By Paul Gattis
Huntsville city councilman Devyn Keith pleaded guilty Tuesday to two of four counts of misdemeanor shoplifting.
Keith, who is in his second term, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors just as his trial was to begin Tuesday afternoon before Madison County District Judge Patty Demos. Keith is represented by Huntsville attorney John Taylor.
The judge ordered Keith serve a suspended jail sentence and two years unsupervised probation. Under the plea agreement, Keith is also permanently banned from Wal Mart.
Keith was arrested in February and had faced four charges that he stole merchandise from three different Walmart stores in Huntsville, according to police.
While two of the charges were dropped under the plea agreement, Keith will pay $464.31 restitution for the amount from all four of the cases.
During the brief court hearing, Keith thanked the judge for accepting the plea agreement reached with Assistant District Attorney Morgan Price. Tim Gann, chief deputy district attorney, said after the hearing that Keith received the same treatment as any other person charged with shoplifting.
Keith read a lengthy statement following the hearing.
“The agreement does hold me accountable for my negligence in the past year,” the statement said in part. “A failure to scan items such as Skittles, Butterfingers and $20 headphones, if I didn’t pay for an item, I am wrong. It was never my intent to not scan these items.”
Regarding the two charges that were dropped as part of the plea agreement, Keith said evidence suggested he did not take the merchandise as police said.
“I acknowledge also that two of these charges were dropped,” Keith said after the hearing. “My lawyer and I were able to review evidence provided by the state. My lawyer was also able to review bank statements that disagree with the allegations. In some instances, it even showed in video that I simply did not take the alleged stolen items.”
Gann said that was not the case.
“That’s not correct,” Gann said. “All the charges were very good. It was just part of the plea agreement, as part of the negotiations that we do with lawyers. But those are valid charges.”
Keith said that he volunteered to make full repayment to Walmart for the merchandise.
“The agreement that was reached today acknowledges that I was negligent,” Keith’s statement said. “I was careless in scanning items and that, in fact, makes me wrong. Therefore, because I was wrong, from the beginning, I expressed to (prosecutors) that I would pay full restitution for those items, including additional fees. I have even offered to do more community service hours than what was given by (prosecutors) because I believe deeply in accountability.”
As part of the plea agreement, Keith received 50 hours of community service.
