VALDOSTA — With the trial against Clinch County Sheriff Winston Peterson less than three weeks away, two of the four charges the sheriff would have faced have been dropped, according to the U.S. District Court.

Peterson was cleared last week of Counts 2 and 3, which alleged that he corruptly obstructed and influenced an official proceeding when he informed a judge of the identity of an FBI informant and compelled a Clinch County Jail inmate to provide labor through means of abuse or threatened abuse of the law or legal process.

Peterson still faces charges of obstruction of justice and perjury. Count One alleges that W. Peterson corruptly endeavored to influence and impede administration of justice in the discharge of duty. According to papers, W. Peterson testified in federal court June 13, 2007, that he held a conversation with someone referred to in the papers as “CC#1” before that person, who was revealed to be a judge in the papers, was to sentence someone for marijuana possession. The person to be sentenced was referred to as “W#1” in the court papers. At or around the time of this conversation, the judge (“CC#1”) was being investigated by the FBI.

W. Peterson denied tipping the judge off that “W#1” was an FBI informant. However, he did admit that, since he heard that the judge intended to give the defendant a light sentence, he wanted to inform the judge of how much marijuana the defendant had at the time of his or her arrest. W. Peterson testified that he did so because he felt the judge had not been properly informed. During this same conversation, he allegedly told the judge that he heard the defendant was working with the FBI or the GBI. W. Peterson repeatedly denied that he gave the judge all of this information in an attempt to influence the sentencing.

Count Two accuses W. Peterson of committing perjury during his June 13 testimony. The first specification of perjury states that during his interrogation, W. Peterson was asked whether the judge, mentioned in count one, ever thanked him for the information he provided. W. Peterson testified that the judge never thanked him during that conversation or on any other occasion. The court papers outline that on April 30, 2007, the judge called W. Peterson and thanked him.

The second specification of perjury states that when W. Peterson alerted the judge to the identity of the FBI informant, he knew or had reason to believe that the informant was part of a federal investigation into alleged criminal activity by the judge, although he testified having no knowledge of this.

W. Peterson, is represented by Savannah Attorney Brent Savage. He still serves as Clinch County Sheriff and is running for another term in the November general election.