'Deputy of the Year' Arrested on Incest Charge

A former deputy of the year out in. Georgia now [music] finds himself on the. wrong side of the law in a very big way. This is after [music] he was taken into. custody and fired for heinous alleged. crimes. His wife [music] faces charges. as well. We're going to dig into what we. know so far about this case [music] with. a Georgia attorney. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Okay, before we go any further, I got to.

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back a year. So, to start getting your. cash back, click the link in the. description or scan the QR code. Make. sure to use promo code Sidebar to get an. extra 25 cents bonus on every gallon on. your first tank of gas. In November of. 2024, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office. in Georgia posted a photo of Sergeant. Michael Durr holding a sign with what. he's grateful for written on it, God and. family. The post got hundreds of likes. and was shared dozens of times. But now that photo is going viral again,

and this time for a much darker reason. Michael Durr is no longer a sheriff's. deputy. Department says he was fired. when he was arrested for multiple. alleged crimes connected to his own. family. Neighboring Jones County helped. out with the arrest, and here's what. they posted on their Facebook page on. Tuesday, March 17th, quote, "Today, with. the assistance of the Bibb County. Sheriff's Office, investigators with the. Jones County Sheriff's Office arrested. Sergeant Michael Scott Durr of the Bibb.

County Sheriff's Office. Durr is charged with incest, cruelty to. children in the first degree, and. influencing witnesses. His wife, Ashley Durr, has also been. arrested and charged with cruelty to. children in the first degree and. influencing witnesses. Not an incest. charge, by the way. Both Michael and. Ashley Durr are currently being held. without bond. The Jones County Sheriff's. Office takes all allegations of this. nature seriously and remains committed.

to thoroughly investigating these cases. to ensure justice is served. This. remains an active and ongoing. investigation, and additional charges. are expected. We have no further comment. or information at this time. Now, I'll. also just tell you as a point of law, it's usually not surprising when you see. both caregivers, both parents, a couple. arrested because. usually it's very difficult for one. parent, one kind caregiver to be like, "This abuse was going on and I had no. idea. this was going on without my knowledge.".

Usually, investigators will say both had. knowledge, both participated, one. enabled the other, one, you know, one. could not have been completely kept in. the dark, you know, they're looking at. the kids, they would have an. understanding about what's happening. So, just from my perspective, even. though these are just allegations at. this point, it's not surprising that. both have been arrested. Again, but he's. the only one seemingly charged with. incest. Now, according to reporting from. WM AZ TV in Macon, 45-year-old Michael. is currently being held without bail in. the Hall County Jail. It's routine for.

current or former law enforcement to be. housed in a jail that isn't connected to. their employer, right? Conflict of. interest issue. And you don't, and. particularly when the public watching, you want to make sure that there is no. even perception of bias or conflict. Now, 40-year-old Ashley also being held. with no bail, but she's at the Jones. County Jail. Now, here's the thing, the exact details. about what the Duros are accused of. doing have not been released to the. public. It's not unusual if you're.

talking about these kind of crimes, if. you're talking about children, if you're. talking about these kind of the. sensitive nature of these allegations. The law enforcement authorities, prosecutors, they're kind of limited in. what they will share, but you do wonder. what was the evidence here? And that's. what I want to talk about. But but but. we have to just take a step back and. think about something here. The Bibb. County Sheriff's Office, their Facebook. page is full of different photos of Duro. throughout his law enforcement career. From deputy to corporal to eventual. sergeant, he made his way through the.

ranks. He was honored as deputy of the. year at least once by local community. agencies. And when it comes to his. family, there's a post from the. department in 2019 showing five children. with a new puppy that they adopted. And. Ashley Duro commented at the time, "All. my babies.". The Macon Telegraph published a. statement from Bibb County Sheriff David. Davis on Wednesday where it says, "Let. me be clear, no one is above the law. We. will fully cooperate with the legal. process and the agencies investigating. this case. We remain committed to.

protecting children and upholding the. highest standards within the Bibb County. Sheriff's Office." Here's the problem. Here's something that's going to be. definitely talked about. This, apparently, isn't the first time that. Mr. Duro has had his actions. scrutinized. Why do I say that? Well, back in 2024, the Georgia Peace Officer. Standards and Training Council, it's. also known as POST, investigated him. after a domestic dispute case was filed. against him. This is according to. records that were reviewed by WM AZTV.

