As New Orleans' WWL reports, Dendinger's two-year nightmare began on Aug. 20, 2012, when he was paid $50 to serve a court summons on behalf of his nephew against Bogalusa police officer Chad Cassard in a police brutality lawsuit.

Dendinger handed Cassard a white envelope containing the documents and says he went on his way. But 20 minutes later, police showed up to Dendinger's house and arrested him. He was put in jail on charges of simple battery, obstruction of justice and intimidating a witness.

Two of those charges are felonies, and a prior cocaine conviction on Dendinger's record threatened to land him in jail for a long time as a repeat offender.

But Dendinger was confident that a mistake had been made and that he would be released without cause since two prosecutors and several police officers had seen him hand over the summons peacefully.