For March, it has to be the conspiracy to frame an innocent man, Douglas Dendinger, in Bogalusa, Louisiana.
Mr. Dendinger agreed to take on the task of a “process server.” That is, he would hand-deliver legal papers to a person who has been sued–putting that person on notice about the legal action. In this instance, Mr. Dendinger was to serve papers upon a former police officer, Chad Cassard, who was being sued for police brutality. Mr. Dendinger found Mr. Cassard as he was leaving the local courthouse and made the delivery. At that moment, Mr. Cassard was in the company of several police officers and prosecutors. These people became hostile and furious with Mr. Dendinger over what this lawsuit would mean for their friend/colleague.
Then the story takes a bizarre and disturbing turn. Later that day, the police arrive at Mr. Dendinger’s home and place him under arrest on several charges, including two felonies (1) obstruction of justice and (2) witness intimidation. Mr. Cassard and a few of his cohorts claimed that Mr. Dendinger had served the papers in a violent fashion. Mr. Dendinger was in very serious legal trouble. He was looking at many years in prison.
Fortunately, a cell phone video of the “incident” emerged. Turns out, Mr. Dendinger did nothing wrong. All he did was peacefully hand-deliver an envelope to Mr. Cassard. The charges were then dropped.
But we now know that local police and prosecutors leveled false accusations about what happened that day. Had the case proceeded to trial, it would have been Mr. Dendinger’s word against several witnesses with law enforcement backgrounds. A jury would have been hard pressed to disbelieve several witnesses who claimed to see the same thing. A miscarriage of justice was narrowly averted.
The cell phone video exposes an outrageous criminal conspiracy by officials in Bogalusa. More here.
Worst of the Month — March is a post from PoliceMisconduct.net