Former Municipal Court Judge Alsee McDaniel has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in United States District Court in Oxford, against Indianola Mayor Steve Rosenthal and each member of the city’s Board of Aldermen.
In the court documents, McDaniel alleges his Oct. 2016 firing was racially motivated because he is African American and the mayor and two aldermen, who are Caucasian, are to blame for his termination.
McDaniel’s complaint also alleges that he was treated differently than his predecessor (Howard Q. Davis), who was a Caucasian man and was replaced with a Caucasian woman (Kuykendall Murry) after being terminated and allegedly defamed.
City Attorney Gary Austin said McDaniel’s claim of racial discrimination is without merit.
“Totally untrue,” Austin told The Enterprise-Tocsin.
Austin further insisted that every attorney in the county was contacted about the position when McDaniel was terminated but no one other than Murry wanted the post. According to Austin, statutes require that the city judge be a registered voter of the county to be considered.
In the complaint, which is dated July 6, McDaniel is asking to be reinstated and have the city officials named in the suit pay compensatory and punitive damages for his alleged wrongful termination and the alleged character defamation.
Records also show that in April, McDaniel filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint with the Jackson office, but only named the City of Indianola, Rosenthal and Aldermen Gary Fratesi and Larry Brown as defendants. The commission concluded that the provided information did not violate any statutes, but McDaniel could file a suit if he wanted to pursue it further.
In that document, McDaniel levied the above stated claims, plus an assertion that Rosenthal made false and erroneous statements to persons in the community that maligned his character as a judge and attorney.
At the October meeting that led to McDaniel’s termination, the Board of Aldermen spent more than two hours debating in closed session before returning with a 2-1 vote to terminate him.
Only four of the five aldermen were present at that meeting. Alderman Carver Randle Jr. recused himself from the proceedings because McDaniel was his personal attorney.
Alderman Dana Myrick did not cast a vote, leaving only Aldermen Ruben Wood, who voted no, Gary Fratesi, who made the motion to terminate and Larry Brown, who seconded the motion.
McDaniel, an Indianola native and Harvard Law School graduate, had been the city judge since October 2011 when he replaced Davis.
McDaniel’s tenure as judge was plagued with criticism from the public and city officials for the number of cases that were dismissed and a decrease in fine collections.
The then newly-appointed police chief (Edrick Hall) had also publicly criticized him for the number of continued cases, and there was an issue during a court session just prior to his firing where a defendant cursed a court clerk and threatened bodily harm.
In an Oct. 27 letter to the editor, published in the E-T, McDaniel publicly addressed each allegation that supposedly led to his dismissal. In it, he said that the mayor and board had continuously raised issue with fine collections since his hiring, even though fine collection had increased. He claimed there were over $4 million in uncollected fines when he started.
McDaniel refuted the allegation of not being able to maintain his courtroom, maintaining his court had been able to complete cases within a reasonable time, even with large dockets.
He did note some cases involved persons who were very emotionally charged.
Although the complaint was dated in July, city officials have only been served in the last two weeks. Austin said the case is being handled through the city’s insurance provider, and it is likely Cleveland attorney Mary McKay Lasker will represent the city.
Multiple calls and a voicemail left on McDaniel’s cell phone were unanswered by press time.
