Calling officer ‘dishonest,’ judge calls for review of cases

ROCKLAND, Maine – A judge called out an alleged “dishonest officer” and urged the Knox County district attorney to review past cases involving the officer.

Justice Daniel Billings shared his concerns last month when he let a man withdraw his guilty plea from a 5-year-old drunken driving case because of the actions of former officer Jacob Shirey from the Rockland Police Department.

Billings wrote in his ruling that the case was “tainted by a dishonest officer” and that the state should be reviewing prior convictions, the Bangor Daily News reported.

“This is not a situation where an officer’s credibility is brought into question by a single incident or one-time mistake,” Billings wrote.

Shirey resigned from the Rockland Police Department in early 2017 amid an internal affairs investigation into allegations of misconduct and dishonesty, the newspaper reported.

A spokeswoman said District Attorney Jonathan Liberman was not ready to comment on the situation. The Associated Press could not find a phone number for Shirey, and he didn’t immediately return an email or a message left with a family member.

Following the internal investigation, another judge ruled that the state had to notify attorneys of any case in which Shirey was involved.