A grand jury recommended abolishing Hanceville’s entire police force for its “rampant culture of corruption.” The grand jury gave this recommendation as it indicted Hanceville’s police chief, four officers and the wife of an indicted officer.
The police department, which the grand jury described as “more of a criminal enterprise than a law enforcement agency,” served the small town of 3,200 residents, and was one of only a handful of municipal police forces in Cullman County. Following the indictments, all remaining members of the department have been placed on administrative leave, and the Cullman County Sheriff’s office will be temporarily handling law enforcement in the city.
The investigation into the Hanceville Police Department began following the death of Chris Willingham, a dispatcher for the department, in August 2024. Willingham died of a drug overdose from drugs obtained from the evidence room.
The HPD’s evidence room has been a point of focus for prosecutors, who say the department failed to properly secure the evidence room, and that there was, essentially, unrestricted access to the room by employees. Reportedly, the room could be jimmied open with a broom handle and there was a hole in the wall that allowed access to the room.
The charges levied against the officers include tampering with evidence and unlawfully distributing controlled substances. Police chief Jason Marlin has been charged with two counts of failure to report ethics crime and tampering with physical evidence.
Additionally, the city is currently facing lawsuits from a former officer, Lowell Hadder, who claims he was unlawfully fired and a resident, Joshua Philips, who accused three officers of using excessive force.
Hadder served as the HPD’s evidence custodian, and claimed he was fired without a valid legal reason. Hadder also claimed that Hanceville Mayor Jimmy Sawyer forced him to leave his job in April 2024 prior to him being able to complete inventory, which Hadder says broke the chain of custody for evidence.
Hadder is also the defendant in the suit filed by Philips. According to Philips, in 2020, Hadder and two other officers unlawfully arrested him and physically assaulted him after he attempted to file a complaint against one of their officers.
Philips named both the city and department in his suit, claiming that the city ignored his complaints. Now, Philips is requesting that a judge accept the recent indictments as evidence in his case.
Hanceville’s City Council will meet Feb. 27 at 5 pm to discuss the HPD’s future.
Alabama top stories in brief
Concerns rise over lawsuit that could dismantle protections for individuals with disabilities
- Alabama’s Attorney General is receiving heavy backlash from disability advocates over his decision to join a lawsuit that could remove federal disability protections.
- In September, Marshall joined 16 other states’ attorneys general in a lawsuit suing the federal government over the Biden administration’s addition of a gender identity-related disorder to the disabilities protected under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
- Section 504 protects people with disabilities from discrimination.
- Last May, the Biden administration issued a rule that added gender dysphoria to the covered disabilities. The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders includes gender dysphoria, which the Mayo Clinic defines as, “a feeling of distress that can happen when a person’s gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth.”
- Attorneys general supporting the lawsuit say it will not affect individuals receiving accommodations, but the lawsuit asks a federal judge to “Declare Section 504 … unconstitutional.”
- “This includes students with ADHD, heart disease, depression, visual impairment, diabetes,” said Ryan Renaud, a school board representative for Huntsville City Schools, one of the largest public school districts in Alabama. “Accommodations that come with those health concerns also fall under 504 plan protection.”
- The litigation is currently on hold while the current administration evaluates the policy and decides on its stance.
Alabama House committee rejects bill making parents liable when children bring guns to school
- Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, sponsored HB 103 that would have subjected parents to a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine if their child brings an unauthorized firearm to school.
- The bill was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last year, but the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee rejected the bill.
- “My basic opposition to this particular bill is that it applies a criminal offense based on another person’s actions,” said Rep. Ginny Shaver, R-Leesburg. “No matter what you do, if the child does take a gun to school, that person’s action is then going to trigger a criminal penalty on someone else.”
- Drummond then warned her colleagues of the potential consequences after members voted against her proposal. “I hope none of our children die as a result,” she said.
- Alabama has one of the highest rates of firearm deaths in the nation.
Senate approves bill to expand access to prenatal care
- SB102 would expand access to prenatal care by making pregnant women presumptively eligible for Medicaid to cover prenatal care for a period of 60 days.
- Those accessing the care would need to provide basic proof of pregnancy and household income, then would be given access to Medicaid without having to wait until an application was approved.
- The bill is very similar to HB89, which passed the House earlier this month.
Two senate bills could change medical age of consent to 18
- Currently, the medical age of consent in Alabama is 14, allowing minors to consent to care without a parent’s permission. Two bills in the senate would change that so everyone younger than 18 must have a guardian’s consent for medical treatment.
- The bills, SB58 and SB101, do have exceptions for minors who have graduated high school, are pregnant, married or divorced or living financially independent of guardians. They also allow exceptions for preventing or determining the presence of a pregnancy or drug or alcohol testing.
- Sens. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, and Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, the sponsors for the two bills, argued that parents should have input in their child’s medical decisions.
- At a public hearing for the bill, opponents voiced concerns for teenagers who lived in unstable households where parents would be unwilling or unable to consent to medical care for them.
- A statement given to Alabama Daily News from the Medical Association of the State of Alabama said “this legislation raises concerns about the unintended consequences for adolescents who may not have stable family environments and could face barriers to accessing essential medical care, including mental health services.”
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