Earlier this year, it appeared that a police officer in Rainbow City, Alabama had been caught in a horrifying betrayal of trust after being arrested for a sex crime. However, last week, prosecutors dropped a bombshell–they uncovered evidence that the officer’s now-estranged wife had framed him. Now the officer has been exonerated, and the wife is in jail.
On January 30, Captain Chase Jenkins, the deputy police chief in this city just south of Gadsden and an hour north of Birmingham, was arrested on charges of first degree sodomy involving an adult female victim. Jenkins also doubled as the commander of the investigations division. He was immediately placed on administrative leave, but resigned the next day.
According to Jenkins’ attorney, James Shelnutt, Jenkins was arrested after a complaint from his wife, Michelle. However, he steadfastly maintained his innocence. He was initially held in the Etowah County Jail without bond. On February 10, Jenkins was released on a $50,000 surety bond. Judge Willis Clay had originally set bond at $25,000 cash, but changed it to a surety bond after protests from Shelnutt. However, he was not allowed any contact with his minor son, since he was considered to be a potential witness.
Jenkins was staring down the barrel of a minimum of 10 years in prison and a lifetime on the Alabama sex offender registry if convicted. The case took a dramatic turn on April 11, when Shelnutt entered a motion to dismiss the charges against Jenkins. At an evidentiary hearing on that motion, Michelle Jenkins was questioned under oath by both Shelnutt and Etowah County district attorney Jody Willoughby. At that hearing, a video was played that, according to Shelnutt, proved that his client was innocent.
By the time the day was out, the tables had been turned completely. All charges against Chase Jenkins were dismissed, and Michelle Jenkins had been arrested and jailed on charges of first-degree perjury and false reporting. In a statement, Jenkins said that it was hard to adequately express the “loneliness and despair” he’d felt at being framed. He has every intention of returning to law enforcement, and vows to use this experience to make sure to take “those extra steps” to make sure he isn’t arresting an innocent person.
Michelle Jenkins was released later on Monday on $16,500 bond. To put it in the most diplomatic and printable terms that I can use, that’s an outrage. She almost certainly knew that her husband’s life would have been effectively destroyed if he’d been convicted. Whatever her husband may have done, no one deserves to be framed. Not only that, but she wasted taxpayer dollars and valuable police and DA time for three months. If I had been the judge, I would have made her post a cash bond.
If convicted, Michelle Jenkins a minimum of one year in prison and a maximum of 10 years. If it were up to me, she would be facing the maximum of 10 years. After all, it is the minimum that her husband would have faced. I would also find a way to send her the bill for the costs of the investigation, if it is legally possible to do so. However, anything less than five years would be a joke considering the damage she has already done and could have potentially done. It would also send the message that attempting to ruin someone’s life with false charges is something that no civilized society can tolerate.
