ALEXANDRIA, LA. — James “Jim” Whittington outlined several events spanning more than a decade during testimony Tuesday afternoon that he says were all pieces of a law enforcement vendetta puzzle led by Sheriff Randy Maxwell.

His list included an incarceration after Whittington refused to resign as justice of the peace in 1997 and current claims that Whittington was maliciously prosecuted after an arrest in 2003.

Whittington testified that he no longer feels safe living in Concordia Parish.

“I can’t even go back home without something like this happening,” Whittington said on the stand. “You just never know what’s going to happen to you or who’s going to do something to you.”

Whittington was the last witness of the day Tuesday, and is expected to return to the stand first thing today for cross-examination, by Maxwell’s attorney Tim Richardson.The trial in the civil lawsuit filed by Whittington is expected to wrap up today in the Western District Court of Louisiana in Alexandria. Federal Judge Dee Drell is hearing the case. A jury of eight will make a decision.

In order to prove Whittington was maliciously prosecuted, his attorneys must prove the facts of the case to be true and show the presence of malice and damage to the plaintiff, among other things.

Tuesday testimonyMitchell Evans, Whittington’s attorney, pointed to the chronology of events surrounding multiple arrests of his client spanning several years to prove damages.

Whittington claimed that after taking an oath of office as justice of the peace in January 1997, Maxwell visited him at his father’s used car dealership, where Whittington worked, upset because of complaints the sheriff received by some of the CPSO staff.

“He pulled up to the dealership, rolled down his window and said, “I don’t want you to do any garnishments or anything without running them by me first,” Whittington said. “I told him it didn’t work that way and he said, ‘I’ll show you how it works’ and drove off.”

Shortly after that incident, Whittington said he was arrested on conspiracy of withholding car titles for his father’s dealership.

Whittington said he served 36 days of a 90-day sentence at Concordia Parish Correctional Facility on those charges and had a visit from Maxwell during that time.

“I was awakened and told that Sheriff Randy Maxwell wanted to see me,” Whittington said. “He said ‘Are you ready to go home?’ and I said that depends.

“He said if I resigned (as justice of the peace) I could go home that night, and I told him I haven’t been there long enough.”

Maxwell then told jailers to return Whittington to his cell until he changed his mind, Whittington testified.