Vol Sevier Dooley Jr. (January 20, 1927 – August 11, 2014), was the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Bossier Parish Bossier Parish ( ; french: Paroisse de Bossier) is a parish located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 116,979, and 128,746 in 2020. The parish seat is Benton. The principal city is ...

in northwestern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

from 1976 until 1988. He was involved in the false conviction of

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

star Jack Favor in 1967.

Early life and career

Born in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, Dooley joined Troop G of the

Louisiana State Police The Louisiana State Police (French: Police d’Etat de Louisiane) is the state police agency of Louisiana, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state, headquartered in Baton Rouge. It falls under the authority of the Louisiana Department of P ...

in 1950, and in 1954, joined the Bossier Sheriff's Office. With the state police, he developed an expertise in

fingerprinting A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...

and photographic equipment, which he brought to the sheriff's department. In 1967, as chief deputy, Dooley was accused of involvement in a plot by Sheriff Waggonner, Judge O. E. Price, and

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

Louis H. Padgett Jr. to falsely convict rodeo champion Jack Favor of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, of the double-murder of an elderly couple. Favor sued for wrongful conviction and imprisonment, settling for $55,000.

Service as sheriff

Dooley was elected sheriff in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

in 1976 to fill the remainder of the preceding term, and was reelected in 1979 and 1983. In 1984, Dooley and six of his deputies were found liable for injuries incurred by prison inmate Jessie Lee Smith while being transported from the Bossier Parish Jail in Benton to the

Elayn Hunt Correctional Center Elayn Hunt Correctional Center (EHCC) located in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, is a multi-security- level Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections institution for adult men. It is the second-largest prison in Louisiana and is located about ...

in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. In 1985, Dooley was cited in a ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' piece on Louisiana politics, noting Dooley's friendship with Governor

Edwin Edwards Edwin Washington Edwards (August 7, 1927 – July 12, 2021) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. representative for from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972– ...

: Dooley lost his final bid for reelection in October 1987 to former chief deputy, Larry Deen, with Dooley winning less than 29 percent of the vote. Dooley thereafter worked in security for the Port of Shreveport.

Personal life and death

Dooley divorced his first wife, with whom he had four children, and remarried. One of his sons, Vol Dooley III, was murdered in 2001. Dooley died in Bossier City at age 87, following a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dooley, Vol 1927 births 2014 deaths Louisiana sheriffs American deputy sheriffs Louisiana Democrats Louisiana Republicans People from Memphis, Tennessee People from Bossier City, Louisiana American state police officers Baptists from Tennessee Baptists from Louisiana