Now, the outlet reports that in March of. 2024, Duro and his then wife had decided. to separate, which had led to arguments. over who got which personal belongings. Duro's stepson allegedly confronted him. telling him not to put his hands on his. mother, which then led to some sort of. physical altercation on a porch. Dureau. told investigators, according to WM AZ. TV, that his stepson had lunged at him, so he restrained him, but said he never. struck anyone. Case was filed in Jones.

County in April of 2024, charging Dureau. with battery, family violence. Prosecutors dropped the charge though in. June of that year when the stepson. decided not to move forward. However, I. will tell you the outlet says that. Dureau did do or did perform this kind. of uh anger management course as part of. the court process. But POST reportedly reviewed the. dispute, put Dureau on a 36-month. probation that was tied to his law. enforcement certification, which began. in October of 2025. He was still. certified but under supervision. So,

again, allegations, but also tied to. real-world consequences, right? But now. he's been fired from the sheriff's. office. And WM AZ also reports that. there were other incidents that were. noted in the POST records. 2010, Dureau. was apparently cited for being. unprofessional. Two other incidents. He. was cited as failing to follow proper. procedure, violating policy by not. wearing his body-worn camera to a a. specific call, a suicide call. 2020, he. reportedly failed to act promptly,

putting off a call for more than 20. minutes. Now, further details about. those incidents weren't available, but it does kind of give us an insight. into who this defendant is. Does become. a legal question about whether any of. that will make its way into this current. criminal case, but it does raise. questions about his conduct, his. professionalism. It does raise questions. about what the department knew, why he. was kept on the force. But by all. accounts, he wasn't convicted of a crime. per se, but now he is facing an entirely.

different set of allegations that have. tremendous consequences. All right, so. to talk about this investigation, this. case, I want to bring back on to Sidebar. attorney Randy Kessler out from Georgia. Randy, thanks so much for taking the. time. You know, it is always a very big. deal when a law enforcement officer gets. arrested, right? This one though, these. charges, these allegations are just so. different. What are your thoughts on. what you've seen so far? And also, how. does law enforcement properly handle.

this type of investigation? Well, there's so many issues, right? He's got a past, why didn't we catch him. before? You know, recusal, is he going. to be judged by somebody who knows him? You know, whenever there's law. enforcement, there's a whole bunch of. things going to play. You've got to make. sure that. it's a fair process, that there's nobody. that knows him that had could have a. bias. You know, as I mean, probably. every judge in that county is going to. be recused. You know, the prosecution may have to. bring in a separate DA, a separate. prosecutor. And there's a whole bunch of legal. mechanisms that go into play to make. sure that it's a fair process for him.

and for the public. So, that's the first. thing that jumps into my mind is just. legally, strategically, you want a clean. trial, clean prosecution, so it survives. appeal. I want to look at some of the. the charges here. I want to look at the. wording of Georgia law. So, first, you. have this: A person commits the offense. of incest when a person engages in. sexual intercourse or sodomy with a. person whom he or she knows he or she is. related to by blood, by adoption, or by.

marriage. So, that includes mothers, fathers, their children, siblings, grandparents, aunt, uncles. And. according to the criminal statute, person convicted of the offense of. incest shall be punished by imprisonment. of not less than 10 nor more than 30. years, provided however that any person. convicted of the offense of incest under. this subsection with a child under the. age of 14 years shall be punished by. imprisonment for not less than 25 nor. more than 50 years. Now, Randy, that.

makes sense when you look at the. sentencing scheme based on the victim. Um but I have to ask, what sort of. evidence do you think investigators have. or maybe looking for when it comes to a. charge like this? I mean first of all, victim's testimony would be crucial. If. you get the victim to testify, that's. then it's a he said, she said and you. know, you combine that with his history, his past similar acts which will. probably come in at trial. Would it. Would it come in? Or is it not relevant. and prejudicial? Uh it's prejudicial. Everything's prejudicial, otherwise you. wouldn't introduce it, right? But it's.

definitely probative because it's. similar conduct. It's, you know, you First of all, you're law. enforcement, so you shouldn't have any. bad acts and almost anything would be. probative to show that you're not the. person that you pretend to be. But if. it's a, you know, domestic violence. incident, that's again a a crime against. a family member, a crime against. somebody that. like in this situation, another family. member, a child. So, I think the prior. acts are probably going to come in. Maybe not using a a camera during his. suicide call when he went to prevent a.

suicide. That one may not come in. Uh. that may come in more in sentencing. But. I think his prior uh behaviors going to. come in. Plus, we don't yet know what. other prior behavior there's been that. hasn't been reported, which may come out. of the woodwork, you know. No one's No. one likes to go after a sheriff. No one. likes to complain about a sheriff. Everyone's afraid to call out law. enforcement for doing something bad. until the first person does it. Then. they might come out of the woodwork. So, I expect we're going to see some other. complaints, some other witnesses, some. other victims.

