June 8, 2010 in City

Otto’s much-delayed day in court on hold, again

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Wouldn’t it be great if the judicial system moved as efficiently as it does in the movies?

Take that great, old film “The Verdict,” for example. That was a highly complicated medical malpractice case. Yet Paul Newman managed to get it wrapped up favorably in barely over two hours.

Unfortunately, real-life justice is far more tedious than reel-life justice.

I observed this firsthand in a federal courtroom Monday when the much-anticipated Otto Zehm case went on an unexpected sabbatical for at least the next 60 days.

Ay Caramba!

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

This was supposed to be Day One in the monthlong trial of Karl F. Thompson Jr., after all.

The Spokane police officer faces charges for his role in the violent encounter with Zehm, a mentally ill janitor.

By now anyone who reads my column should know what happened that terrible day in 2006.

Zehm, wrongly accused of theft, was clubbed, shocked, hogtied and suffocated inside a North Division convenience store. The last words anyone heard him say were that he was just trying to buy a Snickers candy bar.

The poor guy never regained consciousness after that and died two days later.

A lot of us have been looking forward to the day when this case could be heard in a court of law.

But now comes this 60-plus- day trial delay.

I don’t want to get too boring or accurate – that’s what reporters are for. Basically, prosecutors asked for the delay in order to appeal one of Judge Fred Van Sickle’s evidentiary rulings to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Van Sickle signed off on it, but he clearly wasn’t happy.

One reason was that some 80 potential jurors had come to the federal building from all over Eastern Washington. Juror selection was to begin Monday afternoon.

Before calling it a day, Van Sickle had all the juror candidates brought into the courtroom so he could thank them for the effort and bid them “safe travel.”

That was a class move. But it’s too bad the judge couldn’t have given them each a lovely parting gift. You know, like they do on TV game shows.

JUDGE: “Thanks for coming, folks. And here’s a complimentary Karl Thompson Taser Tag set to take back home. It’s fun for the whole family!”

Yep, I had quite a shocking time in court, all right.

And that was just after I walked into the courtroom shortly after 9 a.m. I gazed over at the defense table. The looks that came back at me seemed to say, “Who let Hitler in?”

I realize I’m not the most popular guy in some circles. But it all became clear a little later when Thompson’s attorney, Carl Oreskovich, sauntered over to me.

“Clark,” he said, “can I look at your hat?”

Ah. It appears that the defense had seen from afar that there was a button pinned to my baseball cap. Someone over there assumed I was idiot enough to wear into this federal courtroom one of the “Otto” buttons that I give away in remembrance of Zehm.

Give me a break.

I picked my cap up from where I had stowed it on the floor ( you don’t wear hats in a courtroom – even I know that) and showed Oreskovich my vintage “I’m 4 Beatles” fan button.

“Aren’t you for Beatles?” I asked him.

Oreskovich assured me he was for Beatles and then walked away.

Lawyers. What sad creatures.

If prosecutors think this appeal to the 9th Circuit could strengthen their case then I hope they get what they’re after.

Sure, it means another delay. But here’s one truth that won’t be erased:

Otto isn’t going anywhere.

Doug Clark is a columnist for The Spokesman-Review. He can be reached at (509) 459-5432 or by e-mail at dougc@spokesman.com.

Five comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  lewis8457 on June 08 at 7:19 a.m.

  yes i was excited too, but once again our wonderful justice system has to throw a wrench in the gears. and everything moves so damn slow, unless you kill a cop then there is a state wide man hunt, 24/7 until you are caught or killed.

  the disabled janitors of the world (which i am one) can be put down with out a care in the world from our wonderful police. and they will back each other up even as they board Thompson on a bus for Walla Walla.

  showing who they really support…not the taxpayers that pay their luxury wages, but the rogue cops that make their job more and more dangerous.

  Through this whole thing we haven’t seen one cop stand up for justice which has me thinking we have a bigger problem then we thought we had.

• 

  Ron_the_Cop on June 08 at 7:36 a.m.

  Those reading here may be interested in S-R Craig’s articles comment threads:

  http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jun/07/thompson-trial-hold-over-judges-order/

  http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jun/08/appeal-delays-officers-trial/

• 

  brianth on June 08 at 9:25 p.m.

  Well written piece Mr. Clark, Glad to see some one keeping Otto’s cause for justice going. Thank you..

• 

  brianth on June 09 at 8:15 a.m.

  I would like to comment to Ron_the_Cop, I would like to say sir I have read many of your comments, on the Otto case, for a little while now and I have to say you bring an good assesment for both sides of the argument on this subject. It’s easy for us to forget to recognize that a majority of the police force is made up of outstanding professionals that handle the job they hold as responsibility they truly and respectively adhere too. It’s also true a majority of the police force are questionable of the above mentioned attributes of the job. In Society we have good and bad people and the same goes for Law enforcement.We should all review that facts of the case, from both sides, and have open discussions on the information provided by all parties involved before we assert our opinions. You do share both sides and are respectful to those facts being presented so for at least this issue, well done sir!

• 

  Ron_the_Cop on June 09 at 5:11 p.m.

  Brianth,

  Thanks for the compliment. Mr. Clark would probably take exception with my credibility though on other death cases in town:-)

  Brianth I read your comments in the other threads and many of your questions re how Ofc. Thompson responded to this call and approached Zehm, concern me too.

  BTW I teach in a local BA/AA criminal justice program in Forensics and CSI, Controversial Issues in Law Enforcement, and Community Oriented Policing. Further I have a definite bias for the many fine working men and women in law enforcement that have a very difficult job to do and we expect so much. I was a two-term president of a police union in CA of some 350 sworn officers. So I do understand both the criminal and administrative investigation aspects of critical incidents like Zehm and Pete.

  Det. Ron Wright (Retired)