Published: December 29, 2006 09:17 pm         

Prosecutors appeal judge's ruling to reinstate Coopertown mayor

SPRINGFIELD — Prosecutors have appealed a judge's ruling that reinstated a small-town mayor accused of ordering police to target soldiers and Hispanics for speeding tickets.

Coopertown Mayor Danny Crosby was suspended in July and faced 14 charges of official misconduct in a trial to oust him from office. He was reinstated last month following a judge's ruling that prosecutors didn't prove the orders to police were ever carried out.

Robertson County Chancellor Laurence McMillan, who had previously suspended Crosby, dismissed all the charges. Crosby has denied the accusations outlined in the ouster.

The district attorney's office on Wednesday filed a notice of appeal of McMillan's ruling.

"We are not contesting the judge's finding of fact, simply the application of the law," Assistant District Attorney Dent Morriss said.

"The appeal says that based upon the chancellor's findings of fact, the court reached the wrong legal conclusions," he said. "The defendant was shown to be guilty of official misconduct, which should have resulted in his being ousted."

The district attorney's office took up the ouster complaint earlier this year after more than 500 residents signed a petition seeking to have the mayor removed.

McMillan found that Crosby told officers to target Hispanic workers, soldiers from nearby Fort Campbell and nonresidents because they were less likely to contest tickets.

But prosecutors failed to show that officers did anything illegal or that Hispanics and soldiers were ticketed more than other drivers, McMillan said.

The court also agreed that Crosby threatened to sue citizens who had signed an ouster petition against him, and that he asked a police officer to publish scandalous information about a city alderman. The officer never carried out the order.