IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF LAWRENCE COUNTY, ALABAMA

Transcription

1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF LAWRENCE COUNTY, ALABAMA SHANNON HOLL VS. GENE MITCHELL, Sheriff of Lawrence County, Alabama and member of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force, 242 PARKER ROAD MOULTON, AL LAWRENCE COUNTY COMMISSION AL HWY 157 MOULTON, AL DEFENDANTS A, B, C, D, E, F, being individual members of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force Board of Directors, who have not yet been named but may be named in the ongoing trial of this matter, DEFENDANTS G, H, I, J, K, L, being individual members of the Lawrence County Commission, who have not yet been named but may be named the ongoing trial of this matter,

2 LAWRENCE COUNTY DRUG TASK FORCE, which is a multi-jurisdictional task force formed in Colbert and Lawrence Counties, Alabama, DEFENDANTS M, N, O, being the individual Lawrence County Commissioner and Lawrence County District Attorney who are not yet named in this action but may be named as Plaintiff ascertains liability, if any, as they sit on the Lawrence County Drug Task Force Board of Directors. COMPLAINT Comes now Shannon Holland, by and through his attorney, William J. Underwood, and states unto the court as follows: 1. In order to combat drug trafficking problems in Lawrence County, the individual municipalities and the Sheriff of Lawrence County, Gene Mitchell, incorporated and/or formed a multi-jurisdictional task force. 2. A multi-jurisdictional task force is different from the common task forces in the adjoining counties wherein individuals who work for specific law enforcement entities in those counties are loaned to the drug task force to fight drug crime. 3. Shannon Holland was hired on or about the 3 rd day of May, 2010 that the drug task force hired him. Holland, in fact, had appeared before the task force some fourteen days previously. At the time he applied for the job, he was a deputy sheriff with Lawrence County Sheriffs Department.

3 4. Because it is multi-jurisdictional, the drug task force has a rules and procedure manual that they follow in all hiring and firing matters. 5. At the time Holland was hired, there were at least four applicants for the job. 6. According to the Policy and Procedures Manual of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force, (hereinafter referred to as LCDTF ), hiring can only take place by a vote of all members of the drug task force and it is found in Chapter 3, Page 7 of the Policy and Procedure Manual of the LCDTF. Factually speaking, the Board of Directors shall recommend the hiring of said agents and after their hiring, the Lawrence County Commission will approve the hiring of said agents. All the agents report directly to and are subject to the direct supervision of the Drug Task Force Coordinator. 7. Lawrence County Commission, in particular, set aside separate monies for the Sheriffs Department and for the LCDTF. This money is to be dispensed solely by the Drug Task Force but for convenience and financial record keeping category, the Sheriffs Department receives said money that is paid out according to the weekly time schedule of work by each individual agent. The Drug Task Force has a specific secretary who receives these time cards and time worked by the agents. That secretary sends what amounts of money are owed to each agent directly to the County Commission which pays each individual agent out of the Lawrence County Commission account. 8. The LCDTF has spent a tremendous amount of money in Agent Shannon Holland, sending him to a Clandestine Caboratory Class in Quantico, Virginia in March of 2012, Alabama Narcotics Officer classes in May of 2013, Narcotics Intervention in

4 2010, 2011 and 2013, and 2014 to Orange Beach for Narcotics training. Agent Holland also went to Meridian, Mississippi for drug interdiction classes, basic narcotics, and he has had many other training sessions paid for by the citizens of Lawrence County. In March of 2015, Holland was sent to the Regional Organized Crime Information Center classes in Gatlinburg, Tennessee which concerned narcotics and officer safety. 9. Two weeks before his hiring by the LCDTF, Agent Shannon Holland submitted his resignation to Lawrence County Sheriffs Department. Said resignation was hand delivered to the chief deputy at that time, Harold Knighten. Knighten secured said letter and deposited it in Shannon Holland s personnel file at the department. 10. Sometime on or about April 6, 2016, Gene Mitchell, who is the Chairman of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force, sent Plaintiff Shannon Holland a letter stating due to recent budget cuts imposed by Lawrence County Commission, his employment with the Lawrence County Sheriffs Department was ended effective April 8, At no time did Gene Mitchell meet with the LCDTF Board and have a Task Force vote to remove Holland as an employee. 12. The LCDTF Policy and Procedures Manual states that Holland has to be removed by a vote of the Drug Task Force and said vote then is sent to the Lawrence County Commission for them to approve. 13. Upon receiving notification that he was to be terminated, allegedly in conjunction with the Lawrence County budget cuts, Holland asked for an appeal hearing with the LCDTF stating he was terminated illegally.

