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Steve Parton, a former Madison County deputy, outside the Madison County Courthouse following his preliminary hearing on April 16, 2014 (Challen Stephens/cstephens@al.com)

A former Madison County deputy has sued Sheriff Blake Dorning, arguing he was fired and then arrested for stealing a gun that was never missing. The suit by Steve Parton claims his arrest was part of an attempt to conceal corruption within the sheriff's department.

"Timing suggests the decision to pursue criminal charges against Parton, despite clear evidence no crime was committed, was related to the cover-up of the Robert Bryant beating," reads the suit filed in federal court on Friday.

To this day, Parton has the distinction of being the only deputy fired in connection with the $625,000 revenge beatdown of Robert Bryant, a mechanic from Tennessee, and the bungled crime scene at the execution of Jason Klonowski, the man who had been pursuing justice for Bryant.

In addition to Dorning, Parton's suit names District Attorney Rob Broussard, two county prosecutors and a dozen current and former deputies in a wide conspiracy. Parton seeks damages for illegal seizure for his wrongful arrest.

"All individuals involved knew Parton did not steal the gun. Nevertheless, these individuals conspired to manufacture a theft charge against Parton," alleges the lawsuit.

Chief Deputy Dave Jernigan and District Attorney Rob Broussard both said late Friday they had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

Theft charged dismissed

Madison County Sheriff Blake Dorning. (Bob Gathany/bgathany@AL.com)

Parton is represented by Hank Sherrod, the same attorney who last year sued Dorning and eight other deputies to win that $625,000 settlement on behalf of Bryant. That lawsuit claimed Bryant was stalked, stopped, beaten and charged with assaulting an officer in the summer of 2012 in revenge for a barfight with Deputy Justin Watson.

While no deputies have been fired as a result, Watson did quit the force last year. Watson alone awaits a federal criminal trial in February on charges that he beat Bryant, lied about it under oath and intimidated witnesses.

Parton's story is perhaps the most bizarre chapter in Madison County's three-year saga of revenge and cover-up. Even a judge had trouble trying to decipher what exactly Parton was supposed to have stolen before she threw out the case.

On Nov. 3, 2013, Parton was the first deputy to arrive at the scene of the murder in the suburbs just north of Huntsville.

Klonowski's body was propped in a chair by a small barn behind the house. He had a cap on his head. There were no obvious wounds or signs of struggle. It would be nearly 24 hours before the coroner would find three small bullet holes in the back of Klonowski's head. It would be a day before deputies returned to tape off the area and begin a homicide investigation.

Klonowski murder mystery

Jason Klonowski a month before he was shot

"Timing suggests Klonowski may have been murdered because of his support for Robert Bryant," state's Parton's lawsuit. "Klonowski was financing Bryant's criminal defense. Klonowski was also speaking out about what happened to Bryant."

Klonowski had printed up T-shirts in support of Bryant and posted signs along the highway protesting "brutality" by deputies. He even built a small stage in his yard and held a rally where he promised to see deputies imprisoned. He was shot to death one month later.

Parton was riding with a chaplain the day the body was found. When he arrived at Klonowski's house, volunteer firefighters were already there.

Parton knew the area and he knew Klonowski. The suit says Parton was friends with both Klonowski. He was also friends with Bryant. For 10 years, Parton had lived across the lane with Denise Brown, who had found the body. The two broke up in 2012. Parton wrote in one report that he moved Brown away from the body, because she was yelling and crying.

Brown has said that Klonowski was a man of habit and liked to sit by the barn with his four small dogs each night and listen to talk radio. She said he normally built a small fire and placed his handgun, for warding off coyotes, on the tailgate of his truck.

"While on the scene, Parton observed a .357 handgun in a leather case on the open tailgate of Klonowski's pickup, secured the gun for safety reasons, and later, pursuant to instructions from the gun's owner, Donna Monroe, placed the gun in her car under the front seat," reads the suit. "At the time, Parton had no knowledge or reason to believe that Klonowski had been shot. Moreover, the gun was not involved in the murder."

Confusion about .357

Denise Brown, with Jason Klonowski's small dogs, shows where the body was found. His gun was resting on the tailgate of his pickup nearby. (Challen Stephens/cstephens@al.com)

That day, an unusual number deputies and investigators would wander the scene of what was nominally an unexplained death. Brown has said some deputies at the time theorized Klonowski fell off his tractor, hit his head and sat down to die.

When he first got there, Parton unloaded the .357 and put it in Brown's car. Then he moved it to Monroe's car or handed it to someone to put it in Monroe's car.

Days later, Monroe told deputies she couldn't find the weapon. Then she said she found it under her front seat. Investigators Forrest Edde and Steve Finley came to Monroe's business on Nov. 7 and photographed the .357, which was too big to be the murder weapon. Then they came back on Nov. 18 and photographed it again, saying they lost the photos.

