A Neighbor Dispute in Taylor, Alabama: Our Experience and Why We Did Not Move In

Update — October 1, 2026

Mayor Lamb has pardoned Raymond Horn.

Today I called Peggy Riley, the new magistrate, to check whether Horn's appeal had been forwarded to circuit court within the 14-day window. She told me Mayor Robert Lamb had issued a pardon. That means no new trial — the conviction is moot. She directed me to prosecutor Gary Maxwell, who I called, and who confirmed it.

What stands out to me

Mayor Lamb testified as a witness in this case. Before becoming mayor, he was over Horn in the Police Auxiliary. I believe — I know — Lamb gave incorrect statements under oath about my property and about an action by my wife. I was also told Lamb was chatting up Ms. Horn outside the courtroom while he was waiting to testify — a long, gleeful conversation.

In my opinion, a mayor who testified in a case, who previously supervised the defendant, who I believe misstated facts on the stand under oath, pardoning that same defendant right as the case was headed to a real trial in circuit court, speaks for itself.

This wasn't just Lamb

Our life has been the amusement of Ann Baxter for sixteen months. On August 4, 2026 — our seventh court date — my wife and I showed up at 1:40 for a 2:00 hearing. No prosecutor. No judge. No Mayor Lamb. No investigating officer. Baxter told us she had just learned the defendant's attorney had died a week earlier. More than once over this case, I was given a court date that turned out not to be a real court date — I only recognized the pattern after the fact.

Baxter also gave two different, conflicting explanations for who was appointing the special judges in this case. In May 2026, a notice she signed said the appointment came from the "State of Alabama Judicial Department." In August, she told the City Council a different judge had been appointed by the "AOC." When I contacted the actual Administrative Office of Courts directly, I was told that appointing a special municipal judge isn't even something the AOC does — and that Baxter was still looking for an attorney willing to serve. In my opinion, these aren't simple mix-ups.

Gary Maxwell had his hand in this too. Before trial, he met with us and pushed us to drop the case. His reasoning: because we had already sold the house and moved away to get away from Horn, there was no longer an "existing problem," and in his opinion the judge wasn't going to give a man with a clean record a criminal conviction over it. We didn't drop it. Horn was convicted on both counts.

Update — September 23, 2026

On September 21, 2026, after more than a year of delays, Raymond Horn's criminal trial for the vandalism of our property finally took place, and he was convicted on both counts. The judge went so far as to state in open court that Horn was under-charged.

A new question about the appeal

On my way out of the courthouse parking lot that night, the investigating officer told me the City of Taylor would not spend the money to fight Horn's appeal. When I asked prosecutor Maxwell about it directly, he didn't disagree.

If that's accurate, it raises a real question. As I understand the process, the Magistrate's office has 14 days after an appeal is signed to forward the case to circuit court. If that referral doesn't go out — by my count, around October 7 — Horn's conviction, and any further prosecution, simply disappears.

Where this leaves me

I don't know yet how this will actually play out. But after 15+ months of missed court dates, conflicting explanations, and a magistrate who produced paperwork on a "special judge" appointment that no real agency backs up, I've learned not to assume good faith. I'll be watching whether this referral actually gets sent, and I'll post an update either way.

Update — August 25, 2026

I spoke at the city council meeting again. I asked for two things: a trial date in my case, and the name of whoever appointed the special judge.

I got an answer to part of it, and a good deal more than I expected.

Where the case stands

My home at 518 Berlin Road was damaged on May 6, 2025. It is on video. The charge is criminal mischief in the third degree — a misdemeanor.

That was fifteen months ago. I have been to that courthouse seven times. Seven days of work missed, for my wife and for me. In seven settings I was properly notified once, and only after Mayor Lamb stepped in. More than once I was given a date that turned out to be wrong.

The most recent setting was August 4. My wife and I drove to court for a two o'clock trial and arrived at twenty till. Nobody was there. No prosecutor. No judge. No investigating officer. No witnesses. The magistrate told me she had learned directly from Judge Capps, two or three minutes earlier, that the defendant's attorney had died on July 28 — a week before. It was in the news that same day. I found it in a minute of searching.

A third judge

At the meeting I learned that Judge Capps is no longer on this case. The magistrate said he stepped aside because he shares an office with the public defender. The case has now been assigned to David Rousseau of Dothan.

I want to be fair here. If Judge Capps stepped aside over shared office space, that is a judge being careful about how things look. Judge Taylor stepped aside before him. I have no complaint about either of them.

But it is worth counting.

The defendant's first attorney practiced in the same firm as the man who was then the City of Taylor's attorney. His second attorney was the father of the man who is the City of Taylor's attorney today. Judge Taylor recused himself. And now Judge Capps has stepped aside over sharing an office with the public defender.

That is four conflicts in one misdemeanor case, in a town of about 2,700 people.

The defendant was a City of Taylor auxiliary police officer at the time my home was damaged.

I still do not know who appointed Judge Capps in the first place. The notice I received in May says he was appointed by the "State of Alabama Judicial Department." I cannot find an agency by that name. I expect that is a clerical error, but nobody at the meeting answered the question, and I have written the Administrative Office of Courts in Montgomery to ask. I am awaiting their response.

The District Attorney's office

At the previous council meeting, this council was told my case had been turned over to Houston County.

