The Georgia Supreme Court has thrown out an indictment charging an ex-police chief with misconduct

The Nathan Deal Judicial Center, home of the State of Georgia's Supreme Court. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Georgia’s highest court on Tuesday threw out an indictment that charged a former police chief and a top aide with felonies for failing to investigate allegations of misconduct within their department.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the 2021 indictment against former Glynn County Police Chief John Powell and Brian Scott, his former chief of staff, was fatally flawed by technical errors.

A grand jury in coastal Brunswick, 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Savannah, indicted Powell and Scott in August 2021 on felony charges of violating their oaths of office. The indictment accused both men of failing to investigate one of their drug task force officers after being shown evidence that the officer had an improper relationship with a man convicted of drug crimes.