Etowah jury to hear case brought by murder victims family against Gadsden police chief

Chief John Crane

An Etowah county jury will hear the case of a Gadsden murder victims family brought against Gadsden Police Chief John Crane  next month.   The trial will be the first case on the Aug. 26 civil jury docket before Circuit Judge Allen Millican. The docket is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Because of Gadsden Civil Service Board rules stating that any appeal to the circuit court of the board’s ruling must be heard on the next available docket, the case was given priority.  Joy Bates, the neice of murder victim Nita Denson  filed a complaint with the Gadsden Civil Service Board, and the board suspended Crane for 15 days, with 10 held in abeyance, on June 12.  The family’s attorney, Michael Rasmussen, asked the board to remove Crane, and the family appealed the suspension on June 18.  Millican said the trial will be a trial de novo, which means all previous proceedings, including those before the civil service board , about the family’s complaints are irrelevant.  The Civil Service Board found that Crane was in violation of its rules when he continued his ministerial relationship with Denson’s murderer and son, Justin Denson, after he became police chief. Denson pleaded guilty last November to murdering his mother and stealing her credit cards in December 2009