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Note: This is an update of a previous post, entitled “Picking up Trash In Georgia is Mandatory Jail Time!” which detailed the situation of Atlanta area garbage man Kevin McGill, who was sentenced last month to 30 days of jail because he started work early. That violated a Sandy Springs city ordinance against collecting garbage before 7 AM.

I’m not exactly certain if the City of Sandy Springs, GA’s heart grew three sizes just because they actually realized they were being overly harsh or if it was all the bad publicity that it generated (it was the bad PR), but the man who was ordered to be jailed for 30 days because he showed up for work early has actually had his charges dropped. Apparently though, he had already served two days of that original sentence (reporting to jail the evening of his 48th birthday) prior to being given the reprieve. However, he no longer has to serve the remaining 28 days.

According to the Daily Mail, prosecutors (like pretty much everyone else) realized that the sentence was too harsh:

“…Sandy Springs Solicitors Office released a statement on Monday announcing that charges had been dropped after realizing that ‘there are times when taking a step back provides the opportunity for better perspective’. The statement read: ‘In retrospect, the actions of the court with regards to Mr. McGill’s sentence for violating the city’s noise laws, was disproportionate to a first-time offense. ‘As such, the court has amended its sentence to time served and further probation suspended.”

In spite of the ridiculousness of the original sentence, it’s obviously good that he is now free of that nonsense. It is also a good indication of the value of things like call floods and accountability sites such as CopBlock.org that generate negative attention for these type of overbearing actions from police and government officials.

From the original Post on Cop Block:

“Picking Up Trash in Georgia is Mandatory Jail Time!”

You read that correctly, Kevin McGill was recently sentenced to 30 days in jail for picking up trash too early. Now you might think that Kevin is one of the people we’ve all seen picking through trash for recyclables, or metals, for money. There’d be nothing wrong with that, if it was what he was doing. IMO, that’s more honorable than collecting welfare or (obviously) stealing from people. Yet, Kevin is actually employed by the Sanitation Department in Sandy Springs, GA.

So it seems that when Kevin’s boss, who’s basically the city of Sandy Springs (the same entity that’s going to cage him), set his schedule they were asking him to break the law. The city has an ordinance stating that trash must be picked up between 7 am and 7 pm…Read the full post on CopBlock here…