And I mean, they would come out and. basically say it's improper character. evidence it can't be allowed. Um You. mentioned if you're dealing with minors. or you, you know, children, would they have to testify? Would they. have to take the stand and explain what. happened? Cuz I can't I I don't know if. there's another mechanism by which their. testimony could get in that isn't as. form of hearsay. Right, and that's the. balance, right? On one hand, victim. should be allowed and we need the victim. to testify because that's probably where. most of the evidence is. Again, we don't. know the records, we don't know if.

there's video, if. eyewitnesses, if somebody heard the. child and the child had an outcry to. you know, a mandated reporter, a psychologist, maybe one of those people, and again, it. is hearsay. There's some protections that can be in. camera, can be in a closed environment. outside the press. But the defendant has a right of. confrontation. You can't just say to to. protect the child, he's going to go. child she's going to go talk to the. judge privately. without us knowing what they say to the. judge. So, yeah, that's a balance, and. you know, I don't know else how to.

withstand that, but. 20 years from now, the child might be. more happy that they testified than they. didn't testify. So, it's a balance, but. yes, you're right. I don't know how we. get a prosecution, a successful. prosecution without the victim. testifying, unless there's a whole bunch. of evidence we just don't know about. yet. Let me ask you this, generally. speaking, do you feel that incest cases. could be tough to prosecute? In the. sense that it is so disgusting, the. allegations, it's so unthinkable, that.

it could be tough for a jury to accept. that a family member did this to a. family member? It's always a problem. It's another. problem it's like the problem when you. have a mother accused of murdering her. child, because we're always worried that. people on the jury are going to say, "I. can't wrap my head around that. There's. no way a mother would do that." Same. thing here, there's no way somebody. would have sex with their own child. Um it's it's a hard prosecution. Doesn't. mean we don't do it. I mean, you don't. take the job for only the easy cases. I. think it's going to be a prosecution. I. don't think that's a reason not to.

prosecute, but yes, it does heighten the. the drama and make it harder to make. sure a jury understands human beings are. capable of this. I don't care if you're. a deadbeat or if you're the sheriff of. the county. Uh I want to talk about the. cruelty to children statute, okay? So, according to their inmate intake sheets, the Duros each face one count of cruelty. to children in the first degree. It's in. connection with denying them sustenance. So, here's what the state law says, When. such person willfully deprives the child. of necessary sustenance to the extent.

that the child's health or well-being is. jeopardized. Now, the punishment for. child cruelty hinges on the degree of. the charge. So, child cruelty in the. first degree carries a prison sentence. of 5 to 20 years. Here, Randy, how are. those cases typically prosecuted? Are Is. it Are those challenges because could a. a parent or a caregiver say, "Hey, you know, listen. Um. child didn't want to eat." Uh child. didn't eat that much. Uh we did feed. How can you prove when. we didn't feed? Or is it those cases you.

only prosecuted when externally the. evidence is there? Like you're talking. about emaciated children. You're talking. about where it's clear there is a lack. of sustenance. Well, so and I've been. involved in those where there are. emaciated children, children locked in a. bathroom, and or kid in a cage, right? We've We've seen those in the past. But. really, I think in this situation, it's. option three that you didn't mention, which is it's a lesser included offense. If you're so if you're pretty sure he. committed incest, but you're not. positive, well, if he he was If I think he.

committed incest, but I'm not sure. I I. know he at least did something bad, maybe I'll convict him of this other. charge. So, they're going to throw that. in as a lesser included offense that is. probably easier to prove than the. incest. Yes, like you said, it's hard to. prove this because maybe a child refuses. to eat. Maybe they didn't like the food. Maybe there's some allergy that we. didn't know about. But that's how the. main charge is, right? The main charge. is he did these horrible things. And if. I can't wrap my head around him doing. that, having incest with his child, I. still think he's a bad guy if I'm on the. jury and I hear the evidence. So, I'm. going to at least convict him of.

