A domestic violence case against former Hale County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Allen Nail was dismissed last month after the victim did not appear in court for trial.
Court records from the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court show that Nail’s trial was scheduled for December 9, 2024. However, the judge dismissed the case after the prosecution’s key witness did not appear in court to testify.
“This case was called for trial on this date, however, the complaining witness declined to appear,” reads the court order signed by Circuit Judge James H. Roberts Jr. “The Defendant moved to dismiss this case, and the State, on the record, joined in the Defendant’s motion. Therefore, this case is hereby DISMISSED. Costs are waived.”
The dismissal comes more than two years after Nail was arrested and subsequently terminated from the Hale County Sheriff’s Office.
On September 13, 2022, Nail was arrested in Tuscaloosa County on a charge of domestic violence by strangulation or suffocation, according to a grand jury indictment filed against him later that year in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court. The indictment described the victim as a spouse or former spouse of the defendant, or someone who had been in a dating or engagement relationship with him.
