SPD evidence debacle prompts changes
Late evidence revealed in a case against a protester arrested in Riverfront Park on Independence Day last year has prompted the Spokane Police Department to adopt stricter controls on electronic evidence.
From now on, the department will not allow original versions of electronic data generated or seized in investigations to leave its custody. These include video files, cell phone messages and computer disks. If any data is needed for a court proceeding, a police case manager will make copies.
In another change stemming from the city’s handling of the July 4 case, the city prosecutor’s office from now on will make a final check in the city’s main computer system for any data that might be related to a case heading to trial.
The changes were revealed Monday during a meeting of the city’s Public Safety Committee.
The city charged protester Michael Lyons with misdemeanor charges of trespass and failing to disperse. Police reports and videos taken by three detectives from the Criminal Intelligence Unit were left out of the file that city prosecutors had prepared for the Lyons trial.
The defendant’s lawyer didn’t receive copies of the videos until minutes before the trial was set to begin, some 10 months after Lyons was arrested. A judge put the trial on hold while the lawyers argued whether such a late disclosure violated Lyons’ right to a fair trial by withholding key evidence. The city ended up dropping the charges.
Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said the police and prosecutors could have communicated better in the case.
“It was not willful misconduct,” Kirkpatrick said. “We had a system issue we are dealing with. And a human error we can learn from.”
City Council President Joe Shogan said last summer’s protest was the first big mass arrest current city leaders had to confront.
“To me, you make a mistake, you take corrective action and move on,” Shogan said.
The Police Department updated its “property procedures” policy in hopes that such problems don’t happen again.
Under the former policy, a video could be checked out by the court or an investigator, then checked back in. Now, all such data “shall be stored in the property and evidence facility in its original form prior to making any duplicates/copies,” the new policy says. In addition, “All subsequent duplicate copies of the data shall be coordinated by the case manager.”
Assistant Chief Jim Nicks said the Police Department will be trained on the new policy as soon as possible.
City officials also said that July 2007 was the last time the city prosecutor’s office searched for any information or new evidence in the Lyons case. The videotape and report in question were logged into the computer reporting system in August.