58 criminal cases involving Hanceville Police Department dismissed

CULLMAN, Ala. (WHNT) — A grand jury has determined that 58 cases involving the Hanceville Police Department could not be prosecuted, leading to charges being dismissed.

Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker said a grand jury convened in April and voted to dismiss 58 felony cases previously investigated by the Hanceville Police Department, whose former chief and several officers had previously been indicted on different drug and corruption charges. Crocker said the dismissals were due to “the illegal actions” of several former Hanceville Police officers.

“The Grand Jury that unanimously indicted the former Hanceville police officers determined that those officers’ cases, and other cases from the Hanceville Police Department, were unprosecutable,” The district attorney said. “The same Grand Jury reconvened in April and voted to no-bill, or dismiss, 58 felony cases due to the illegal actions of those former Hanceville officers. Most of these cases involved drugs, and only a few were personal crimes with victims. One dismissal is too many, but the Grand Jury had no other recourse.”

Crocker said the jury convened after the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation completed its audit of the department.

That audit showed that 249 pieces of evidence in the department’s evidence room were not documented with case numbers and approximately 78 evidence bags were unsealed or torn open.

Crocker shared images of the results of that audit, which can be found here:

Crocker also shared several photos showing the state of the evidence room.

This all comes after an investigation into the death of a Hanceville dispatcher, Christopher Willingham. The Cullman County Coroner said Willingham died of an accidental drug overdose in his office.

The death investigation led officials with multiple agencies to look into what was happening within the Hanceville Police Department.

On Feb. 19, Crocker and Sheriff Matt Gentry announced that five Hanceville Police Officers, including Police Chief Jason Marlin, and one of the officer’s wives were arrested on various charges including tampering, solicitation and failure to report.

Crocker shared other findings from the Cullman County Grand Jury, which found that the “death of former Hanceville dispatcher Chris Willingham is the direct result of Hanceville Police Department’s negligence, lack of procedure, general incompetence, and disregard for human life.”

The grand jury also recommended that the Hanceville Police Department be abolished.

The Hanceville City Council later acted on that recommendation by voting to disband the department entirely, with the goal of starting a new police department. The city said its first step would be hiring a new police chief.