Lenawee sheriff's suit accuses man of slander

10/3/2002

ADRIAN - Lenawee County Sheriff Larry Richardson has filed suit in Circuit Court against a man he has accused of slandering him.

In the suit filed Monday, Mr. Richardson charged Larry Russell with falsely accusing him of lying under oath.

The suit claims Mr. Russell has been posting flyers around Adrian accusing the sheriff of lying while he was being questioned during a preliminary exam about the 1996 murder of Wendy Sue Beyer. At the time, Sheriff Richardson was an Adrian police detective investigating the death. Mr. Russell's cousin, Richard “Fuzzy” Russell, admitted to killing his girlfriend and is serving 75 to 150 years in prison for second-degree murder.

Sheriff Richardson noted in his lawsuit that Mr. Russell never questioned his testimony at the time, but only after his cousin's appeals were exhausted.

Last week, Mr. Russell announced his cousin's girlfriend was murdered as a result of a dispute between his cousin and unnamed drug dealers. Adrian police Chief Mike Martin declined to reopen the case because Mr. Russell refused to cooperate with police.