For Immediate Release: Friday, January 21, 2022
Selma, AL – Attorney Hank Sanders announced today that a million dollar-plus lawsuit had been filed against Michael Jackson in his individual capacity. Jackson is the district attorney for the five-county Fourth Judicial Circuit.
The lawsuit springs from slanderous and libelous statements maliciously made by Jackson in 2021. Jackson falsely accused Attorney Faya Rose Toure of theft, fraud, being crooked, and stealing more money than Jesse James.
Sanders said that a letter was sent in September of 2021 to Jackson demanding he retract the statements. Jackson did not retract the statements and did not respond to the letter. “It makes no sense for someone who is supposed to enforce the law to intentionally and maliciously break the law,” Sanders said.
The situation occurred when Jackson sent a letter to Faya Rose Toure threatening her with criminal action concerning a $200 ad for his wife, Maya Jackson, who was a candidate for Mayor of Selma. Jackson alleged that the ad was not run in the Jubilee newsletter when in fact it had. Faya Rose had not solicited the ad and was no longer the director of the Jubilee as she had retired from her volunteer position as coordinator of the Jubilee. However, the ad had in fact run.
When given a copy of the newspaper with the ad in it, Jackson continued making malicious false statements. He specifically said Faya Rose Toure was a fraud, was crooked, was stealing money, and had stolen more money than Jesse James, all of which are false. He also accused her of forgery and stated that she had created a new newspaper, which she had not. The ad ran in every copy of the Jubilee newspaper.
Jaskson’s statements were on multiple television stations, in the local newspaper, on radio stations, and online. Sanders said, “Elected officials must be held accountable even if they are making malicious statements in their individual capacity rather than their official capacity. Jackson has refused every opportunity to retract his malicious lies. When presented with the truth, he compounded his previous lies with new lies.”
The lawsuit was filed today in Dallas County Circuit Court. The press conference was held at 11:00 a.m. today in the conference room of Chestnut, Sanders & Sanders at 1 Union Street in Selma.
CONTACT: Hank Sanders, (334) 782-1651 and hank23sanders@gmail.com