No charges yet in Wal-Mart scuffle

It’s been two weeks since a Liberty Lake father of three spent the night in jail after police say he shoved a plainclothes security guard attempting to apprehend a shoplifter. Scott E. Hughes, 33, describes his interference as a mistake – he thought the shoplifter was an assault victim – but disputes the Spokane Valley police account of the scuffle and plans to fight any charges.

“It’s the kind of question a professor would put in a law school exam,” said Jeffry Finer, a civil rights lawyer with the Spokane public interest law firm Center for Justice, who is not involved in the case. “Had he stopped a robbery, his picture would have been in the paper as a minor citizen hero. His bad luck is he read it wrong, but I’ve yet to hear anyone say he did it with any malice.”

Doug Phelps, Hughes’ lawyer, called it “a great case to try by a jury,” but it remains to be seen when, if ever, that will happen.

As of Friday afternoon, no charges had been filed against Hughes and the case remains under investigation.

But, said Spokane Valley police spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan, “we’re going to pursue those charges aggressively. It’ll happen, I just can’t give a timeline.”

Hughes was arrested June 6 after the shoplifter he thought was an assault victim fled the Wal-Mart parking lot in a car, knocking a store security officer to the ground. The officer, Theresa Jones, suffered a fractured skull, Reagan said. Reagan believes Jones’ serious injury will influence the prosecutor’s charging decision.

In an interview, Hughes said he asked the duo tangling with the young woman what they were doing and was told it was none of his business. He said he stepped between the man – later identified as 20-year-old Wal-Mart loss prevention officer James Biehl – and the shoplifter. Hughes realized his mistake moments later when Biehl brandished his Wal-Mart identification card after repeated requests.

“That’s when I had the epiphany of ‘Great, I’m on the wrong side of this,’ ” Hughes said. “I thought it was a boyfriend and girlfriend beating up on an ex-girlfriend.”

A Wal-Mart corporate spokeswoman refused to discuss how security officers are trained, what they wear or procedures for detaining combative suspects.

Phelps said the Washington self-defense law is on his client’s side.

“You’re allowed to act on what you believe is going on even if you may later be proven incorrect,” Phelps said, adding the law is there to encourage citizens to help others in distress.

Hughes’ motivation for interfering could be pivotal to the case, Finer said.

“They could charge, but there would be a very strong defense that would come down to whether the jury accepted the defendant’s argument that he really honestly believed he was helping,” he said. “It matters very much what he thought and whether he was justified in thinking that.”

Given his knowledge of the case, Fienr said, he wouldn’t be surprised if a prosecutor didn’t pursue charges.

Neither would Spokane Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza, who signed Hughes’ arrest warrant.

“Frankly, based upon some of the investigation they might decide not to charge anything at all,” Cozza said. “Any number of possibilities can come out of it.”

Reagan said the police investigation is not a priority. Spokane County Sheriff’s Detective Mike Ricketts is handling the investigation but has been devoting most of his time to a double homicide investigation after lead Detective Jim Dresback shot himself in the leg during firearms training last month, Reagan said.

A Spokane Valley native and 1992 Central Valley High graduate, Hughes said he feels horrible about what happened.

“I am certainly going to be a heckuva lot more careful about getting involved in the future,” Hughes said.