— A former Hays County Sheriff’s deputy was forced to resign his position “for no other reason than he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

That’s how Houston attorney Chad Dunn feels about his client Kevin Ficke, who filed suit against District Attorney Sherri Tibbe and Sheriff Tommy Ratliff last week alleging wrongful termination, public disclosure of private facts and “tortuous interference”  with his employment contract.

Dunn said Ficke was forced to resign from the sheriff’s office because of a feud between Ratliff and Tibbe.

“I think it’s shameful when someone as decorated an officer as Kevin Ficke gets caught in a political disagreement between two county officers,” he said.

Ficke left the department June 25, four days after  Tibbe sent letters to Ficke and Ratliff saying she could not prosecute any case in which Ficke was witness because he was charged in 1993 with evidence tampering.

Ficke pled no contest to that charge and received deferred adjudication. At that time he was working for the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office, a job he held for 15 years.

Because Ficke had become supervisor of the HCSO evidence room, “then you are also a potential witness in any case in which evidence has been stored in that facility,” Tibbe wrote.

Tibbe wrote she had “both an ethical and legal” obligation to disclose the 1993 case “to any defense attorney in any case in which you are a potential witness.”

She used similar language in a communiqué to Police Chief Howard Williams July 25 concerning Officer Paul Stephens. Williams had suspended Stephens indefinitely over an allegation of excessive force, but the officer was cleared when he appealed the case to an independent auditor.

“Our office must be able to vouch for the credibility of officers who testify on behalf of the State of Texas,” Tibbe wrote to Williams. “As a result of Officer Stephens’ conduct, we are unable to do so.”

San Marcos Attorney Charles Soechting, who represented Ficke in the 1993 case, said Tibbe’s logic discounts the role of the judge, who could bar any mention of the old case in the presence of jurors. “Fortunately there are judges to keep that kind of logic from being applied,” Soechting said.

Tibbe’s letters concerning Ficke also noted that he had “applied for and received an order of Non-Disclosure” for the 1993 case but concluded that “does not supersede our legal obligation to disclose prior incidents of misconduct to defense attorneys.”

Dunn said Ficke being forced from office “has no benefit to the county or its residents,” and questioned Tibbe’s priorities. “The real question is why is the DA’s office focusing on destroying a career officer rather than chasing the criminal element.”

Another question, Dunn said, concerns “what kind of judgment does the DA and the Hays County Sheriff have on all matters of public concern.”

Ficke, he said, isn’t guilty of any wrongdoing. Instead, he was “protecting the public from dangerous criminals.”

“It’s just not right what they did to this man and his family,” Soechting said. “Public servants don’t make enough money to have their lives destroyed because two public officials, both political neophytes, take it upon themselves to engage in a petty battle with each other.”

Ratliff knew all about the 1993 case before hiring Ficke, according to both attorneys and the lawsuit.

Both Tibbe and Ratliff are Democrats. Tibbe is unopposed in her bid for a second term.

Ratliff was appointed sheriff by the Commissioners Court after the December 2008 sudden death of Sheriff Allen Bridges. A former Texas Ranger, Ratliff beat out former HCSO deputy Bill Huddleston in the Democratic primary but faces Republican Gary Cutler in the November general election.

Tibbe directed queries to county attorney Mark Kennedy.

Ficke’s lawsuit asks for “actual damages, expectancy damages, reliance damages, loss of value, punitive and exemplary damages” and requests a jury trial.