MUSCLE SHOALS — The appeal hearing for fired Muscle Shoals police officer Greg Scoggins will be today even though his attorney said the board that will rule on the case is tainted.

Marcel Black, city attorney in Muscle Shoals, said the termination appeal of Scoggins will be 1 p.m. today.

Scoggins was terminated Dec. 27, four days after being accused of shooting a deer on Tennessee Valley Authority property while on duty.

Mayor David Bradford upheld the termination last week, and Scoggins appealed that decision to the Civil Service Board.

Last week, Scoggins’ attorney, Billy Underwood, of Tuscumbia, requested a new Civil Service Board be seated for the hearing. He also asked that the hearing be postponed until March, after criminal charges against his client are heard in Colbert County District Court.

The Alabama Department of Conservation Game and Fish Division charged Scoggins with reckless endangerment, hunting without a permit and hunting with the aid of a motor vehicle as a result of the allegations. All charges are misdemeanors.

Those charges are to be heard Feb. 19.

“We will be ready (for the hearing), but I’m disappointed that this could not have been postponed until after the criminal case was handled,” Underwood said.

He said the Civil Service Board was compromised after some members discussed Scoggins’ case with Muscle Shoals Police Chief Robert Evans at the Jan. 8 Civil Service Board meeting.

Evans said no specifics about the case were discussed.

“I still believe they talked about what was going to happen to my client at that Civil Service Board meeting,” Underwood said.

He said board members and Evans should not have been talking about the hearing or merits of the case. He said, if necessary, he will subpoena witnesses to testify before the Civil Service Board about the conversation.

City officials said Scoggins shot and killed a deer on TVA property that fronts Second Street.

Scoggins, who worked with the department since 2001, was initially placed on administrative leave and later terminated.

The hearing will be held in the City Hall auditorium and the public can attend.

Tom Smith can be reached at 256-740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.