Whittington claimed that while incarcerated, a Concordia Parish sheriff’s deputy brought him notarized resignation papers, which he was forced to sign.

Whittington also claimed that he was held three days after signing the papers, in order to prevent him from contesting the resignation papers.

“He extorted me right out of office,” Whittington said.

The testimony jumped several years forward to the 2003 election in which Whittington ran against Maxwell and another candidate, Glen Lipsey.

Whittington said he chose to run for the position of sheriff after getting input from several community members and in order to correct the wrongdoings implemented by Maxwell.

“(Maxwell) put a real sour taste in my mouth, and I wanted to make some changes of what was going on in that office,” Whittington said.

Whittington also stood behind, in his testimony, a controversial ad campaign that involved publishing an arrest citation of one of Maxwell’s deputy sheriffs, Jimmy Darden, who had been arrested in Mississippi on charges of marijuana possession.

In 2003, the Pike County Justice Court dropped those charges.

Maxwell defeated Whittington in the general election and won a runoff election against Lipsey in November 2003.

Evans then asked his client about his arrest six months after the election, an arrest in which Whittington alleges that he was charged on trumped up robbery, stalking and harassment charges after allegedly harassing and forcibly taking two rings from a former romantic partner, Theresa Berry.

Whittington said all of the charges were false and that he maintains his innocence to this day.

After breaking ties with Berry, Whittington said he was told he could retrieve the rings from her house.

“She said they’re in my jewelry box, you can go in there and get them,” Whittington said. “I took the rings out of the jewelry box and put them in the glove box of my PT Cruiser, and they were in there for months.”

Whittington claims some time later, Concordia Parish sheriff’s deputies stopped him with no probable cause and searched his car after he told them he had nothing to hide.

“So they never read you your Miranda rights or let you know you were the subject of an investigation?” Evans asked his client.

After finding two rings in his glove box, Whittington said he was arrested and booked at the parish jail at the Concordia Parish courthouse downtown, but only for a few hours before being transferred to a Franklin Parish correctional facility in Winnsboro.

On his original arrest affidavit, Judge Leo Boothe, who also testified Tuesday, set Whittington’s bond at $75,000.