Judge rules against Trammell

The Rev. Raleigh Trammell, president of the Dayton, Ohio, chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, right, listens to Charles Steele, national SCLC president, speak during a news conference Monday afternoon, Nov. 22, 2004, in Dayton, Ohio.

Lisa Powell/Staff The Rev. Raleigh Trammell, president of the Dayton, Ohio, chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, right, listens to Charles Steele, national SCLC president, speak during a news conference Monday afternoon, Nov. 22, 2004, in Dayton, Ohio.

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By Lynn Hulsey and Tom Beyerlein 
Staff Writers Updated 11:11 PM Wednesday, September 1, 2010

An Atlanta judge handed the Rev. Raleigh Trammell of Dayton a major defeat Wednesday, Sept. 1, ruling that his opponents are the bona fide leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The order by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey settles a power struggle that has caused a rift in the civil rights organization since last fall. It started when Trammell’s opponents accused him and former treasurer Spiver Gordon of misappropriating more than $569,000. Trammell, head of the Dayton SCLC chapter, was elected chairman of the national SCLC in 2004.

Dempsey banned Trammell and his supporters, including Wilburt O. Shanklin of Dayton, from interfering with SCLC business and from “holding themselves out as officers and/or directors.” He lifted a freeze on two SCLC bank accounts, turning them over to Trammell’s opponents, declared that Trammell, Gordon, Shanklin and others breached their fiduciary duties to the SCLC, and ordered Shanklin and others to repay the SCLC for more than $12,000 in legal fees.

“We believe that the evidence in this case was clear,” said Charles Mathis, attorney for the anti-Trammell faction.

Thelma Wyatt Moore, attorney for Trammell’s supporters, said, “We believe that Judge Dempsey has erred in his ruling.”

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