Parton was suspended on Nov. 14, fired in December and later charged with felony theft. During a preliminary hearing in April of 2014, Monroe testified that she was distracted by Klonowski's death and there were numerous deputies moving guns around that day. She said other deputies placed two other guns in the back of her car that day. She said she found the .357 under the front seat a few days later.

"I don't think anybody stole it," testified Monroe that day. "I think I just didn't know where it was."

She had asked that the county drop the theft charge. "Her opinion of what she wants done with the case is irrelevant," prosecutor Jeff McCluskey told the judge during the hearing.

But Monroe had written McCluskey a week earlier to ask him to drop the charge. She wrote that she didn't know Parton, but that nothing was stolen and she didn't understand the charge.

Any error 'unintentional'

The small barn behind the house where Klonowski's body sat for three days. The body was discovered on Nov. 3, 2013. (Challen Stephens/cstephens@al.com)

At the hearing against Parton, Sgt. T.A. Miller, named in the suit, testified that Parton never told his supervisors about the existence of the .357. But Monroe testified that at least two deputies spoke to her about the gun at the crime scene.

The two investigators, Finley and Edde, ignored subpoenas to testify at the preliminary hearing. Both are named in the suit.

The suit acknowledges confusion around the gun. "Any error by Parton regarding the gun was minor, unintentional, and was not sufficient to justify suspension and termination, let alone the theft charge later filed against him," states the lawsuit.

During the hearing last year, Jake Watson, Parton's criminal defense attorney, put it this way to the judge: "This is mind-blowing to me. It ends up with the lawful owner...it ended up where it is supposed to be."

Judge Linda Coats dismissed the theft charge.

The suit goes on to say the weapon did not influence the murder investigation.

"Critical evidence regarding the murder of Klonowski was not preserved because the scene was not treated as a murder scene by investigators, including defendant (Forrest) Edde," states the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Brown has led the call for the investigation into Klonowski's death ever since and still appears at law enforcement functions to question Dorning.

Brown in 2014 appeared in a TV news interview just days after Klonowksi was found while wearing a "Support Robert Bryant" T-shirt. Brown told Al.com that deputies knew she had dated Parton and retaliated by firing him.

Disparate discipline

Robert Bryant at Huntsville Hospital after the traffic stop on Aug. 22, 2012 (Madison County Sheriff's Department)

Parton was suspended in November of 2013. On Dec. 3 of 2013, Dorning wrote a memo to say he was considering additional disciplinary action.

"It has been reported to me that you mishandled evidence by removing a firearm from a crime and then failed to report this in your written reports or to your supervisors or anyone investigating this incident," wrote Dorning.

Dorning cited numerous policies including that officers must be truthful and must not knowingly make a false report.

"In contrast, Watson, who beat and falsely arrested Bryant and then lied under oath in a preliminary hearing in Bryant's criminal case, was not disciplined for the beating, was only suspended without pay for two weeks for lying under oath, and was never prosecuted by Madison County," reads the lawsuit.

The next paragraph reads: "Similarly, the investigators who failed to preserve the Klonowski murder scene received no discipline."

In 2012, two deputies had pulled together evidence that Watson had lied. Internal reports indicate former Chief Deputy Chris Stephens quashed the investigation at the time.

Madison County dropped the charges against Bryant 10 days after Klonowski was found dead.

In addition to suspending Parton, Dorning demoted former Chief Deputy Stephens, called the state for help investigating the Bryant case and restarted the investigation into Watson in the in the days after Klonowski was found.

Former Deputy Justin Watson at Huntsville Hospital after the traffic stop on Aug. 22, 2012 (Madison County Sheriff's Department)

The FBI took the over the investigation into the beatdown as a civil rights case. The State Bureau of Investigation has the murder case.

Named in the Parton suit are Dorning; Broussard; retired Deputy Steve Watson, the father of Justin Watson; Capt. Curtis Sanders; Sgt. Chris Stephens, former Chief Deputy; Capt. Charles Berry; Lt. Kerry Phillips; Lt. Marion Bullock; Lt. Charles Zeissler; Sgt. Robert Hayes; Sgt. Brian Chaffin; Sgt. T.A. Miller; investigator Forrest Edde; investigator Steve Finley; assistant district attorney Marc Sandlin; and assistant district attorney Robert Becher.

"All involved knew there was no factual basis for criminal charges against Parton," reads the suit.

In one of several memos and documents attached to the suit, Sgt. Brian Hughes on Nov. 15 reports on accompanying another sergeant to inform Parton that he was to be suspended.

"Deputy S. Parton sighed and stated 'I didn't have anything to do with killing that guy.'

"This writer stated I was not here for that only to collect his equipment. Deputy S. Parton gathered his equipment and handed it all over to this writer. The three of us talked for a few minutes and Deputy S. Parton stated 'I guess this will hurt me from advancing in this department.'"