Charges dismissed against former Shreveport fire chief

Published: Mar. 23, 2016 at 2:24 PM CDT|Updated: Apr. 6, 2016 at 2:24 PM CDT
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SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - All charges against former Shreveport Fire Chief Craig Mulford in connection with allegations that he interfered with the Fire Station 8 investigation have been dropped.

Mulford was fired in September 2014, after he was indicted on the five counts of malfeasance in office for allegedly violating administrative policies while handling complaints about several firefighters.

Mulford was accused of not letting firefighters speak with investigators about firefighters abusing two mentally-challenged men at Fire Station 8 and conducting a false investigation.

At a hearing in Caddo District Court Wednesday morning, Judge John Mosely, Jr. granted a defense motion to quash the indictment against Mulford, which argued that the process under which he was prosecuted denied him equal protection under the law, and that it was "deliberately based upon an arbitrary and unjustifiable standard."

As a result, the Caddo District Attorney's office dismissed the charges.

Judge Mosely has previously denied defense motions to throw out the charges against Mulford. Wednesday's hearing lasted only a few minutes, and Judge Mosely did not offer any explanation for granting the latest motion to throw out the indictment against Mulford.

Mulford's defense attorney Paul Carmouche says the prosecution did not fight the motion because they would have had to start all over again.

"What that really means is, it's the same as if he was found not guilty after trial," Carmouche said after the hearing. "What it really says is that it probably never should have been filed. It wasn't legally correct. As I said from the very beginning, they had to cobble together a whole bunch of statues rules and all of this to try to find something to charge him with and it just didn't stand up legally."

"Our God is an awesome God and he allows us to go through things," Mulford said of the ruling. "We don't always  understand why he allows us to go through those things, but we're forged in the fire."

The former fire chief also pointed to the timing of the ruling, saying, "Six years ago today, I found myself trapped in a structure collapse in Highland, and the Lord freed me that day, and he freed me today. So praise God. That's all we have to say."

Trial on the charges had been delayed 3 times since he was indicted in June 2014, most recently in February when prosecutors asked for more time for Assistant District Attorney Ross Owen to prepare in the wake of the departure of former ADA Dale Cox, who handled the case before James Stewart took over as DA.

KSLA News 12 has not yet obtained comment from the DA's office.

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