Ex Parte Windom

Stephen R. Windom, a defendant in a civil action pending in the Walker Circuit Court, seeks a writ of mandamus directing Judge Hugh Beaird to stay discovery in that action. Windom wants discovery stayed pending a ruling on his motion to transfer that case and pending the criminal trial of Garfield W. Ivey, Jr., who is the plaintiff in the civil action against Windom.

During Windom's 1998 campaign for Lieutenant Governor, Melissa Myers Bush, a Mobile resident, sued him, claiming that he had sexually assaulted her while she was working as a prostitute. Windom in turn sued Bush and a person named…