malnutrition, you know, not not feeding. a child, not giving sustenance to a. child under the Georgia statute. By the. way, when I'm talking about these. different sentences, even if there was a. conviction here. on the incest [clears throat] and the. the this um. this other charge, right? The cruelty to. children charge, and you get the lower. of each end, is Is. that the judge could stack them? That. the sentences could run uh consecutively. one after another? Sure. I mean that's a you know. they're independent charges. You don't. just because you commit five crimes at.

once doesn't mean that you get punished. for one and the other four you don't. really get punished for. That could. happen. I mean I think the real sentencing thing. we have to worry about is. if he is found guilty and if he is. sentenced. oh my gosh. I mean he's already in. trouble being a sheriff. Being in jail. and a sheriff accused of child abuse. I. mean a non-sheriff being accused of. child abuse has a hard time surviving. jail. A sheriff being accused of. a petty crime has a hard time in jail. You know, how much money is it going to. cost the state to keep this guy safe and. away from potential harm in jail. He's.

he's got a host of problems beyond just. conviction and sentencing. Now there's a subsection that states it. shall be unlawful for any person. knowingly to use intimidation, physical. force, or threats to persuade another. person by means of corruption or to. attempt to do so, or to engage in. misleading conduct toward another person. with intent to influence, delay, or. prevent the testimony of any person in. an official proceeding, cause or induce. any person to withhold testimony or. record, document, or other object from. an official proceeding, alter, destroy,

mutilate, or conceal an object with. intent to impair the object's integrity. or availability for use in official. proceeding, evade legal process. summoning that person to appear as a. witness or to produce a record, document, or other object in an official. proceeding, or be absent from an. official proceeding to which such person. has been summoned by legal process. And. the punishment for violating that. subsection of the statute increases from. 1 to 5 years to 2 to 10. Randy, what. should we be taking away from that? Those are procedural crimes, but you.

know, if it's again, it's an even lesser. included offense. It's sort of the well, we can't prove that he murdered. somebody, but we can prove that he. interfered with the investigation. We. see that all the time. We see that in in. politics today. We see that in. government not complying with subpoenas, not following protocol, not following. procedure. Especially when you're a. government employee and you know the. protocol and you know the import of the. law and you're out there enforcing the. law against everybody else, it smacks a. little bit harder when it's somebody. who's in law enforcement, an elected. official or a paid government official.

who's not following procedural uh. regulations. And so, they got to charge him with that. It. also makes him look worse, you know, you. want to bias the jury and think this is. not just a one issue thing. He's not. just only an incest and a you know, child abuser, he's also mal- nourishes. child, he's also now interfered with the. investigation and with witnesses. They're throwing it all at him. He's got. a host of problems. Now, Randy, by the way, both defendants. uh in this case, they're charged in. relation to the same incident. Their.

charges kind of vary, though. Do you. think that this is a type of case that. they would be tried together or would. his law enforcement background make his. side of the case more complex? Actually, I'm waiting for her to turn state's. evidence and say, "You know what? You know, I'm not the one who. you know, had sex with somebody else. I. I knew about it, I didn't report it, I. might have done some bad stuff, but I. can get away with a much lower sentence. if I cooperate." So, that may be the. ultimate result is that they're not. tried together because she enters a plea. deal, but I wouldn't think they'd be.

tried together. I think you're right, him being law enforcement, whole. different dynamic of the jury is going. to If I was her, [clears throat]. I'd want to be tried with him because I. could then say, "Look, you know, look at. him, he should know better. I was also. under his, you know, pressure and he was. also intimidating me and I couldn't do. anything to defend myself. I just had to. go along with it and I'm sorry.". Whereas if she's tried separately, all. that stuff is her own. Now, she's also, you know, independently being evaluated. So, if I was her lawyer, if she didn't. cut a deal and couldn't get a deal, I'd.

want to be tried together because the. focus would certainly be on the guy with. the badge. Yeah, it's a good point. Um all right, Randy Kessler, thank you for taking the. time, appreciate it. Always good to see. you, Jesse. But that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. As always, please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check us out on NBC's. Peacock as well. If you want to follow. me, X, [music] Instagram, my NewsNation. show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through. Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll [music]. see you next time, everybody.