CARROLLTON, Ky. (WHAS11) – The Carrollton, Kentucky police chief and an officer are free and clear after a jury found them not guilty of three different crimes stemming from 2015.
Chief Michael Willhoite and Officer Ronald Dickow were charged with three crimes: complicity to commit kidnapping, complicity to commit custodial interference and complicity to commit official misconduct.
An indictment accused the two men of taking a mentally ill suspect from jail and putting him on a Greyhound bus to Florida rather than taking him to a mental facility.
Within an hour on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, the jury found both officers not guilty.
“At the end of the day they had no evidence to support the allegations that they made,” Greg McDowell, the attorney representing Willhoite, said referring to the prosecutors. “Whether they made them in the indictment, opening statement or throughout this case, they just simply didn’t have the facts to back up their case.”
McDowell explained how much was at stake for his client was following the verdict.
“A lot was at risk in this case. He had a chance to lose his liberty; he had a chance to lose his livelihood; he had a chance to lose everything he’s worked for,” McDowell said.