On Monday attorneys for Mark and Connie Gordon announced that they had reached a settlement in a lawsuit that charged former Chattooga County Sheriff John Everett and former Investigator Kandy Dodd of illegally searching their Chattooga County home.  According to a press release from Cook & Connelly in Summerville:

 "U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy had already ruled that the search of the home was done by a forged search warrant and that this act of forgery and its execution violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This suit was scheduled for a jury trial in federal court in Rome on Jan. 14, 2013. The case has been settled for the sum of $300,000 which is to be paid by the county's liability carrier. This should be fair notice that the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights is still in full force and effect."

The Gordons are represented by Bobby Lee Cook and Sutton Connelly of the Cook & Connelly Law Firm and attorney Ranse Partin of Atlanta.