Ex-chief's trial starts

CELINA - A three-day appeals trial began Tuesday in Mercer County Common Pleas Court to determine if former Celina Police Chief Dave Slusser should get back his job.

Slusser's appeal is being presided over by visiting judge Roger Bates Wilson, a retired Champaign County Court of Common Pleas judge. The trial is expected to continue through Thursday afternoon and likely will include testimony from current chief Tom Wale and former police department employees Lee Andrew Regedanz, Calvin Freeman and James Stelzer, according to court records.

Subpoenas also were issued to city law director George Moore and local attorney Louis Schiavone, according to court documents.

In September, a Lima appeals court ruled Wilson erred on April 13 when he rejected Slusser's appeal, ruling the former chief had not filed the appeal in a timely manner.

The Third District Court of Appeals reversed the local judgment and sent back the case for further proceedings.

City officials terminated Slusser on June 13, 2013, for alleged misconduct in office. He appealed the termination to the Celina Civil Service Commission, which in August 2014 upheld a special hearing officer's ruling supporting the city's decision to fire Slusser.

Slusser on Aug. 26, 2014, filed a notice of appeal with the commission, indicating his intent to appeal the decision to Mercer County Common Pleas Court, according to court documents.

Pete Nevada, the city's legal counsel, on Tuesday said Slusser was terminated from his job, a civil service position, based on five separate charges. Any one of the charges, Nevada argued in his opening statement, would support termination. When combined, they demand termination, he said.

Slusser was accused by city officials of not documenting receipt and mishandling of a bottle of prescription Xanax pills linked to a domestic violence case, altering employee time records so restricted alcohol and drug funds could be used to meet a police payroll deficit, failing to return a .38-caliber pistol to its manufacturer after testing, not disposing of blood-stained evidence according to department policy and not following a direct order to wipe clean data on two laptop computers, which allegedly contained photos from a child-abuse investigation, Nevada said.

Nevada said he believes the city has more than enough evidence to support Slusser's termination.

In a series of interviews, Slusser admitted to almost all of the underlying facts but denied they rose to the level of viable charges, Nevada said.

"But there was no factual dispute as to that which had transpired," he said.

He also claimed Slusser gave so many accounts of what had happened to the pills - that he had disposed of them, that he had destroyed them, that he had thrown them into the trash can - that it's difficult to keep track of how many stories were told.

Nevada said Slusser should be subject to the department policies he helped establish.

"We believe that the bottom line is that the conduct that (Slusser) committed violated numerous policies, many of which he implemented for the department, many of which he used to discipline people under him," Nevada said.

What's missing from the accusations is context, Slusser's lawyer Bruce Elfvin argued.

No charges were being investigated or even a gleam in anyone's eyes until Slusser requested less than $20 to pay for the bottle of pills that had been disposed of, Elfvin said.

The charges against Slusser, Elfvin said, are overblown and stacked, with city officials hoping that something sticks.

"The removal of Chief Slusser was improper ... he should be restored to his employment and his position as chief of police of the city of Celina," Elfvin said.

Slusser was first placed on paid administrative leave on Feb. 14, 2013. Afterward, Slusser was told he would have no access to city records, Elfvin said.

In addition to threatening Slusser with termination, city officials indicated criminal charges could be filed, he added.

"The thing that the chief did more than anything was at all times when he was asked questions, he tried to answer based upon what he knew, what he could recall," Elfvin said.

In regard to the pills, Slusser eventually remembered he had disposed of them at a drug drop-off box at the Mercer County Sheriff's Department, he said.

The pills, Elfvin said, were never considered evidence - they were brought in as part of a domestic dispute by a woman who claimed they had an adverse effect on her husband when he drank alcohol. The pills were not linked to any crime or investigation, he added.

Elfvin said Slusser, with the backing of council, used restricted drug and alcohol funds to meet payroll and to prevent a massive layoff of police department personnel. Slusser's actions, he noted, were not cited by either the city or state auditor.

Slusser on numerous times contacted the manufacturer of the pistol to try to get the proper return materials so he could send back the gun, Elfvin said. The materials never arrived.

The blood-stained evidence as cited by the city was actually not evidence of a crime, as no one in the case was charged or arrested, Elfvin said. A 14-year-old claimed to have been stabbed but through police work, it was determined that the child was lying.

And as to the charge of not wiping clean the laptop computers, Elfvin said Slusser attempted to do so. He was not ordered to reformat the hard drives because the city wanted the laptops transferred to council members.

Elfvin also questioned who found the law enforcement information on the computers - city council members or safety service director Tom Hitchcock.