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 ...

of Bossier Parish in northwestern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

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

Jack Favor Jack Graves Favor, also known as Cadillac Jack Favor, (November 30, 1911 – December 27, 1988) was an American rodeo performer. Biography Early life Favor was born on a ranch in Eula, Texas. He attended and graduated from Abilene Hig ...

in 1967.

Early life and career

Born in Memphis,

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 ...

, Dooley joined Troop G of the Louisiana State Police in 1950, and in 1954, joined the Bossier Sheriff's Office. With the state police, he developed an expertise in fingerprinting 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 Louis H. Padgett Jr. to falsely convict rodeo champion Jack Favor of Fort Worth,

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, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

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 in

St. Gabriel, Louisiana St. Gabriel is a city in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States. The city of St. Gabriel includes the areas of Sunshine, Louisiana, Sunshine and Carville, Louisiana, Carville. Part of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Ba ...

. 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 a ...

'' 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 Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...

, 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