MONTEZUMA, Ga. — A judge ruled a candidate for Macon County Sheriff Jeffrey Canady cannot appeal the revocation of his law enforcement certification.
The county's election board met to decide whether Canady is eligible to run, injecting new uncertainty just days before the election.
After a meeting Tuesday evening, the board voted to disqualify Canady for the second time this election cycle.
Canady's certification with the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council — more commonly known as POST — was revoked in August 2024 after Canady pleaded guilty to a case of excessive force.
In 2023, he admitted to simple battery after slamming a student at Macon County High School into a wall in 2019. He was working as a student resource officer. Video of the dispute became public in September.
Georgia law does not require a candidate for sheriff to be certified with POST.
A sheriff-elect must be certified within six months of taking office. But under the terms of Canady's revocation, he can't get POST certified within that six-month period.
While Canady attempted to appeal, POST found he couldn't. They claim he waived his right to do so by not responding to the agency's decision.
But in a last-ditch effort, Canady took the case to Macon County Superior Court, claiming he did file an appeal but it was not received by POST.
After all Macon County judges recused themselves due to a conflict of interest, Bibb County Judge Jeffery Monroe found there was no clear error in POST's decision to not let Canady appeal. Monroe says it leaves him no choice under the law but to uphold the decision.
"This case contains few, if any, questions of the law, and this Court cannot substitute its judgment for that of POST with regards to what it believes POST should have determined based on the evidence presented to it," Monroe wrote.
After Monroe's decision, the Macon County Board of Election considered again whether Canady is eligible to run for sheriff. The board had previously opted to remove him from the ballot in August, but they backtracked days later.
The meeting took place at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Macon County Courthouse. Again, they voted to disqualify Canady.
However, supporters of Canady argue there is a distinct difference between qualifying to serve and qualifying to run.
A previous bill in Georgia's General Assembly would require a candidate for sheriff to be in good standing with POST to run, but that law did not pass. Because of that, since Georgia law only requires you to have a POST certification to serve as sheriff, Cannady could still run even if he would be removed from office six months.
If that happens, Georgia law says that the chief deputy in the sheriff's office would take the reins until a special election.