Spokane7
52°
April 15, 2009 in City
Olsen incidents could have led to criminal charges
Former officer tried to talk to judge
The Spokane Police Department’s internal investigation into former Officer Jay Olsen shows that officials could have charged him with a crime a year before his trial, because he tried to discuss his case with the judge assigned to preside over his trial.
Olsen quit Monday rather than submit to an interview with police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, who had previously informed the suspended officer that she intended to fire him for violations of department policy, including carrying a loaded handgun while consuming alcohol.
Olsen was drunk when he chased Shonto Pete on March 27, 2006, and shot him in the head as Pete fled down an embankment into Peaceful Valley. Pete was exonerated of the auto-theft charge, and another jury acquitted Olsen in March of a first-degree assault charge he faced for shooting Pete.
However, Kirkpatrick concluded in a subsequent internal investigation, released Tuesday, that Olsen violated several conduct rules.
“Your judgment and decision-making was impaired as you chased this suspect to a point where you used deadly force,” Kirkpatrick wrote. “You have brought discredit upon the Spokane Police Department and the law enforcement profession.”
In the same letter, Kirkpatrick said Olsen three times approached the assistant to Superior Court Judge Ellen Kalama Clark before his trial. The assistant, Tracy Pilkington, told investigators that Olsen flashed a badge March 13, 2008, as he tried to gain access to Clark’s chambers. He tried again twice the next day.
Olsen was on unpaid suspension from the police force and had been ordered to turn over all his badges.
Olsen also left a letter for the judge to read.
The judge – who did not end up hearing the case – reported the incidents to prosecutors and police officials. Kirkpatrick asked City Attorney Howard Delaney to determine whether charges were warranted.
“You tried to gain entrance to the chambers of a judge who was scheduled to try your criminal case in order to discuss matters which the judge was prohibited from discussing with you,” Kirkpatrick wrote. “The evidence in the record including your own statements convince me that you wanted the clerk to believe you were a police officer whether you actually flashed a badge or not.”
Delaney said in documents that Olsen’s conduct “appears to be a relatively plain violation” of criminal impersonation in the second degree, a gross misdemeanor. Olsen created the impression that he was a police officer and flashed a badge, and a reasonable person would have believed he was an officer, Delaney wrote.
But in the same letter, Delaney explained that because the violation was not based on a municipal law, it needed to be handled by the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office.
Reached at home Tuesday by city spokeswoman Marlene Feist, Delaney said he was unsure what happened to the case.
Delaney, who has been out sick, was expected to research the matter today when he returns to work, Feist said.
Rob Cossey, a lawyer who successfully defended Olsen, said he never discussed the situation with prosecutors and believed the matter concerning the judge visits should be dead.
“I don’t know why they thought they could charge something on that,” Cossey said. “It’s a minor incident that happened over a whole complicated mess of this whole thing. It’s a tiny thing that got blown out of proportion, in my opinion.”
Olsen referred to the incident in his resignation letter.
“While I did not fully appreciate that my attempt to discuss the timing of my case schedule directly with Judge Clark was improper at the time I did it, and while I did not intend to portray myself as a police officer to Judge Clark’s clerk, I can see, in retrospect, that she could easily have interpreted my having displayed my drivers license … as having conveyed the impression that I was acting as a police officer,” he wrote.
“To the extent that this incident caused the department to have to discuss things with either the court or the prosecutor’s office, I am sorry.”
Reporter Meghann Cuniff contributed to this report. Contact Thomas Clouse at tomc@spokesman.com or (509) 459-5495.
WSU police investigate third suspicious fire 
liarsinnews on April 15 at 8:16 a.m.
You talk about a ship without a rudder, its Spokane`s finest, the police department. Everybody thought Kirkpatrick was so great when Hession appointed her as Chief, but one only needs to look at the cases that have been on the back burner or those that nothing at all was done. Why does the Mayor allow this crap to happen?
lewis8457 on April 15 at 8:37 a.m.
The mayor is in on it that is why she allows this crap to happen
jenny on April 16 at 1:07 p.m.
It is sounding really bad for Olsen and there was a lack of concern on the prosecution as all these documents could have been presented at the trial and the credibility of Olsen as a withness could have been brought to the forefront and he would have been exposed to the jury as a shady person who uses his profession to get his way. The Olsen trial weighed heavy on the Olsen side and it was like everyone was on Olsen’s side, the judge was biased, while ordering evidence to be withheld. The jury was misinformed, and showed prejudiced against Pete while their blinders were on concerning Olsen, the prosecutor did not have an interest in prosecuting and all were against truth and justice.
Denying evidence is just the same as ommitting the truth, thus lying. Justice got delayed too long. What a way to make a mockery of our court system. Why couldn’t this investigation have been way back in 2007 when it occurred? Why wait so long? He must have been a good officer at one time, a real gem and respected and no one could believe he would do so much wrong so now they can see how he betrayed them all, their trust and respect for him is most likely in the apprehensive mode.
It reminds me of Shakespheare—”out, out damned spot”—and in words like Shakespheare, “How couldst thou?” This entire incident has the makings of a good selling book and movie. What devastation has anyone considered does this cause the Pete family? How would one feel if they had been the victim? Put yourself in this young man’s Nike tennis shoes for one minute.