The office of Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange filed a motion in DeKalb County Circuit Court late Monday afternoon to drop all criminal charges against former Democratic State Senator and Senate President Pro-tem Lowell Barron and co-defendant Jill Johnson.

Senator Barron, along with former campaign staffer and district coordinator Jill Johnson, was indicted in April of, 2013, setting in motion a chain of events that culminated with The Attorney General’s motion this week. The indictment alleged 6 counts of activities violating both the Fair Campaign Finances Act as well as state ethics law in the form of the transfer of campaign funds and the title to a 2007 Toyota Camry to Ms. Johnson. Barron turned himself in on April 23, appearing on The DeKalb County Courthouse steps, teary-eyed and with a neck brace and cane, to decry his indictment as a “witch hunt” perpetrated by Attorney General Strange. Johnson was arrested in her home.

Both Barron and Johnson soon entered pleas of “not guilty,”

The Attorney General’s Office, acting as the prosecution, built that case around showing a romantic link between Barron and Johnson in order to provide motive and demonstrate a plot to funnel funds from Barron’s campaign to Johnson then back to Barron’s personal accounts.

Barron, through his attorney Joe Espy, categorically denied this alleged romantic link and maintained that the transfers in question were public and constituted payment to Johnson for her work on his campaign

The first major development in the case came in April of 2014 when presiding Judge Randall Cole denied the prosecution’s efforts to introduce evidence showing a romantic link between Barron and Johnson. The Attorney General’s office replied quickly with an appeal stating that the inability to provide this evidence in court would be fatal to the prosecution.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals heard and denied this appeal in June, issuing another blow to the prosecution’s efforts to show this alleged romantic link and prompting another appeal by The Attorney General’s Office, this time to The Alabama Supreme Court.

The death knell for The Attorney General’s case against Barron came Friday, August 23, with The Alabama Supreme Court’s unanimous decision not to overturn Judge Cole’s initial ruling to disallow evidence of a romantic link, leading to Monday’s motion by the prosecution to drop all charges.

All that remains in completely putting the matter to rest is Judge Cole’s decision to accept this motion, a step that is by all accounts merely a formality at this point.

By Joseph Mayes, Southern Torch Political Reporter