FAIRHOPE, Ala. — A candidate for the Baldwin County Commission, who was found guilty this week of third-degree domestic violence (harassment) in Fairhope Municipal Court, said the case was politically motivated and “collaborated” on by his father-in-law and incumbent opponent, in order to gain custody of his children and sabotage his campaign.

During a non-jury trial Tuesday night, Laura Dyas testified that her husband, Daniel Dyas, from whom she filed for divorce last August, knocked her down, backhanded her and dragged her on the floor in front of their children, during a Feb. 24 altercation at their Fairhope home.

Dyas, 27, who faces incumbent County Commissioner David Ed Bishop and fellow contender Bob James on June 1 in the Republican primary for the District No. 2 seat, denied her statements during his testimony, saying the claims were “an absolute lie.”

Dyas, owner of DYAS Construction Management LLC, was found guilty May 18 by John Gamble, who was appointed to try the case after two municipal judges recused themselves. Similarly Daphne attorney Parker Sweet was appointed to prosecute the misdemeanor case, after the Fairhope city attorney also recused himself.

Gamble sentenced Dyas to 180 days in jail and a $500 fine with court costs of $194. He ordered him to serve 15 days of the sentence with the remaining days suspended during a one-year probationary period. Should he violate his probation, Dyas will have to serve that 165 days, according to the court.

Richard Horne, Dyas’ attorney, immediately gave notice of appeal, and Dyas posted a bond that night and is free on bail pending trial in Baldwin County Circuit Court, where he has a right to a jury trial.

Laura Dyas declined to comment about the case immediately after the trial.

“I think it was a flawed decision,” Daniel Dyas said Wednesday. “I think the entire circumstances are unfortunate. Frankly, I believe it was a fabrication created to degrade my reputation, and that it was politically motivated.”

Dyas said that his father-in-law, John Ezekiel, and Bishop collaborated against him in the days leading up to his February arrest.

“That was the motive behind the allegations, and it was a convenient time to degrade my reputation in an effort to gain custody of my children and to sabotage my campaign,” Dyas said. “I know for a fact that my wife’s father and Commissioner Bishop collaborated in the days leading up to this charge, and that’s corruption as far as I’m concerned. It’s a political hack job is what this boils down to.”

Ezekiel could not be reached for comment, but Bishop denied Dyas’ allegations.

“Her father has called me a couple times on the phone to tell me what is transpiring between his daughter and his son-in-law, and I’ve told him there is nothing that I can do,” Bishop said. “She and her daddy came by the courthouse one day, and I guess to see me probably about two to three weeks ago, but I did not see them; I wasn’t there. I haven’t talked to anybody about trying to get him into court or anything like that.”

Laura and Daniel Dyas are legally separated and exchange occupancy of their house every other week, while their three young children remain there. The parents are under a court order not to visit when the other one is there, according to court records and testimony.

Both Dyases agreed that Laura allowed Daniel to come to the house that night to get some gym clothes, and that he began using his cell phone to video the interior of the house.

He testified he did that to document conditions in the house, which he said were unsanitary. She testified he was gathering evidence to use against her during their divorce trial. The responding Fairhope police officer, Becky MacLean, said the interior was a “very clean/neat environment.”

“I asked him to leave,” Laura Dyas testified. “That’s when he knocked me down and backhanded me. I was trying to get the phone from him.”

During that struggle over the phone, “he dragged me all around,” she said.

Sweet introduced more than a dozen pictures taken by MacLean that night, which Laura testified showed red marks on her forehead, jaw line, neck, chest and arm and were the result of her husband’s conduct. During his cross-examination, Horne suggested the marks were difficult to see, but Laura said they could be seen. MacLean testified there were no visible wounds or blood on Laura in the pictures but that the bruises were clearly visible in the pictures she had taken.

“I don’t believe that Laura Dyas inflicted those injuries on herself,” she said.

During cross-examination, MacLean said that her brother, Jim Lester, had dated Laura in the past. On Wednesday, Dyas said MacLean downplayed that relationship, which he said began in the 9th grade and lasted for five years, including a year when his wife (before the Dyases married) and Lester lived together in New Zealand.

During her testimony, Laura said the defendant knocked the children down during the struggle, but during cross-examination she stated that information was not included in her statement. MacLean also said Laura told her that Daniel knocked the children down, but that MacLean also did not include that information in her report. Daniel denied those allegations.

During his case, Daniel introduced the video on his cellphone, which the judge and attorneys watched together. It was a brief video, and he said it demonstrated that his wife attacked him when she tried to get the phone away from him, but that he did not strike or knock her down during that struggle.

Dyas was charged and found guilty of the harrassment section of third-degree domestic violence, but was not charged with the assault section of that charge, or more serious domestic violence provisions. Section 13A-5-7 domestic violence/harrassment, a Class C misdemeanor, involves the intent to harass, annoy, or alarm another person when one either: “strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise touches a person or subjects him or her to physical contact, or directs abusive or obscene language or makes an obscene gesture towards another person.”

Laura said Daniel accused her of being an unfit mother and used other belittling language during their altercation.

When told that Bishop had denied collaborating against him, Dyas said he may put Bishop on the witness stand during the appeal of his case.

“We’ll put him under subpoena, and he can answer it under oath,” Dyas said.