By Kate White, Staff writer and Rusty Marks
Kanawha County Prosecuting
Attorney Mark Plants has ordered a review of all pending criminal cases that
involve suspended Charleston police Lt. Shawn Williams, but Charleston Mayor
Danny Jones thinks Plants should stay out of the way of the police department’s
investigation.Plants’ office issued a news release Thursday afternoon stating,
“Any time a law enforcement officer is under an investigation for misconduct,
the reliability of their testimony is an issue.” Jones said the Charleston
Police Department has a handle on the investigation and pointed out bad blood
between Plants and CPD officers.Williams was suspended with pay last month,
pending an investigation by the CPD’s Professional Standards Division. Police
Chief Brent Webster has said he will not discuss the investigation because of
personnel laws.However, sources familiar with the investigation said it
involves racially insensitive videos allegedly found on Williams’ home
computer. Two people who have seen the videos said they depict Williams’ young
daughter dressed in what appears to be articles of a police uniform and dancing
to a song about the Ku Klux Klan. A man purported to be Williams can be heard
asking the girl questions, in which racially derogatory language allegedly can
be heard.Plants’ office has reviewed the investigation of Williams “related to
allegations of racial discrimination,” according to the news release, which was
issued by assistant prosecutor James Bailey. During Plants’ investigation into
Williams, the officer will not be relied upon as a witness in criminal cases,
the release states. The mayor made clear his disdain for the prosecutor’s
inquiry.“Mark Plants is not smart enough, when the negative light is cast in
another direction, to stay out of that negative light,” Jones said. “He just
has to involve himself in something that has nothing to do with him.“We are
investigating this. The Charleston Police is going to handle this. We don’t
condone any kind of activity that is being alleged.” He said the city will move
to keep Plants from getting involved. Plants is facing two misdemeanor domestic
violence-related charges. Kanawha County commissioners are waiting to hear if a
three-judge panel will remove him from office. The commissioners say that,
because of the case against him, the prosecutor isn’t able to do the job he was
elected to do. After Plants was charged with domestic battery for striking his
11-year-old son with a belt and violating a domestic violence protection order
that required him to stay away from his ex-wife and their two sons, a judge
barred his office from handling charges similar to the ones Plants faces.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom took that action after the city of Charleston
filed a petition requesting Plants’ removal.Additionally, Plants is now married
to the ex-wife of a Charleston police detective, and city officers have
publicly criticized him. “Everyone knows there’s no good feelings between him
and the Charleston Police Department,” Jones said.Charleston officials took
their investigation of Williams to the Prosecutor’s Office at the request of
Plants’ chief of staff, Charles Miller, Jones said.“Plants wanted to be
involved, and we’re not going to involve ourselves in anything with Mark
Plants,” the mayor said. “We are handling it.”Until recently, Williams was head
of the police department’s Patrol Division, and orchestrated a series of
well-publicized raids on the city’s West Side and the downtown transit mall.
Williams told reporters at the time he was trying to help clean up the city’s
“riffraff.”Plants said, “Although this investigation is ongoing, racism or
prejudice of any kind is completely unacceptable, especially concerning law
enforcement officers who we entrust with protecting our liberties.”Webster said
he does not know how long the police department’s internal investigation will
take.In response to Jones’ comments, Plants said he’s not investigating
Williams, he’s investigating the cases in which Williams has played a part. “By
law, prosecutors are required to disclose instances of substantiated misconduct
by law enforcement officers. Mayor Jones should understand the facts and law
before saying that this has nothing to do with my office,” Plants said. “Every
criminal case that involves Lt. Williams will be impacted.”Reach Rusty Marks at
rustymarks@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1215 or follow @rusty_marks on Twitter. Reach
Kate White at kate.white@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on
Twitter.
