Fired Corrections Officers Sue City, Director

The two fired Louisville Metro Corrections employees whose names were brought up last week in association with threats made against the corrections director have filed a lawsuit against the Metro Government and the director. The lawsuit includes separate claims of retaliation on the part of the director, and defamation.Former Major Robert Dietz and former deputy director Laura McHune were fired in May, when Corrections Director Mark Bolton claims they lied about the whereabouts of a co-worker who was wanted on domestic violence charges.Last week, Bolton held a press conference with County Attorney Mike O’Connell to discuss threats made against Bolton, who is getting 24-hour police protection.Attorney Andrew Horne represents the two dismissed officers.“The general gist of the press conference was about the alleged threats to the life of the director, and while at the end, they were saying ‘well, we’re not implicating them in that’, the clear purpose of that press conference was to cast my clients in a bad light," says Horne.The names of Dietz and McHune were mentioned many times during the press conference, but O’Connell insisted they were not suspects in the case.Spokesperson Bill Patteson with the County Attorney’s office says they don’t comment on pending litigation.