Maxwell took the stand as the first witness for the plaintiff Monday afternoon and began addressing the issue of jurisdiction, saying that in most situations common charges such as harassment or stalking are handed over to the town’s police department, but that there are always exceptions.

Maxwell said he was not involved in setting Whittington’s bond or in any improper communication.

“My job is to make sure the District Attorney has the relevant information, but I don’t prosecute, and I don’t talk to judges,” Maxwell said. “You’ll have to ask the judges on why the bonds were set so high. I don’t set the bonds — they do.”

During cross examination, Richardson used several pieces of evidence, including the original report filed by Berry and the two arrest warrants issued by Boothe, to allege that Maxwell did not have any direct proceedings with any part of Whittington’s case.

“I didn’t take the complaint, and it was handled like any other complaint at the sheriff’s office,” Maxwell said.

Former Assistant District Attorney Ronnie McMillin testified after Maxwell and stated that he was originally assigned to prosecute Whittington before he was shortly dismissed from the case.

“I was assigned to that case because it fell into my district, but I was taken off the case and it was given to another prosecutor — Brad Burget,” McMillin said in response to questioning from Evans. “After the matter was transferred to Brad Burget … (Maxwell) was in the office almost daily.

“(Maxwell) would come in, not say anything to anyone and go into Brad Burget’s office and slam the door.”

Evans claimed that Maxwell’s meddling in the Whittington case was to ultimately make a felony conviction stick, so Whittington wouldn’t be able to qualify for any elected position again.

Richardson quickly responded asking why the case never went to trial if Maxwell had interfered to ensure it did.

“The sheriff must have not had that much pull if it never went to trial, huh?” Richardson asked McMillin.

The charges against Whittington were quashed in September 2007 because two years had passed and prosecution had not moved forward. Richardson also mentioned that McMillin ran against Brad Burget for the position of District Attorney and that Maxwell supported Burget — who was eventually elected District Attorney.

“The sheriff supported Brad Burget over you didn’t he?” Richardson asked McMillin. “Did that make you angry?”

McMillin didn’t answer the campaign support question and moved on to claim that while he had not heard Maxwell and Burget discuss the Whittington trial directly, that Maxwell had attempted to meddle in his other trials.