I think you may have normalcy bias with a dash of “nobody would really do such a horrible thing to person so there must have been something wrong with him”.
Admitting that such a nice small town is governed by petty tyrants with hidden agendas is something you just aren’t prepared to deal with, so you’re very busy putting on the Pollyanna polish, everything is okay, nothing bad is going on and the problem was the citizen, not the government.
I have no illusions about local government.
But one thing I have learned is that constructing an elaborate web of conspiracies and deceit out of very limited facts is wrong for several reasons.
1. Conspiracies are hard to create and even harder to conceal. We shouldn't reason ahead of the data.
2. Accusing people you don't even know of this level of deliberate evil without direct evidence is slanderous and gives scandal.