I wrote to the Houston County District Attorney's office. Chief Assistant District Attorney Patrick Amason answered me in writing, twice. In July he told me there is no legal procedure that permits a municipal court case to be transferred directly to district court, and that because more than twelve months had passed since the offense, the case could not be dismissed and refiled either. He wrote that the remedy is for the municipality to resolve conflicts within its own court system, including appointing replacement officials.

After the August meeting I wrote him again. He told me his office does not have this case at all, that it has to remain in Taylor Municipal Court, and that he is sure it is still pending there.

The case never went to the county. It could not have.

What happened at the meeting

The magistrate spoke against me.

She told the room I had used the public defender as my attorney. That is not true. I have never been represented by him. When I said so, she changed it and said they were in the same office. From what I can find, they are separate practices that share an address.

She told the room the amount of my civil settlement. I want to be clear about how she knows that number. I told her. Weeks ago, in a private conversation, after she was the one who suggested I sue him in the first place.

She told the room I sold my home at a profit. I never told her what I sold it for. To know whether there was a profit, you would have to know what I put into it — the repairs, the upgrades, and eighteen months of carrying costs on a house we never spent a night in. Nobody asked me. We sold that house because my wife was afraid of the neighbor.

Then she handed me a financial hardship affidavit to fill out. That is a form for defendants.

I am the victim in this case.

I could not make sense of it. In the space of a few minutes I was described as a man who had already been paid well and as a man who ought to plead poverty. Both cannot be true.

She also told the room the council could do nothing about my case. I never asked the council to do anything about the case. I asked for a trial date and for the name of whoever appointed the judge. Those are things the city can answer.

See it for yourself

Where this leaves me

Fifteen months. Seven trips to the courthouse. Three judges. Still no trial date.

I will be writing to the magistrate's office for the new setting. In writing this time.

I will say one more thing, and I want to be clear that it is only my impression. After my first conversation with Ann Baxter — long before any of this — I came away feeling that she was protecting the defendant. He was a City of Taylor auxiliary police officer at the time. I cannot prove what I felt. But it is what I felt then, and nothing in the fifteen months since has changed it.

Update — August 4, 2026

Today was court day again. This was our seventh trip to the courthouse for this trial.

We left for the courthouse around 1:00 for a 2:00 setting. On the way we passed Mayor Lamb's home. My wife was certain it was him out weed-eating his lawn. It was about 1:30.

We arrived at about 1:40. No one was there. Not the prosecutor. Not the judge. Not Mayor Lamb, who is a witness in this case. Not the officer who handled the investigation.

We went into Ann Baxter's office, and as we walked through the door she immediately told us she had just gotten off the phone with Judge Capps a couple of minutes earlier, and that he had informed her the defendant's attorney had died. She said this was news to her. I asked when he died. She said about a week ago.

So we were apparently the first people she told after that phone call — about a death that had occurred a week earlier, in a case that had already been continued six times. That struck me as odd, because everyone else must have known. That is why none of them were there.

And this was not obscure information. W. Terry Bullard was a longtime, well-known Dothan attorney. He died on July 28, 2026, at the age of 87, and his death was reported by local news the same day. In a legal community this size, the prosecutor, the judge, and the city attorney — who is his son — would have known within hours.

So the case sat on the docket for a full week after the people running it knew it could not go forward. Nobody called me. Nobody called my wife. We made a seventh trip to that courthouse for a hearing that was never going to happen. That is the seventh day of work we have missed over this.

The attorneys

Here is the chronology as it was explained to me today, along with what I already knew.

The defendant was originally represented by Dustin J. Fowler. Fowler is with the same law firm as Stephen T. Etheredge, who was the City of Taylor's attorney until recently.

Mrs. Baxter told me today that the defendant had dismissed Fowler, and that his attorney from that point until his death was William Terry Bullard. Terry Bullard is the father of Trant Bullard, the current City of Taylor attorney. Trant Bullard replaced Stephen T. Etheredge in that role.

To be clear, it is William Terry Bullard who died. To my knowledge Dustin Fowler is alive and well; his death was never discussed today and I am not suggesting otherwise.

So the defendant's first attorney shared a firm with the city attorney, and his second attorney was the father of the man who is now the city attorney. And the defendant himself was a City of Taylor auxiliary police officer at the time he vandalized my home.

Based on my personal reading of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct, Rules 1.7 and 1.10, this raised concerns for me about a conflict of interest. I am not an attorney and do not know whether either representation violates those rules. I am telling you what concerned me and why.

What I have been sitting on

Months ago I was told secondhand that Fowler's representation of the defendant had been arranged as a favor. I had no proof of that, it came to me thirdhand, and I have never mentioned it publicly for that reason. I still have no proof, and I am not stating it as fact today.

I am mentioning it now only because of what the chronology looks like from where I sit. Two attorneys in a row, both connected to the office of the city attorney, in a case where the defendant was a city auxiliary officer, in a prosecution brought by that same city. That pattern is why the thing I was told months ago has stayed in the back of my mind. Draw your own conclusions — I have drawn mine, and I recognize mine is an opinion and not established fact.

The dates

Separately, and this is something I can speak to firsthand: I was given incorrect court dates on more than one occasion. I have been the one calling the magistrate's office month after month to find out when this case was set. In seven trips to the courthouse, I was officially notified of only one court date without having to chase it down myself.

I don't know what to make of that pattern. I only know I have been the one doing the chasing for over a year, in a case a court official once described to me as being "like a parking ticket."