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MOSES’ LAWYER ASKS JUDGE TO RECONSIDER PAST RULING

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, March 23, 2006 10:32 AM CST

An attorney for former Pine Bluff Police Chief Daniel Moses has asked a federal judge to reconsider a decision not to reinstate Moses to his former position.

Denise Reid Hoggard said the court decision focused on the monetary benefits Moses would receive if he won a lawsuit that claims his rights were violated under the Family and Medical Leave Act when he told the Civil Service Commission he had cancer and needed chemotherapy.

The court filing Monday came two days before the Civil Service Commission named retired Arkansas State Police Lt. John Howell as the new chief, replacing Moses who was fired Oct. 11 after the commission said they felt new leadership was needed in the department.

“I find it interesting that the city is in disagreement over whether a chief should live inside the city while they have one who is inside the city, entitled to the job, wanting the job, and who early on had offered to resolve his litigation for reinstatement and back pay-money already budgeted and available,” Hoggard said in an e-mail to The Commercial.

“Chief Moses told his wife when they were looking for a home that he would only consider living in Pine Bluff,” she said in the e-mail. “He wanted to live with the people he served and with the people he would lead. He told Phyllis (his wife) that the city deserved someone who cared about the city enough to be a part of it and make it their home.”

The newly named chief resides in the Harden community.

As an alternative to reinstating Moses, she asked for a trial date earlier that the week of June 26, when the case is currently set.

“The key reason for expediting the matter for trial was the court’s acknowledgment that the likelihood of Chief Moses survival at this state is very limited,” Hoggard said. “In fact, his physician has stated that the prognosis for survival based on average life expectancies in cases such as Chief Moses’ is four to six months from completion of radiation therapy.”

Attached to the motion was a letter from Dr. Omar T. Atiq who described Moses’ prognosis as “poor, with a medium survival rate of about four to six months.”

Hoggard said Moses completed radiation therapy on Feb. 15.

“That places his life expectancy between June 15 and Aug. 16, 2006,” Hoggard said in the court filing. “While Chief Moses may exceed his life expectancy, the medical evidence is to the contrary.”

She said reinstating Moses “is not likely to be available based on his special circumstances.”

“Even if reinstatement was to be available to him after trial on the merits, he will have lost precious time which cannot be recaptured and which is in very limited supply to the Chief.”

Moses, who had been police chief since December 2002, after being named interim chief a few months earlier, was suspended Sept. 13 pending an investigation amid allegations of improper use or documentation of sick leave, personal charges on a city-issued gasoline credit card, and personal use of a city vehicle for non-departmental business.

Commissioner Ron Turchi, who made the motion to fire Moses, said the investigation resulted in “no evidence of wrongdoing.”

Hoggard said in the court filing that Moses should be returned to his position as chief, “with full benefits including sick leave, FMLA rights, ADA accommodation rights and vacation leave time.”

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