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Paul Quinn has a story on the CA site about an Olive Branch police officer (being defended by Christi McCoy) who was just acquitted in a federal criminal prosecution for civil rights violations involving his handling of a police dog in an arrest.

There is a lot more drama to this acquittal than would have appeared at the trial. Christi McCoy was not the original lawyer for McHann. As she explained in a motion to withdraw the guilty plea once she got in the case, McHann’s original lawyer, John Dolan, had failed in multiple ways to act as a lawyer should (communication and otherwise), and then, on a day set for motions hearing, essentially forced McHann to plead guilty. The motion to withdraw makes clear, the process of being forced to plead was a harrowing one for him.

Through a bizarre coincidence, the same day as the guilty plea, Dolan was suspended from the practice of law.

Christi McCoy, as public defender, replaced Dolan, and filed a motion to set aside the guilty plea, outlining how McHann’s lawyer was as bad or worse than no lawyer at all. Judge Mills granted the motion.

So what we have here is not just an acquittal, but a case where the lawyer came in facing an already-entered guilty plea, got it set aside, and then tried the case to a jury and won. Good work!

With that, here’s some highlights from Paul’s story:

OXFORD — It took about 30 minutes for a jury to decide Olive Branch police officer Adam McHann was not guilty of violating a suspect’s civil rights nearly six years ago.  …

“This has been six years of hell, for doing nothing wrong,” McHann said following the trial that began on Tuesday. “It should have never gotten this far.”

McHann has been on paid leave pending the trial for allegedly ordering a police K-9 to attack suspect Dedrick Johnson. The incident occurred in March 2003 and was reported by former OBPD officer Greg Wallace to his superiors. …

His attorney, in closing statements, said Wallace was to blame for causing confusion during the arrest.

“(McHann) wasn’t looking to hurt anybody, not Dedrick Johnson, not Greg Wallace,” McHann’s attorney Christi McCoy said. “And bless his heart, you know, he gets on the scene and not only does he have this fleeing suspect, doesn’t know who is, doesn’t know what he’s got, doesn’t know why he’s running, and, more importantly, he doesn’t know why he’s stopped. And then, in the midst of it, you’ve got Greg Wallace breaking every rule, running ahead, drawing his weapon, holstering his weapon. So Adam is trying to control the scene, protect Greg Wallace, and secure the suspect.”