ALEXANDRIA, La. — Sheriff Randy Maxwell was the first witness on the stand during a civil suit against him Monday, and the sheriff promptly denied involvement in the sketchy dealings of which he is accused.

But the two other witnesses to the stand on the first day of the trial testified that Maxwell may have been in the wrong place and said the wrong thing at the wrong time.

The civil trial is expected to last two more days this week in the Western District Court of Louisiana in Alexandria. Federal Judge Dee Drell is hearing the case.

Former sheriff candidate James “Jim” Whittington and his legal counsel claim that Whittington was maliciously prosecuted after his arrest in 2003.

In order to prove their claim, a series of elements must be proved during the jury trail — including presence of malice and damage to the plaintiff.

Whittington’s attorney Mitchell Evans began court proceedings claiming that his client was the victim of a law enforcement vendetta following the 2003 election for sheriff, in which he was a candidate.

“The stage was ripe because Maxwell was mad at Whittington because the campaign ads were politically damaging to Maxwell’s career,” Evans said. “They were in a battle confrontation.”

Maxwell defeated Whittington in the general election and won a run-off election against a different candidate, Glen Lipsey, in November 2003.

In the suit filed in 2008, Whittington alleges that six months after the election, as part of a conspiratorial vendetta against him, he was arrested on trumped up robbery, stalking and harassment charges after allegedly harassing and forcibly taking two rings from a former romantic partner, Theresa Berry.

Evans said the way the CPSO handled Whittington’s arrest was wrong.

Since Berry lived in Ferriday, the CPSO should have turned the case over to the Ferriday Police Department, he argued.

Evans also said the judges and district attorney in the case failed to follow protocol.

At Whittington’s preliminary hearing in July 2004, Judge Leo Boothe of the Seventh Judicial District Court determined that the state had probable cause to arrest Whittington and to detain him subject to bond. Boothe set Whittington’s bond at $175,000.

Whittington’s attorney argued the bond amount was unreasonably high, given that Whittington only had one prior misdemeanor conviction.

“His bond was higher than those charged with second-degree murder,” Evans said.

But Maxwell’s attorney Timothy Richardson claimed in his opening statements that Maxwell played no direct role in Whittington’s case and that the punishment fit the crime.

“He was arrested for stalking not one, but two separate women, and he was arrested for harassing not one, but two separate women,” Richardson said. “The facts will show that the sheriff didn’t have anything to do with the arrest … and he was arrested because he was mistreating a woman.

“It just upset him because he got caught.”

Because of the high bond amount, Whittington was detained for 50 days — some of that time in an out-of-parish prison — until Boothe reduced Whittington’s bond to $30,000.

Whittington claims that Maxwell, Boothe and then-District Attorney John Johnson had engaged in improper communication regarding his criminal prosecution.