The Hall County Sheriff’s office has issued a correction and retraction to a press release they distributed on September 26, 2013 that was published by lakelanier.com.
Assistant Commander of the Uniform Patrol Division 1st Lt Stephen Wilbanks asked for our help in correcting the error. In response, lakelanier.com has removed the original story. We regret the error.
One of the great tenets of the United States of America is that individuals accused of crimes have the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law. Conversely, almost anyone can be publically accused of anything, without equal publicity if they are subsequently exonerated. That’s why we believe this story must be publicized.
On September 26, 2013, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release pertaining to the arrest of a subject that was involved in an assault against Deputies in north Hall in the area of Bill’s Circle on Lake Lanier.
Due to discrepancies between information developed at the scene of the incident and information that already existed in the Hall County Comprehensive Justice Information System (CJIS), the arrestee in the case was originally named as Keary Maurice Nicely. This identification was ultimately deemed to be incorrect.
The correct identity of the arrestee is KELLY MARTINEZ NICELY, twin brother of the previously named subject.
Additionally, the booking photo that ran with the original press release was actually a 2011 booking photo of Keary Nicely that already existed in CJIS. It is not an uncommon practice to use a previous booking photo if a current photo is not yet available.
In this case, KELLY MARTINEZ NICELY was admitted to the hospital immediately following the incident, so there was not a current booking photo available. The correct booking photo for KELLY MARTINEZ NICELY is posted here.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office regrets this error and apologizes to Mr. Keary Nicely for the erroneous identification.
