Dennis Rhoney was an investigator for the Hickory Police Department when he testified in the murder trial of Glen Chapman in 1994. The district attorney in Catawba County dismissed murder charges against Chapman, and he was released Wednesday after spending 14 years on death row.

Burke Sheriff John McDevitt said he suspended Rhoney on Wednesday and asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the possibility of perjury. He said that Rhoney will remain off the job pending the outcome of the investigation.

Rhoney was named in a ruling by Superior Court Judge Robert C. Ervin, who threw out Chapman's conviction. Ervin found that Rhoney had given false testimony against Chapman, who was convicted of murdering Betty Jean Ramseur and Tenene Yvette Conley in Hickory.

McDevitt said Rhoney had a clean record in his Burke County job. But he said he takes Ervin's findings seriously.

"He has done nothing in his work performance that would have indicated anything in the nature that Judge Ervin found in his ruling," McDevitt said. "At the same time, Judge Ervin is a highly respected judge here, and I respect his opinion."

Chapman said Wednesday that he harbored no resentment toward Rhoney. But Chapman's attorneys called for an investigation, saying that Rhoney's credibility as a witness in any case is in question.

Frank Goldsmith, an attorney who has been handling Chapman's case, said that the suspension was appropriate. The investigation should not be limited to Rhoney's testimony, he said.

"The matter of his fitness as his law enforcement officer should be investigated," Goldsmith said. "It's greater than what he said on the stand."

Rhoney began working in Burke County in 2004 as a jailer and then a patrolman before his current job as a desk sergeant whose main duty is to fingerprint offenders. It's likely that Rhoney testified in criminal cases in Burke County, but the sheriff's office does not keep a record of those cases, McDevitt said.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.