On Wednesday, Oct. 8, a Union County grand jury indicted former Towns County Sheriff’s Deputy Austin Bradburn for multiple crimes related to the incident in which he received two gunshot wounds to his leg on the side of Plottown Road in Young Harris on Dec. 13, 2024.
Based on evidence from a GBI investigation, grand jurors found probable cause to formally charge Bradburn with four counts of making false statements, two counts of violating his oath as a public officer – all felonies – and two misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting a crime.
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Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jeff Langley presented the case for Bradburn’s Union County indictments, which stem from allegedly false statements he made to GBI special agents after returning to his Blairsville home from Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.
Bradburn was also indicted on Monday, Oct. 6, on similar charges in Hall County, where he first spoke with the GBI about the shooting while a patient at the Gainesville hospital last year. There, he is facing two felony counts of false statements and two felony counts of oath violation.
And Langley said he will be presenting additional charges for indictment by a Towns County grand jury later this month, as Bradburn made his first statements about the crime at the scene of the shooting in Young Harris.
That makes for three separate criminal cases regarding the same incident, because “the venue in a criminal case is the geographic location where the crime occurs,” Langley said, and Bradburn has been accused of lying to law enforcement about the shooting in three different counties.
According to the Union County indictments, investigators believe key elements of Bradburn’s testimony to be false, namely, his claims of having pulled over a car for not having a license plate and being shot by that car’s driver, an “unknown assailant.”
Bradburn first reported that, upon making the traffic stop, “he had immediately exited his vehicle and had been shot during a struggle with the driver of said car over his gun,” per the indictments. But that version of events did not match the evidence collected by the GBI.
“Subsequent investigation revealed that contrary to his initial statements, the accused had not stopped another vehicle and there was no other driver and that he had been stationary on Plott Town Road for over 20 minutes prior to the alleged shooting,” the indictments read.
In follow-up interviews with the GBI, Bradburn attempted to explain the time discrepancy by “falsely” stating he had had trouble running the stopped car’s Vehicle Identification Number, at one point claiming his computer had malfunctioned in his patrol car, per the indictments.
Investigators have not explicitly stated who they believe shot Bradburn, but the GBI said in January there was “no information to support the presence of another party,” implying that he shot himself and lied about it.
As noted above, Bradburn has also been charged with violating his oath of office as a sworn deputy by giving false statements concerning a crime and making false reports of a crime, specifically aggravated assault.
District Attorney Langley said Bradburn voluntarily testified in front of the Union County grand jury last week – an uncommon occurrence.
Normally, the accused do not have a right to be present, as grand jury proceedings are secret. But there is an exception in state law for peace officers accused of crimes in the line of duty, and Bradburn chose to exercise that right, so jurors were able to hear from him and ask questions.
Also part of the law, “Any testimony given by the officer may be used against him or her by the grand jury or in a subsequent legal proceeding,” meaning the stakes are high regarding the sworn statements made by an accused officer.
Langley could not go into details of the proceedings, but he did highlight the fact that the grand jury acts independently and is not, as some perceive, a “rubber stamp” for the District Attorney.
His office also pursued two felony theft charges against Bradburn for keeping equipment he should have returned upon leaving the Union County Sheriff’s Office, where he worked before joining the Towns County Sheriff’s Office. The grand jury declined to issue those indictments.
As for the timeline on the Union County case, Langley said Bradburn will soon be arraigned on the indicted charges, though it is too early to say when he will face trial. He will be going on at least two different trial calendars – in Hall County and Union County – and potentially in Towns County if indicted there.
Bradburn politely declined a request for comment over the weekend, directing the newspaper to contact his legal representation.
He was reportedly maintaining his innocence at the time of his January arrest, for which he quickly made bond, and Bradburn is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The Towns County Sheriff’s Office terminated Bradburn’s employment on Dec. 20, 2024, a week after the shooting; he was a Towns County deputy for roughly two and a half months, having taken his oath of office in early October 2024.
