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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Otto Zehm

Otto Zehm, a Spokane man with schizophrenia who worked as a janitor, died after a confrontation with police at a North Side Zip Trip store in March 2006.

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News >  Spokane

Officers cleared in every case of excessive force since 2007

Internal affairs investigators for the Spokane Police Department have sided with officers accused of brutality and excessive force in every single complaint filed by citizens over the past five years, a statistic that troubles several community leaders, including the city’s new top cop. Longtime brass within the police force, however, say the community needs to look beyond statistics alone and consider that the Spokane department does a better job of training and weeding out potential problem officers early in the recruiting process.
News >  Spokane

Judge sets Thompson sentencing for Nov. 15

Former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. will finally be sentenced, more than a year after he was convicted of using excessive force and lying about his confrontation with Otto Zehm. U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle on Friday reset the sentencing date to Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. for the decorated officer, following eight months of legal arguments by Thompson’s publicly funded defense attorneys seeking a new trial.
News >  Spokane

Thompson sentencing set for Nov. 15

U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle today reset the sentencing date for former Spokane Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. for 9 a.m. on Nov. 15. It comes more than a year after his conviction following the deadly confrontation with Otto Zehm.
News >  Spokane

Former officer Thompson’s request for new trial rejected

A federal judge refused Tuesday to order a new trial for former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr., saying last year’s convictions for beating an unarmed janitor in 2006 and then lying about it should stand. But it could be months before Thompson, whose lawyer says he will appeal the ruling, is sentenced for his role in the violent confrontation that led to the death of Otto Zehm, a mentally ill man mistakenly accused of theft.
News >  Spokane

Zehm defense presents case for retrial

Carl Oreskovich argued Friday that former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. should receive a new trial because federal prosecutors hid information from the defense that could have won his acquittal. However, several assistant U.S. attorneys disputed the assertions, countering that they had done everything required, and instead called into question the credibility of a forensic video expert who alleged prosecutorial impropriety.
News >  Spokane

Thompson case: Juror claimed orders were ignored

The alternate juror who claimed last year’s trial of former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. was marred by jury misconduct was unable to provide any specific examples of impropriety during a rare judicial inquiry into the allegations, new court documents show. Transcripts of the secret proceedings, unsealed Thursday following a legal challenge by The Spokesman-Review, show that the alternate juror spoke only in vague generalities about behavior he felt might have been inappropriate and that other jurors questioned by U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle disputed any suggestion of impropriety. Names of the jurors questioned as part of the inquiry into the conviction of Thompson for excessive force in the fatal confrontation with Otto Zehm were redacted from the documents.
News >  Spokane

Board approves Zehm memorial

Otto Zehm will be honored on the picnic shelter in Mission Park. The Spokane Park Board voted unanimously on Thursday to accept the recommendation of Mayor David Condon to honor Zehm at the park, which is in the Logan Neighborhood near Avista’s headquarters on Mission Avenue.
News >  Spokane

Juror speaks out against Thompson attorney

The forewoman of the jury that convicted former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. of using excessive force said in a letter to a federal judge that defense attorneys have twisted her words in their effort to force a new trial for the decorated officer. The documents are contained in files previously sealed by U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle.
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