Fayette

County State Court Judge Fletcher Sams issued an order

earlier this week that effectively ends a controversial

case that has stretched out for more than a year.

Three

members of a Peachtree City family were convicted last

April of various charges in connection with an incident

in the family home in 1998. Those verdicts were vacated

the home improperly.

Kevin and

Carolyn O'Keefe were found guilty by a six-member jury of

obstruction of a law enforcement officer and maintaining

a disorderly house, while son Thomas Patrick O'Keefe was

convicted of simple battery.

Sams'

ruling Monday was in response to a request by the

prosecution to reconsider his previous ruling. The

prosecution was "misktaken," Sams said, in

suggesting that a directed verdict of acquittal was

inappropriate after a jury verdict.

"This

court notes that the only difference between a directed

verdict not withstanding a jury verdict, and a new trial

and plea in bar, is semantics," Sams wrote in his

order. "The legal result is the same unless the

state has additional evidence concerning the entry of the

defendant's home.

"With

the exception of the family pets, the court has already

heard from every known possible witness to the police

entry, and assumes the state has not withheld

evidence."

So the

judge's official ruling, which he said would not affect

the end result and would avoid needless appeals, was to

grant the defendant's motion for a new trial, which he

already asserts cannot be held based solely on the

evidence currently before the court.

There

remains a possibility that this case will continue in

civil court. Attorney Teresa Weiner said after the

October ruling that a federal lawsuit was likely against

the Peachtree City Police Department and the city based

on injuries suffered by Carolyn O'Keefe during the

incident.

She is

already on permanent disability, having had had one back

surgery and facing another, according to Weiner, and

testimony during the trial by her orthopedic surgeon that

that the actions taken by police were tantamount to

"a knee in the back."

Efforts to

reach Weiner for comment this week were unsuccessful by

press time.