No more weekend jail for Mann

For the Enquirer

A former chiropractor charged with attempting to murder his wife by poisoning her with lead from his Decatur office will no longer have to spend weekends in jail, a Morgan County judge ruled last week. Brian Thomas Mann, 36, of Hartselle, was arrested in September 2022 after being indicted for the attempted murder of his wife, with whom he’s currently in divorce proceedings. He has pleaded not guilty. Mann was conditionally released from jail after posting a $500,000 bond in January 2023.

Since his release, as a condition of his bond, Mann has been required to wear a GPS ankle monitor and stay in the Morgan County Jail every week-end.

Mann’s attorneys have attempted to remove this bond condition several times, without success. After Mann’s jury trial was pushed back from a Nov. 18 start date – at the request of the District Attorney’s Office and over the objection of Mann – Mann’s Huntsville attorney, Chad Morgan, again moved the court to lift the weekend jail requirement.

Circuit Judge Charles Elliott heard the matter in a packed courtroom Dec. 9. There, Morgan argued that his client has fully complied with his bond conditions, passing all drug screens and turning himself into jail over 112 times.

“He’s not a flight risk, judge,” Morgan said. Mann stood next to Morgan before the bench in a crisp grey suit.

“We’ll defer to the court,” Chief Assistant District Attorney Garrick Vickery said in response. He said Elliott was already familiar with Mann’s history and alluded to “passport issues.” Following his arrest in September 2022, Mann was ordered to surrender his passport. At the time, he claimed he could not find it, and Elliott found him to be a flight risk. Mann’s then-attorney claimed at a hearing that the passport had been reported as lost or stolen to the State Department.

On Monday, Elliott said he still didn’t know the status of Mann’s passport. He said he’s reached out to the State Department “multiple times” but received no response.

“I have no way of knowing if it’s been canceled,” Elliott said.

In response, Morgan said Mann has “done everything he’s supposed to do.” “If the watch is something we can go with … then let’s do the watch,” Elliott said. A Community Corrections officer present in court told Elliott that a GPS watch could be available at 2 p.m. “I’m inclined to say yes on this.” Elliott briefly explained that the “watch” provides more robust GPS monitoring than older ankle monitors. He said the watch allows the court to designate specific areas as off-limits, such as the victim’s residence, and the watch would immediately notify 911 if its wearer entered such areas.

Elliott warned Morgan that his client will not get out of jail again if he violates his bond conditions.

“In this case, if he violated any court condition at all for his bond, he would be locked back up,” Morgan said after the ruling. “That hasn’t happened, so he’s obviously been in compliance.” Morgan said defense experts coming from out of town will need to speak with Mann on weekends to help prepare for the trial, which is scheduled to begin on March 3.

“I believe, with our experts on it now, we’ve got a very strong case,” he said.

Mann’s divorce attorney, Christian Region, withdrew from the divorce case last month. In a Nov. 18 filing, Region said Mann “has failed to fulfill his financial obligation to counsel.” “Additionally, counsel believes that there has been an irretrievable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship to such an extent that coun-sel can no longer represent the Defendant,” Region wrote.

According to his wife’s complaint for divorce, Mann poisoned her by “intentionally causing her to unwittingly ingest particles of lead,” leading to her weeks-long hospitalization at UAB.

A Hartselle police investigator at the time said a contractor installed eight rolls of lead in the walls of the X-ray room at Mann’s Advanced Chiropractic about a year before Mann’s wife was hospitalized.

Elliott, who is also the judge in the divorce, granted Region’s withdrawal on Nov. 21. The divorce is currently scheduled for a bench trial on Dec. 16.

Court records showed Mann had not secured a new divorce attorney as of Dec. 9.