BAY CITY, MI — A former Bay County Sheriff's deputy has received a six-figure sum in settling his lawsuit against Sheriff John E. Miller, in which he alleged his First Amendment rights were trampled in his firing two years ago.

Jason Holsapple on Friday, May 9, received a check for $480,000 as part of a settlement agreement signed by Miller, Undersheriff Troy Cunningham, Jail Administrator Capt. Troy Stewart and Bay County Board of Commissioners Chairman Ernie Krygier.

Holsapple, in his lawsuit, alleged Miller terminated his employment for his support of rival sheriff candidate Robert C. “Bobby” Lee in the 2012 election, in the process ignoring his First Amendment rights. Holsapple served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2001 through 2005. Miller hired Holsapple as a deputy on July 24, 2011, and fired him on March 9, 2012. In that span, Holsapple was a probationary employee and would have been until April 2012.

“I’m happy with the settlement,” said Holsapple in the Saginaw office of his attorney, Victor J. Mastromarco Jr. “I think the county did the right thing.”

Holsapple said the amount of the settlement indicates the powers-that-be weren’t just going to give him a sum to silence him.

Sheriff John E. Miller

“It sends a message that I was done wrong and it had to be made right,” he said. “I hope that people in the future don’t have to go through that, there or anywhere else.”

Holsapple, 35, is currently working part time as a police officer with two area departments, the Tuscola County Sheriff’s Office and the Frankenmuth Police Department. He lives in Bangor Township.

“It’s a really interesting case because it involved his right to support someone else in a general election,” Mastromarco said. “The point, I think, was made, that you can’t do that.

“You either have to be on the team or you’re not on the team, and if you’re not on the team, you’re in trouble,” Mastromarco continued in describing the atmosphere going around the sheriff’s office during the election. “It wasn’t just a sentiment. It was there. It was talked about.”

The Times was unable to reach Miller for comment on the settlement, but Krygier said he maintains his support for the sheriff.

Bay County Commissioner Ernie Krygier

“Obviously I have opinions that are not favorable for Holsapple,” Krygier said. “I certainly support what the sheriff did based on the information that I have and I don’t have any reason not to believe the sheriff. I felt he had just cause to do what he did with an individual that was there and was still on probation.

"It is what it is."

Krygier said it's time for the county to move on.

"We definitely do have to move forward," he said. "The county as a whole … (has) to make sure we are on the top of our game and that issues with an employee are dealt with properly to protect the employee as well as the employer. That’s the venue I hope we go down so it doesn’t re-occur.”

The sum paid to Holsapple comes from the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, through which the sheriff’s office is insured.

As part of the settlement, the sheriff’s office is not admitting any wrongdoing. Also, Holsapple cannot seek reinstatement and cannot apply with the sheriff’s office again until Miller’s term expires on Dec. 31, 2016.

Holsapple originally filed his suit in Bay County Circuit Court in April 2012, but Chief Circuit Judge Kenneth W. Schmidt dismissed it in March 2013. That same month, Holsapple's attorney, Victor J. Mastromarco Jr., filed the suit in federal court.

Holsapple signed a proposed settlement agreement on Wednesday, April 30. Miller, Cunningham, Stewart and Krygier signed it after that date.

Cunningham and Stewart are named as defendants in a separate lawsuit filed by Holsapple, alleging they defamed his character in discussing his termination with Bay City Times reporters. Initially filed in Bay County Circuit Court, Schmidt dismissed the suit in March 2013, and Mastromarco then sent it to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

As part of the settlement, that suit is also dismissed, as is Holsapple’s request for a Veterans’ Preference Act hearing. That act, dating back to 1897, states veterans can only be dismissed from a government job “for official misconduct, habitual, serious or willful neglect in the performance of duty, extortion, conviction of intoxication, conviction of felony, or incompetency; and such veteran shall not be removed, transferred or suspended for any cause above enumerated from any office or employment, except after a full hearing before the governor of the state if a state employee, or before the prosecuting attorney if a county employee.”

Holsapple maintains no such hearing occurred before his termination.

Attorneys representing Miller's interests previously filed motions stating Holsapple was terminated due to his "misconduct, his apparent disregard for the sheriff's office and commanding officers and his probationary status." Those motions also indicate a deputy in February or March 2012 approached command staff about Holsapple having a negative attitude, making disparaging and insubordinate remarks about the workplace, his coworkers, command staff and Bay County citizens. Holsapple also wore and distributed T-shirts depicting the Kool-Aid man, representing Miller with red fluid oozing from its head, the motion states.

Holsapple on Friday had one of the shirts with him at Mastromarco’s office. He said he and a few other deputies bought the shirts online.

“It was just a joke,” Holsapple said. “The big joke around there was, ‘Everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid.’ ”

Holsapple also stated he received no disciplinary action for any offense prior to being fired.

“There was no performance-based issue,” Mastromarco said.

The lawsuit's trial was to commence Tuesday, June 3, before U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington. Bay County itself was previously part of the suit, but Ludington in February issued an opinion dismissing the county from it.

In that opinion, Ludington wrote that during Miller’s candidacy, “many employees felt the Sheriff’s Office became a politically charged environment.” Ludington based this on previous testimony of several deputies, who said there was palpable pressure in the agency to support Miller over Lee.

Holsapple himself testified that “it was made known to (him) that you support Sheriff Miller if you want to work” at the department. Still, Holsapple actively supported Lee through his campaign, he said.

In the second week of March 2012, Miller started interviewing deputies about whether or not they had heard anyone badmouthing other employees, according to deputies’ testimony. Miller then terminated Holsapple’s employment on March 9, 2012, giving him a letter that he was dismissed from service.

In December 2012, Miller signed an affidavit explaining why he terminated Holsapple’s employment, which reads: “Prior to my decision to discharge Jason Holsapple from his employment at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, I received verbal reports from Bay County deputies that Holsapple had been making disparaging and, in some cases, alarming comments about members of the Sheriff’s Office, including command staff. I was also told Holsapple had mentioned climbing up on a building and shooting people. Based on my investigation, I decided to discharge Holsapple for his misconduct. There was no other reason for my decision.”

Ludington’s order states that this statement contradicts what Miller said at a deposition three months earlier, when he testified that a specific deputy told him of Holsapple’s worrisome behavior after he was terminated. Miller also said that this deputy approached him to discuss Holsapple, while the deputy’s handwritten account indicates Miller called her into his office to speak about Holsapple’s conduct, Ludington’s order states.

Holsapple said he’d like to work for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office again, though he can’t until 2016.

“You never know who will run,” he said, adding it’s possible he may file for the position himself.