MOBILE, Ala. (NBC 15) — Former Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine’s legal fight with Mobile city officials is intensifying. New court filings this week accuse two high ranking city officials of destroying evidence in the civil case and accuse the city of illegally paying defense fees for an attorney who produced a scathing report of Prine’s leadership that was publicly released. Prine, who is now running for Mobile County Sheriff, claims the report was defamatory.
“They told a lot of lies about him that weren’t true, and he wants the public to know that. And so far, the public doesn’t. Number two, he wants to be compensated from these people for the lies they told about him. He lost his job. He hadn’t found another job since. He’s applied for jobs,” said Prine’s attorney Tom Benton.
The latest filings accuse former Chief of Staff James Barber and former Public Safety Director Rob Lasky, who serve in different roles under the new Cheriogotis administration, of destroying evidence in the case. Benton is asking the judge to sanction them. Benton attached an exhibit, he says shows a text exchange between Barber and Lasky. In it, Benton says Lasky texts a screen shot of a document and writes “FYI That should have come to me first and does not even resemble my conversation with Paul.” Benton then points to Barber’s reply, “Make sure you reach out to Kevin and tell him to shred that document.”…