Two deputies, Briggs and a man named Hollis Tate, who was no relation to Rufus, were charged with obstruction for helping write the false report on Hattie Greene’s death. Both pleaded guilty within a month and agreed to testify.
Deputy Caleb Miller was never charged with anything.
AUSA Delgado told me why. “He reported what he saw, and he preserved evidence at real risk to himself,” she said. “Did he wait too long? Yes. He’ll carry that. But the law doesn’t punish a twenty-four-year-old for being afraid of his boss. It punishes the boss.”
The trial began on a gray Monday in March, in a federal courtroom in Macon with dark wood paneling and a great seal of the United States on the wall behind the bench. The case was assigned to a senior judge from Alabama, brought in so that no Georgia federal judge who might know me would preside.
