The Delaware Supreme Court on Friday reversed Elsmere's 2009 vote to fire then-Police Chief Liam P. Sullivan, ordering a new hearing because a councilman with a perceived bias against the chief participated in the termination hearing.
The high court ruling promises to immerse the town of 6,100 south of Wilmington into more controversy. The town council, criticized by residents when Sullivan was fired, recently raised concerns about nepotism among some law-enforcement authorities in Delaware when it hired Laura M. Giles, the wife of town manager John S. Giles Jr., also a former chief, to the $72,000-a-year post.
In their 18-page opinion issued late Friday, the justices overturned a July 2010 ruling by Superior Court Judge Mary Johnston that upheld the town council's 7-0 vote to remove Sullivan for alleged financial and administrative improprieties.
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