A special grand jury on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016 declined to act on allegations against former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) Secretary Spencer Collier (pictured).
MONTGOMERY –This statement is being issued because substantial information related to the Attorney General’s investigation has been put in the public domain.
On Feb. 17, Gov. Robert Bentley placed then-ALEA Secretary Spencer Collier on sick leave for allegedly disobeying his instructions regarding Collier’s interaction with State prosecutors.[1] Shortly after the Governor’s action, ALEA initiated a broad internal inquiry into Collier’s conduct as ALEA Secretary.
On March 22, Governor Bentley fired Collier, stating publicly that he relied on the ALEA inquiry in doing so.[2] Governor Bentley and ALEA issued public statements that the results of the ALEA investigation indicated possible “misuse of state funds” and were being referred to the Office of Attorney General Luther Strange.[3] That day, the Office of the Attorney General received the complaint and other information from ALEA.
To determine the facts with certainty, the Special Prosecutions Division of the Attorney General’s Office conducted a complete investigation of the ALEA allegations against Collier. For efficiency, and to ensure public confidence in the investigation, all of the information from ALEA was presented to the Montgomery County Special Grand Jury. Numerous witnesses, including senior ALEA leadership, were called to testify before the Special Grand Jury.
The investigation conducted by Attorney General Strange before the Special Grand Jury was a criminal investigative proceeding. In the course of the investigation, no witness provided credible evidence of criminal “misuse of state funds.” No witness provided credible evidence of any other criminal violation on the part of former Secretary Collier. Finally, no witness established a credible basis for the initiation of a criminal inquiry in the first place.
After receiving all of the information provided by ALEA to the Attorney General, and after receiving substantial additional evidence, the Montgomery County Special Grand Jury declined to act on the allegations against former Secretary Collier. For these reasons, the investigation of former Secretary Collier is now closed.
[1] http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/02/states_top_cop_placed_on_leave.html [2] http://governor.alabama.gov/newsroom/2016/03/governor-bentley-announces-termination-spencer-collier-alabama-law-enforcement-secretary/ [3] http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/politics/southunionstreet/2016/03/22/alea- review-finds-possible-misuse-state-funds/82122208/
