Suspended Russell County High School coach is taking legal action to fight suspension
Tony Rasmus, the suspended Russell County head baseball coach, has appealed his case to the Alabama Department of Education.
In October, a jury found Rasmus not guilty of a Class A misdemeanor of third-degree assault, the verdict a county judge reached in a June trial after a player accused the coach of choking him. The jurors concluded Rasmus is guilty of the lesser offense of harassment, for touching the player during the Feb. 16 confrontation.
Rasmus waived his right for a sentencing hearing. His attorney Jim McKoon, of the McKoon & Gamble law firm in Phenix City, told the Ledger-Enquirer they are waiting for the judge to issue the sentence in a written ruling. The maximum punishment for the harassment conviction is 90 days in the county jail and a $500 fine, McKoon said.
Concurrent with the criminal case, Rasmus also has been dealing with a disciplinary case stemming from the confrontation.
At an Oct. 28 hearing stretching into the wee hours of the next day, the Russell County School District board rejected superintendent Brenda Coley’s request to fire Rasmus. Instead, the board voted 4-1 to suspend Rasmus without pay until June 30. He had been suspended with pay since March 2, the same day Rasmus turned himself in at the Russell County Sheriff’s Office and made bond on the assault charge.
Grounds for appeal
In the appeal, filed by McKoon and fellow Phenix City lawyer Charles Floyd on behalf of Rasmus, the attorneys insist his suspension is “so far out of proportion to what actually occurred, that the sanction is onerous, draconian, arbitrary and capricious.”
If the suspension without pay lasts the full eight months, Rasmus would lose two-thirds of his annual salary. That means an incident that could cost him a maximum fine of $500 from a criminal court’s verdict would cost him $42,850 from the school board’s decision, the lawyers contend.
Other grounds for appeal, McKoon and Floyd listed:
- “Although the school board president allowed all sorts of hearsay evidence at the hearing, she specifically disallowed the testimony of the jury foreperson, who was greatly familiar with the facts and who could testify that the jury soundly rejected and gave no credibility to the choking allegation.”
- “The superintendent failed to meet her burden of proof.”
- The school board president initially gave both parties 1 hour to present their case, then extended it to 90 minutes each. About 10 minutes into the hearing, the board president “reversed course and according to counsel assisting her said that the hearing time would be unlimited. At that point, it was too late for counsel for Rasmus to reorganize and recalibrate their presentation to the board. … The initial limitation of time and the in-hearing reversal of the same amounts to a violation of due process and failed to provide fundamental fairness.”
Dana Hill of Hill, Hill, Carter, Franco, Cole & Black law firm in Birmingham and Montgomery is the attorney representing the RCSD board in the case. She declined to comment for this story.
No hearing date has been set for the appeal, McKoon said.
Alabama Department of Education communications director Michael Sibley told the L-E a hearing officer has been appointed from a list of lawyers maintained by the Alabama State Bar. He didn’t disclose the name before publication.
The hearing officer would decide whether to affirm the local school board’s decision, Sibley said.
Baseball success
Rasmus coached Russell County to the 2005 Alabama Class 5A state title and a Phenix City all-star team to the 1999 U.S. championship and runner-up finish in the Little League World Series. He played three seasons in the minor leagues during the 1980s. Three of his four sons also played professional baseball.
Rasmus has worked for 23 years in the Alabama public school system, so he needs only two more years to receive a full retirement package from the state. He told the L-E last fall he intends for those two years to remain the head baseball coach and weightlifting teacher at Russell County High School.
“I’m a fighter,” he said.
Since 2000, Rasmus said, he has helped 70 players earn college scholarships, including 25 in NCAA Division I. Major League Baseball teams have drafted 19 of his players, including four in the first round, he said.
Staff writer Tim Chitwood contributed to this story.
