LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. -- A judge has denied a request to suspend a local sheriff.

Lincoln County commissioners filed a petition last week to remove Lincoln County Sheriff Tim Daugherty from office. The petition claims Daugherty lied to a State Bureau of Investigation agent to cover up actions that led to the release of a driving-while-impaired suspect.

The judge said there was no precedent for deciding such a case so he used criteria from a bond hearing. He said there was no evidence Daugherty was a risk to the public.

Daugherty’s supporters doled out hugs and handshakes when the request was denied. Some put on stickers proclaiming their support for the sheriff still facing felony charges of obstruction of justice and lying to a law enforcement officer.

One said the judge did the right thing.

“If any time political moves are made, and an elected official can be removed from office, why pray tell do we go to the polls and vote?” asked Lillian Richardson.

The sheriff left the courthouse without commenting, but his attorney, Shawn Devereax, told Eyewitness News, “This is the kind of thing that makes people wonder why anybody would run for public office.”

Ed Hinson, co-counsel for the Lincoln County commissioners, did not show disappointment with the judge's ruling.

“The statute provides for us to bring this before a judge for him to make a decision, and he did and we respect that,” he said.

He told the judge the all-Republican board of commissioners had to ask for the Democratic sheriff to be suspended after he was indicted last month on the felony charges.

“The citizens of this county are entitled to have confidence in law enforcement,” Hinson said.

Daugherty's chief deputy, Barry Taylor, was fired after being convicted of obstruction of justice in the same incident. Taylor allegedly kept his fiancée’s boss from being charged with drunken driving.

The sheriff wrote a statement claiming he instructed his chief deputy to release the suspect.

In a strange twist, the sheriff's attorney admitted the sheriff's written statement may have been a lie, but said Daugherty told the truth to an SBI agent.

“He has had far more important things to worry about and really is not focusing on it the way the media has or the county commissioners,” Devereax said.

The judge said Friday that both sides will return to court to decide if the sheriff should be removed from office on Jan. 18, but it could be a moot point then. The sheriff's criminal hearing is slated for the first week of January.

If a jury finds him guilty of a felony, he will automatically be disqualified from holding the office.