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Thomas Clouse

Thomas Clouse

Current Position: reporter

Thomas Clouse joined The Spokesman-Review in 1999. He is currently the business reporter. He previously worked as an investigative reporter for the City Desk and covering federal, state and local courts for many years.

Email
tomc@spokesman.com
Phone
(509) 459-5495

All Stories

News >  Spokane

Thompson juror: ‘This was a police coverup’

The forewoman of the jury that convicted Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. said none of the jurors brought information to deliberations from media sources, as alleged by defense attorneys seeking a new trial.
News >  Spokane

Verner seeks federal probe

The entire Spokane Police Department could soon be under full federal investigation. Outgoing Mayor Mary Verner announced Monday she will ask the U.S. Justice Department to launch a “pattern and practice” investigation of the department, which federal prosecutors described earlier this month as participating in an “an extensive cover-up” of the fatal 2006 police confrontation with unarmed janitor Otto Zehm. A jury on Nov. 2 convicted Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. of using excessive force on Zehm and lying to cover up his actions.
News >  Spokane

Tucker mum on charges

Ten days after a jury convicted Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. in federal court, Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker has given no indication that he will move forward in state court with an investigation into Thompson or other officers involved in the 2006 confrontation with Otto Zehm. Tucker avoided questions for more than a week. His only response to multiple calls and office visits was an email on Friday asking about the “specific case” reporters were inquiring about. He then didn’t respond by 5 p.m. Friday to a list of emailed questions.
News >  Pacific NW

Tucker still mum on further action in Zehm case

Ten days after a jury convicted Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. in federal court, Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker has given no indication that he will move forward in state court with an investigation into Thompson or other officers involved in the 2006 confrontation with Otto Zehm.
News >  Spokane

Jury could have heard Zehm’s mental status

Attorneys for both sides of the criminal case of convicted Spokane Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. filed legal briefs today indicating that jurors were in a room that had two televisions broadcasting a tickertape on Nov. 1 indicating that Otto Zehm was “mentally ill.”
News >  Spokane

Judge delays decision on questioning Thompson jury

A federal judge on Tuesday delayed ruling on whether jurors in the trial of Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. would be questioned about television reports that might have influenced their decision to convict him. Thompson’s defense attorney Carl Oreskovich contended that some jurors might have seen news of the trial, which concluded last week in Yakima, during breakfast in a common room at their Yakima hotel.
News >  Spokane

Judge delays decision to query Thompson jury

A federal judge this morning delayed his ruling on whether jurors in the trial of a Spokane Police officer would be questioned about television reports on the case they might have seen during trial in Yakima.
News >  Spokane

Thompson released pending sentencing

A judge ruled late Monday to release convicted Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. and could rule as early as this morning whether to bring in jurors for questioning after a defense attorney raised allegations of juror misconduct. U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle reversed a Friday decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Hutton, who ordered Thompson detained until sentencing, which has been set for Jan. 27 at 9 a.m. In ruling for Thompson, Van Sickle went against a prior ruling made against officers convicted in the 1992 beating of Rodney King that they were not above the law that requires they remain in jail prior to sentencing except in “exceptional” cases.
News >  Spokane

Judge releases Thompson from jail

A federal judge ruled late this afternoon that convicted Spokane Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. should be released from jail pending his sentencing, which he set for Jan. 27.
News >  Spokane

U.S. marshals take convicted Thompson into custody

Nearly 50 Spokane police officers saluted convicted Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. in federal court as U.S. marshals led him away Friday, prompting Mayor Mary Verner and police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick to apologize for their actions. A Yakima jury Wednesday convicted Thompson of using excessive force and lying to cover up his attack on 36-year-old Otto Zehm in 2006. On Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Hutton ruled that Thompson must immediately be detained despite arguments by defense attorney Carl Oreskovich that he will seek a new trial for alleged juror misconduct.
News >  Spokane

Karl Thompson taken into custody

U.S. Marshals took convicted Spokane Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. into custody today after a federal judge ruled that his detention is appropriate pending sentencing for using excessive force on Otto Zehm and lying to cover it up.
News >  Spokane

Defense to seek new trial

A federal judge delayed a decision whether to take convicted Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. into custody after his defense attorney said Thursday that he will seek a new trial based on allegations of juror misconduct. Carl Oreskovich, Thompson’s attorney, said he witnessed jurors watching TV reports of the trial while it was under way.
News >  Spokane

Thompson case goes to jurors

YAKIMA – Jurors were asked Monday to decide whether Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. is a “rogue cop” and liar who hid behind a departmental coverup, or a “hero” who was protecting the public when he beat Otto Zehm with a baton 13 times and shocked him with a Taser. Deliberations in the excessive force trial began on what would have been Zehm’s 42nd birthday. He died without regaining consciousness following a violent March 18, 2006, police confrontation inside a Spokane convenience store after being mistakenly identified as a suspect in a possible theft.
News >  Spokane

Thompson admits ‘errors’ in statement to investigators

YAKIMA – Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. finished his second day of testimony Friday, acknowledging again that he made some errors in his taped statement describing the 2006 incident that resulted in the death of Otto Zehm, but that he did not intend to lie. Meanwhile, another expert witness testified that Thompson used “poor” judgment when he rushed at Zehm in a north Spokane convenience store and began striking him without a legitimate law enforcement purpose.
News >  Spokane

Thompson admits errors in Zehm report

YAKIMA – Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. finished his second day of testimony Friday, acknowledging again that he made some errors in his taped statement describing the 2006 incident that resulted in the death of Otto Zehm, but that he did not intend to lie.
News >  Spokane

Thompson describes Zehm confrontation

YAKIMA – After more than five years of videotape review and federal allegations of a police coverup, Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. on Thursday explained his actions against Otto Zehm before a jury. In his first public comments since his statement to detectives four days after the March 18, 2006, confrontation with Zehm, Thompson gave new justifications for his use of force that day and acknowledged that he erred in some of his descriptions of how he struck Zehm with a baton and Tasered him during a prolonged struggle. Zehm died two days later.
News >  Spokane

Police training expert defends use of force

YAKIMA – One of the Spokane Police Department’s top trainers told a jury Wednesday that any situation could justify an officer’s use of force, even taking a burglary report in the victim’s home. The testimony of Officer Terry Preuninger sparked verbal battles between federal prosecutors and defense attorneys for Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr., who is expected to take the stand today to defend his actions during his encounter on March 18, 2006, with Otto Zehm.