Former Rockdale County deputy acquitted of stalking

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. - A Rockdale County jury finds that a former deputy did not stalk a family in the county. 

James Campbell said the decision on Wednesday moved him to tears. 

"I was very emotional. I broke down in tears," Campbell said about the decision that cleared the veteran law enforcement officer.

He got fired after the 2018 complaint was filed. Shortly after, he was jailed. 

Attorney Devin Rafus, who is representing Campbell, believes the jury recognized a fundamental hole in the evidence brought against his client.

Rafus said Campbell was never told that a female resident who initiated the action, was uncomfortable in even having a polite conversation with the then deputy whose area of responsibility included that neighborhood.

"The first time he ever met the victim he was dispatched to their home for a domestic violence dispute. He then had multiple follow-ups in regards to an arrest warrant at that house. He had multiple interactions on the streets around that neighborhood. But the way the state presented it, they made the jury want to believe, try to believe that is he is, what we profile a stalker as somebody who sits in a car with a pair of binoculars staking out somebody’s home," Rafus said.

"I have my girlfriend that lives in the neighborhood. I have about four other friends that live in that neighborhood. So, not only am I frequently patrolling the neighborhood, after work, on my own time, I am in that neighborhood," Campbell said.

So, even after the complaint was filed, Campbell continued to talk casually to the woman as well as other neighbors.

"My neighbors stopped talking to me, I was considered the ‘Bogeyman’ in the neighborhood," Campbell said. "And the only thing they saw, was me being arrested for a crime that I did not do." 

Campbell now is speaking out publicly hoping to clear his name. He will not attempt to regain his job with the sheriff's office.

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