A veteran Henrico County police officer has filed a lawsuit alleging that the county's police chief, top prosecutor and other law-enforcement officials conspired to ruin his reputation and intentionally damage his career and emotional well-being.
Filed in August, and volatile enough to prompt the recusal of eight circuit judges, the suit by demoted narcotics investigator William G. "Trip" Hueston III seeks $1.06 million in damages.
Hueston, a 13-year-veteran officer, could see a quick end to a case with a long history.
A specially appointed judge is scheduled to hear defense arguments next month that Hueston's lawyers waited too long to file the case and that it should be dismissed.
Hueston, 37, claims that Henrico Police Chief Henry W. Stanley Jr., Commonwealth's Attorney Wade A. Kizer and others falsely accused him of jury tampering and arranged to demote him after Hueston was reinstated after a grievance proceeding. He had been fired.
He has been assigned to the police department's property room since returning to work in August 2006 but has been stripped of his law-enforcement duties, including arrest powers and off-duty police work, the suit alleges.
Forbidden from wearing his police uniform in public, Hueston alleges that Kizer declined to prosecute any case in which Hueston was the chief complainant and arresting officer.
Hueston is described in the suit as a veteran officer decorated for bravery who had no prior history of disciplinary actions against him.
In defense motions scheduled for a hearing May 5, lawyers for Stanley, Kizer, two Henrico police captains and a sergeant argue that time set by law for Hueston to seek damages in the case had expired when the suit was filed in August. And Kizer's lawyer argues additionally that he is immune from civil actions that arise from his official acts as commonwealth's attorney.
Kizer said in a written statement that the role of the commonwealth's attorney "is to decide which cases are prosecuted and which are not.
"I believe the citizens of Henrico County expect the commonwealth's attorney to make decisions independently based upon all of the facts," he continued. "The pleadings filed to date in this lawsuit contain only the plaintiff's allegations. There are many important facts that are not mentioned in the plaintiff's pleadings."
Kizer would not elaborate or provide further detail.
Stanley and the three other defendants, either individually or through a police department spokesman, have referred questions about the case to their attorneys, who have declined to comment or did not return phone calls.
Even the Henrico Fraternal Order of Police declined to comment. "I may be called as a witness," explained Sgt. Shawn Maxwell.
The suit is being heard in Hanover County because Hueston lives there.
The Virginia Supreme Court's chief justice, Leroy R. Hassell Sr., in December ordered retired Judge Jay T. Swett of Albemarle County Circuit Court to hear the case because all eight circuit judges in the 15th Judicial Circuit, which includes Hanover, recused themselves without explanation. The circuit does not include Henrico courts.
Hueston, according to the suit, is being falsely accused of and improperly punished for attempting to influence a grand jury in a drug-related case four years ago. Hueston allegedly sought to interfere in efforts to have a defendant charged with a felony, preferring a misdemeanor charge.
Henrico court records and Hueston's suit identify the defendant as Curtis Armstead Sr. of the Fredericksburg area. He was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, a felony, and sentenced in April 2007 to five years in prison, according to court records. All but two months were suspended.
Armstead was arrested May 6, 2006, on a misdemeanor concealed weapon charge and a felony weapons possession charge.
The suit contains no explanation for why Hueston allegedly wanted to reduce the charge: He did not make the arrest, did not appear before a grand jury, and apparently did not testify in court.
Joseph P. Smith III, one of Hueston's lawyers, declined to answer questions about specifics in the case except to say, "The pleadings speak for themselves."
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Allegations in the 14-page lawsuit lay out actions that Hueston says were aimed at him -- from what he claimed were "sham" polygraph examinations he was directed to take, to a failure to recognize internal investigations that found no wrongdoing by Hueston, and finally to Hueston's demotion to a clerk in the police property room.
A central allegation is that Kizer, in May 2006, sent Stanley a letter "maliciously and falsely accusing Hueston of improperly trying to influence the grand jury" in the Armstead case and accusing Hueston of "attempting to have [another police officer] lie under oath."
Kizer, according to the suit, has declined to withdraw the letter in the face of findings exonerating Hueston and has refused to prosecute any crime in which Hueston was the complaining witness.
Hueston alleges in the suit that after his conduct was cleared by an internal investigation, a criminal investigation began, prompted by Kizer and Stanley.
The criminal investigation was carried out by an officer known to have a long-standing acrimonious relationship with Hueston, according to the suit.
Two fellow officers close to Hueston secretly recorded their interviews with the criminal investigator, defendant Sgt. George S. Russell Jr., and can show through the recordings that Russell falsified his report about Hueston, according to the suit. Russell's negative findings, although known to be false, were forwarded to Kizer in March 2006, the suit alleges.
Hueston was terminated from his job in June 2006 but contested it through the county's grievance procedure. On July 31, 2006, County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett ordered Hueston returned to duty.
Stanley, though, "arbitrarily and maliciously assigned him to a low-level clerical job," according to the lawsuit. Hazelett, in a subsequent grievance action, upheld the police chief regarding the job shift.
Hueston is alleging a long list of emotional and physical problems and says he has lost income and opportunities for advancement.
