Alabama’s former top cop is breathing a sigh of relief after a grand jury investigation cleared him of wrongdoing. Now, the news has begun to raise questions against embattled Governor Robert Bentley, who is coming under new scrutiny over claims that he used law enforcement resources for political purposes.
It’s a reaction that seems to have surfaced after Attorney General Luther Strange’s office announced that a grand jury’s criminal investigation against Spencer Collier, who once oversaw the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), is now closed.
Collier was fired by Governor Robert Bentley in March, after publicly claiming that an internal investigation pointed to an abuse of state funds. At the time, the governor named Stan Stabler, who once served on the his security detail, to step into the ALEA’s top position.
In a statement, the Attorney General’s office stopped short of calling the probe a waste of time.
“In the course of the investigation, no witness provided credible evidence of criminal ‘misuse of state funds.’ No witness provided credible evidence of any other criminal violation on the part of former Secretary Collier. Finally, no witness established a credible basis for the initiation of a criminal inquiry in the first place,” Attorney General Strange’s office said in a statement.
Collier now says that he feels “vindicated” by the announcement, and is firing back at the Governor over the new findings.
“It is now abundantly clear that the Governor and Secretary Stabler used substantial state law enforcement resources as a political tool,” Collier’s attorney Kenny Mendelsohn said in a statement. “The ALEA investigation was based on conjecture, rumors and false information.”
Despite the grand jury’s findings, Bentley stood by his decision. He said that allegations used to dismiss Collier were not “untruthful.”
“I wish the best for Spencer. I really do. Spencer was a friend of mine for a long time. I had to make a decision as a governor related to an agency,” Gov. Bentley said. “It really was not personal.”
This is not the first time the governor had to defend his action against Collier. Here’s what he said in April:
“Once the facts and circumstances become public, I am confident that the justification for terminating him will be shown. We will aggressively defend this lawsuit.”
