NASHUA – Former Brookline police Sgt. Michael Kurland had his day in court Tuesday and claimed town leaders relied on a biased investigation when they dismissed him last year.

Kurland, who served as interim police chief before Chief William Quigley III was hired in October, asked the court to reverse the Board of Selectmen’s decision to fire him. Kurland is seeking a new disciplinary hearing based on an independent investigation or for the town to pay him back wages, health care costs and legal fees.

The two sides met at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua on Tuesday for the trial before Judge Diane Nicolosi.

Selectmen fired Kurland on April 4. He had been on administrative leave since the previous December, after Quigley accused him of violating 26 departmental policies.

Quigley recommended Kurland’s firing based on several situations he said violated police discipline and conduct codes, including an overdrawn uniform account that included a receipt for a pair of women’s Ugg slippers, although Kurland had reimbursed the town for the slippers.

Also, communication with a prospective new hire, whom the chief accused Kurland of giving a start date to before he had concluded a background check. There were also allegations Kurland pressured local businessman Dave Janik of “Two Daves Auto” to donate to the DARE program and cut the price for mounting tires on police cruisers.

On Tuesday, Kurland’s attorney, Robert McKenney, told Nicolosi, who will rule on the suit, that Quigley’s internal investigation was so biased that selectmen violated Kurland’s rights to due process by basing their votes on it.

“They relied on Chief Quigley’s biased investigation,” McKenney said, adding that Quigley acted as “investigator, prosecutor and chief witness” against Kurland.

“This isn’t about Mr. Kurland getting a second bite at the apple. It’s about him getting a fair bite at the apple,” McKenney said.

Quigley didn’t follow the same set of policies he accused Kurland of violating by not hiring an outside agency to conduct the investigation, McKenney said.

Quigley maintains that Kurland failed to display “absolute honesty” and used his position for personal gain.

The town’s attorney, Lee Smith, said Kurland has not met his burden to convince the court to overturn the selectmen’s decision. The only way the court could step in, Smith said, is if the board’s decision was either illegal or was “unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious.”

Kurland’s suit argues that the problems between the chief and the sergeant were the result of miscommunication and bias.

During his 12 years on the town’s police force, Kurland “consistently received high marks in his performance evaluations” and “prior to the current matter, was never disciplined or the subject of an internal affairs investigation,” the suit maintains.

The suit argues Quigley should have turned the case over to the attorney general’s office, the state police, another police department or “any other unbiased individual or entity.”

Kurland also claims Quigley told others before he took over as chief that he didn’t like Kurland and that the firing was the result of a “targeted and deliberate mission.”

The chief held a grudge, Kurland maintains, because of an interaction the former police sergeant had with the chief’s son during a routine stop.

Further, even if the board’s decision wasn’t illegal, McKenney said, the evidence doesn’t rise to the level of firing Kurland for cause.

Two selectmen who opposed the firing agreed with that. They argued that Police Department policies were contradictory and left room for interpretation. They also asserted that while the sergeant should have been disciplined, the charges did not rise to the level of termination.

One of the selectmen also observed that the chief made no attempt to employ positive discipline to rectify the situation.

Smith said the record is clear that the board carefully considered the evidence from both sides. How the board evaluated the evidence isn’t enough to overturn its decision, he said.

Smith pointed out that the board held a five-hour public hearing in which Kurland was able to submit evidence, call witness and cross-examine Quigley. The board then spent more than four hours deliberating on the evidence and only agreed with Quigley on six of the charges. Then there was a split vote – 3-2 – to fire Kurland, Smith said.

“We feel good that the evidence supports the board’s decision,” he said after the hearing.

Nicolosi will issue a written decision on the case at some point in the coming weeks. McKenney said he isn’t considering any further legal options until that decision is issued.

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com. Also follow Cote on Twitter (@Telegraph_JoeC).