Cop Out

With this in her mind, she attended Hill's civil service hearing in the Shelton harassment investigation months later and was disgusted. None of the other officers said anything about pulling similar pranks or admitted that penises were such a frequent facet of North Richland Hills humor.

In a Davis-related deposition from 2002, Wallace denies taking any photographs of his penis on Allen Hill's camera and has no explanation for Linda Hill's story. Instead, Wallace recalls a different incident, in Arkansas, when he and raid videographer Greg Stilley did steal a fellow officer's camera and take nude photos. He later admits that on the same Fort Hood trip, he'd rappelled down a wall naked after helping another officer out--fully clothed--with a training video.

The fact that at least two, and probably more, North Richland Hills officers had a confirmed tendency to flash their genitalia at opportune moments means something very different for each party involved in the Davis case. To Linda Hill, it's a stupid guy thing. To Davis attorney Mark Haney, it's indicative of a larger problem.

"Without it being checked, it escalates," says Haney, "and you end up with your tactical commander rapelling nude down a wall." He says the fact that Wallace was never disciplined for any of the exposure incidents illustrates one of Haney's most frustrating contentions: "Wallace was untouchable."

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As head of the special investigations unit, the division responsible for narcotics, covert operations, vice and other related offenses, Wallace could approve his own warrants as long as he could get a judge to sign them. Haney says the Davis warrant was unlawfully obtained because it was never properly investigated, and on that point, Hill agrees: "We should never have been there that day."

Wallace conducted no independent surveillance of the Davis home other than having one of his detectives verify what it looked like from the street. He made no attempt to buy drugs from Troy Davis or place a microphone on Chris Davis while he was in his cousin's home, both common tactics in narcotics investigations.

According to court documents, at the time Wallace presented the warrant to the second judge for approval, he represented to her that he'd already done a computer background check on the informant. Electronic records show that he did not run the check until hours later. Wallace actually ended up identifying the wrong Barbara Davis on the warrant, finding another woman with a different middle name, "Lynn" instead of "Jean," and a different driver's license number.

Court rulings disagree on whether or not these things constitute negligence on behalf of Wallace or Shockley. Regardless, Linda Hill believes "there was no investigation done." She says it was all about pride, done for "a photograph and a write-up in the paper."

North Richland Hills Sergeant Kevin Brown was originally assigned to investigate internal wrongdoing. According to Brown's affidavit, he interviewed Chris Davis and came to believe Wallace "conducted a poor investigation and failed to mention relevant facts in the warrant." After reporting these findings to his supervisors, Brown was removed as lead investigator. The final internal affairs investigation following the shooting found no fault with Wallace.

Wallace got favored treatment, it was rumored, because his home construction business on the side had allowed him to lend a significant chunk of cash to Shockley. When Wallace repeatedly disobeyed orders not to drive his undercover pickup to check on his job sites, he was given just eight hours of suspension without pay. It left a bad taste in some officers' mouths.

Shockley, who had a history of financial trouble, filed bankruptcy in 1997 before he was promoted to chief. At some point, according to depositions, "it was widely understood" that Wallace had lent about $30,000 to his boss. Both men deny that any financial transactions occurred between them. Wallace refused to talk to the Observer.

Hill admits that he doesn't know what really went on between Shockley and Wallace, but he does think Wallace received special treatment for some reason, hence the dual roles as tactical commander and head of special investigations. As such, Wallace was in charge of the crime scene after the Davis shooting. Its condition--poorly secured--is one of the few facts not disputed in the suit.

There was a spent bullet casing found in the Davis hallway, while a fired bullet, another casing, and a separated bullet core and jacket were found in the living room. The forensic expert for the Davis family, Ed Hueske, concluded that Troy Davis must then have been shot in the living room, not in the hallway as Hill contends. But with maybe 20 guys running around the scene, evidence could have been accidentally kicked or carried from one side of the house to the other. Because Wallace never ordered an on-site attendance log to be kept until forensic investigators arrived on the scene about a half-hour after the shooting, it's hard to tell where the bullets fell initially.

Attorneys for North Richland Hills say Wallace's unsecured crime scene doesn't matter. An entire team of fire department paramedics was given access to treat Davis. North Richland Hills city attorney George Staples says that factor alone "screwed [the scene] up unbelievably" and expecting a clean scene after that kind of incident is unreasonable. "Life isn't CSI. "

The crime scene log has no time stamps and doesn't even mention Wallace or lead forensic investigator Max Courtney, both of whom spent an extended period of time at the Davis residence.