Former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, Convicted in Successor’s Assassination, Dies at 80

The Rise and Fall of Georgia’s First Black Sheriff: From Law Enforcement Trailblazer to the Mastermind Behind the Murder of Derwin Brown

DECATUR, GA — Sidney Dorsey, the first African American Sheriff of DeKalb County whose legacy was forever tarnished by one of the most notorious political assassinations in American history, has died. He was 80 years old.

Dorsey, who was serving a life sentence at Reidsville State Prison, passed away following a period of declining health, according to Department of Corrections officials. While his family remembers him as a trailblazing law enforcement officer, the history books will forever link his name to the cold-blooded murder of his successor, Derwin Brown.

A Fall from Grace

Before the scandal that shocked the nation, Dorsey was a rising star in Georgia politics. A veteran of the Atlanta Police Department, he broke barriers in 1996 when he was elected Sheriff of DeKalb County. However, his tenure was quickly mired in allegations of corruption, including the use of on-duty deputies to work for his private security firm and the mismanagement of jail contracts.

In 2000, voters sought a change, electing Derwin Brown—a decorated police captain who ran on a platform of cleaning up the corruption in the Sheriff’s Office.

The Assassination of Derwin Brown

As we previously detailed in our retrospective on , the transition of power never happened. On the night of December 15, 2000—just three days before Brown was set to be sworn in—he was ambushed in his driveway and shot 11 times in front of his home.

The hit was a calculated act of domestic terrorism. Investigations eventually revealed that Dorsey, desperate to stop the investigations into his corruption that Brown had promised to launch, had ordered the execution.

In a plot involving former deputies and hitmen, Dorsey promised his co-conspirators promotions and job security in exchange for “taking care” of his political rival. While the gunmen were initially acquitted in a state trial, Dorsey was eventually convicted in 2002 of felony murder, racketeering, and violating his oath of office.

The Confession

For years, Dorsey maintained his innocence, claiming he was a victim of a political conspiracy. However, in 2007, he made a stunning confession to the DeKalb County District Attorney. Dorsey admitted that he had indeed ordered the killing, though he claimed he had attempted to call off the hit at the last minute—a claim investigators and the Brown family flatly rejected.

A Legacy Divided

In DeKalb County, the news of Dorsey’s death brings a final, somber chapter to a story that defined local politics for nearly three decades. For many, his death is a reminder of a dark era of corruption; for others, it is the end of a long journey toward justice for the Brown family.

Derwin Brown’s widow, Phyllis Brown, spent the years following the assassination fighting to preserve her husband’s memory before her own passing. Today, the Derwin Brown Memorial stands as a testament to the man who gave his life to fix a broken system, while Sidney Dorsey’s passing marks the end of a life spent in the shadows of the crime he orchestrated.

Dorsey is survived by his children and his ex-wife, former Atlanta City Councilwoman Sherry Dorsey. Final arrangements have not yet been announced.