A decision on whether
or not the suspension of a Dothan police officer was justified is more than a
month away.
In Judge Butch
Binford’s courtroom today, Corporal Raemonica Carney went up against the City
of Dothan. In May, Carney was suspended for 10 days and put on desk duty after
the personnel board found controversial Facebook posts made by Carney violated
the Police Department’s social media policy.
The posts made by
Carney were about former Los Angeles Police Officer Christopher Dorner who went
on a killing spree in February before killing himself.
Carney’s attorney,
Sonya Edwards, stated that the suspension was a violation of Carney’s first
amendment rights, while the city’s attorney Kevan Kelly argued that substantial
evidence was presented at the personnel board making the suspension fair.
Judge Binford did not
rule today, he gave the city 21 days to submit a case brief. Then Carney’s
attorney will have 14 days to respond. Once the response is in, Judge Binford
will decide if the personnel board was equipped to make the ruling or if the
case should go before an appeals court.
