators, Melvin Walker and David Ramsey, were later convicted in federal court of conspiracy to commit interstate murder for hire and received life sentences without parole…