5 14. Plaintiff verily believes at the hearing before the Lawrence County Drug Task Force, Sheriff Gene Mitchell did not have the votes to terminate Holland. The Sheriff then issued an ultimatum that, even if the task force allowed Holland back to work, he had taken away his arrest powers. 15. Plaintiff attaches Exhibit A which is page 8 of 8, which is the formation of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force. It is an interagency agreement for the purpose of dictating and controlling the operations of the Drug Task Force. It is signed by the Lawrence County Commission Chairman, the Sheriff, Erik Jett (District Attorney), and the Mayors of Moulton, Town Creek, Hillsboro, North Courtland and Courtland. 16. The multi-jurisdictional Lawrence County Drug Task Force is funded by different grants given by the federal government and State of Alabama. 17. The municipalities of each city in Lawrence County contribute money so that they will have drug enforcement. 18. Because this is a multi-district operation which receives grants from the state and federal government, the Sheriff does not have the power to take away any arrest authority from Holland. Factually speaking, Holland s salary the first three years was paid by a grant. 19. Under the rules and regulations of grant money, the Sheriff cannot be the sole authority for whom has arrest powers and whom does not. 20. At a hearing on this matter on April 21, 2016, Holland contested the way the task force terminated him, to-wit: the Sheriff did not have the power to terminate Holland.

6 After said hearing, the members of the Board of Directors asked for a ten-day reprieve to ascertain what legal direction they could take. 21. Approximately seven days later, the Drug Task Force issued a letter stating because the Sheriff had stated he would take away Holland s arrest powers, they were helpless in letting Holland go back to work. Attached as Exhibit B is the letter from Erik Jett, District Attorney, on behalf of the Board. The letter fallaciously states Holland was terminated, he received a reduction in force notice, and it is also erroneous in that it states Holland was employed by the Lawrence County Sheriffs Department. As previously mentioned, Holland gave a two-week notice of resignation to the Lawrence County Sheriffs Department which should be in his personnel file. 22. The letter does not state the LCDTF voted for a reduction in force, being Holland, from its membership. WHEREFORE, THE PREMISES CONSIDERED, Plaintiff Shannon Holland states he is still a member of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force as there has not been a vote by the full task force agreeing with the actions of Sheriff Gene Mitchell. As of the filing of this lawsuit, Holland should still be receiving his salary and, therefore, asks for his salary as damages plus attorney fees in righting a wrong for the willful dismissal of him by Sheriff Gene Mitchell without the approval of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force.

7 COUNT II Plaintiff incorporates all the allegations in Count I of said complaint and states as follows: 1. The Lawrence County Commission is supposed to approve or deny recommendations, hirings, and firings by the Lawrence County Drug Task Force. 2. Sheriff Gene Mitchell did not have the authority to terminate Agent Shannon Holland as Chairman of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force. 3. The Lawrence County Drug Task Force Board of Directors never met and approved any request by Gene Mitchell to terminate Shannon Holland. 4. Factually speaking, when the Board of Directors met after the hearing on April 21, 2016, Mitchell was the only person stating he had the authority to terminate Holland. The other members of the task force specifically stated Holland had the right to have a hearing before them and, further, states the task force acted as a democratic group of individuals collectively for the safety and security of the citizens of Lawrence County. No individual member could singlehandedly fire any individual on the Drug Task Force without approval by the Task Force Board of Directors. 5. It would be by a majority vote of the Board of Directors to properly terminate Holland properly. 6. Mitchell, at the April 21 hearing, played a trump card stating he was the sponsoring agency for Holland. This is totally untrue. Holland quit the Lawrence County

8 Sheriffs Department and it is in his personnel file. Mitchell told the task force he didn t care what they because he was terminating Holland s arrest powers. 7. The Lawrence County Commission has the final decision of whether or not a person should be hired or fired by the Lawrence County Drug Task Force. As of the filing of this lawsuit, the termination of Lt. Shannon Holland has not been approved by the Lawrence County Commission and neither was his termination in accordance with the Lawrence County rules and procedure manual on reduction in force of its employees. Holland was not given a seven-day notice in accordance with the Lawrence County Commission rules and procedure manual, nor did his reduction in force correspond with the recent county reduction in force which terminated certain court employees on or about May 8, COUNT III Plaintiff incorporates all the allegations in Counts I and II of said complaint and states as follows: 1. By virtue of the letter sent by Gene Mitchell, he claims to have authority over the Drug Task Force daily work, hiring, and firing. As previously stated, Plaintiff denies Mitchell has such power. 2. Currently the LCDTF has at least $300,000 worth of cars sitting and rotting in different lots owned by Lawrence County. 3. In particular, in State v. Anderson, an almost brand new white BMW was confiscated and given in lieu of penalty on that criminal case. That vehicle, when

9 confiscated, was under warranty with BMW. Its purchase value was somewhere in the vicinity of $55,000 and it could have been sold in the $30,000 - $35,000 range after its confiscation, yet it is still rotting and its value is going away to the citizens of Lawrence County because the Sheriff, who says he is over the LCDTF, has not sold it. 4. There is sufficient monies being held by the LCDTF and vehicles that could be used to pay Shannon Holland. The citizens of Lawrence County need drug enforcement and protection, yet monies that could fund individuals for that protection is being wasted by the leadership of the task force. WHEREFORE, THE PREMISES CONSIDERED, Shannon Holland has not been properly terminated by the Lawrence County Commission nor the Drug Task Force. He requests that, once he is reinstated, the task force and/or the Sheriff sell some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars of vehicle they have to pay his back-due monies owed him for failure to properly follow the standard rules and procedures of Lawrence County. Submitted this the 4 th day of May, /s William J. Underwood WILLIAM J. UNDERWOOD (UND005) Attorney for Plaintiff Post Office Box 245 Tuscumbia, AL (256) (256) margilbert@comcast.net