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

Former Judge Sues Narcotics Investigator

Compiled From Wire Services

A former Bonneville County district judge who resigned from office in January has filed a lawsuit against a state narcotics investigator.

Marvin Smith of Idaho Falls, who returned to private practice, represents himself in the suit against Mark Denhardt, an investigator for the state Department of Law Enforcement’s Criminal Investigation Bureau in Idaho Falls.

The suit, which seeks at least $10,000 in damages, was filed Friday and alleges Denhardt wrote a letter to the editor published in the Post Register in May 1994 meant to show Smith was “guilty of unethical and criminal activity.”

The letter to which Smith refers in the suit against Denhardt was signed by Mike Russell, which Smith apparently alleges to be a pseudonym for Denhardt.

It reads in part, “In a great moment in legal history, District Judge Marvin Smith ruled that it was all right to lie to the police as long as he was lying to protect himself and dismissed the charges against (Idaho Falls attorney Dean) Brandstetter,” it says.

Brandstetter had been indicted on a misdemeanor obstruction charge in a narcotics case Denhardt had investigated. But Smith granted a motion to dismiss the charge. An appeals court upheld his ruling.

The letter suggested the Brandstetter case was “resolved behind closed doors with a wink and a nod.”