Family of murder victim appeals decision to suspend Gadsden Police Chief

The family that filed a Civil Service Board complaint against Gadsden Police Chief John Crane filed an appeal of the board’s decision to suspend the chief. Joy Bates, the niece of Nita Denson, who was murdered by her son Justin Denson in 2009, is now demanding that a circuit court jury hear the family’s complaint. The family originally filed the complaint over Crane’s relationship with Justin Denson while he was in jail awaiting trial on the charge of murdering his mother.  Crane admitted during a Civil Service Board hearing that he visited with Denson once a month while he was in the Etowah County Detention Center, purchased him a suit to wear at trial and occasionally put money in the man’s commissary account.  The chief, who is a devout Catholic, said that Denson was a high school friend of his son’s and that he was led to befriend Denson as an act of faith and ministry. The board ruled on June 12 that Crane was in violation of board rules in his relationship with Denson and ordered that he serve a 15-day suspension.  10-days of the suspension are to be held in abeyance with 5-days actually being served in late June.  In the original complaint, the Denson family had asked that the board remove Crane from his position as Chief of Police.