Trooper In Abortion Counseling Incident Fired Again By State Patrol

The state trooper who delayed a couple en route to an abortion appointment was fired Monday after an internal Washington State Patrol investigation of the 1994 traffic stop.

It was Lane Jackstadt’s second firing by the patrol. The first, for cheating on a 1992 promotional exam, was overturned by an arbitrator in June, six months after it was announced and one month after his criminal trial in the traffic stop.

“Basically, what came out of the investigation was some code-of-ethics and unbecoming-conduct violations,” said patrol spokesman Lt. Ron O’Gwin.

Jackstadt has 10 days to appeal and plans to do so, said Seattle attorney Thomas Olmstead, who represented him at his King County Superior Court trial last spring on charges of unlawful imprisonment and official misconduct. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict in that case.

“It was not a surprise or a shock to him,” Olmstead said of the firing. “We all expected it.”

Jackstadt has been on administrative leave with pay at $3,543 a month for much of the past 16 months.

He has not been in uniform since the couple - Deanna Thomas, then 18, and Justin Cooper, then 20 - complained about his conduct when he stopped them for speeding on July 27, 1994.

The couple said that when they told Jackstadt they were on their way to an abortion appointment, he forced them to accompany him to a church-affiliated anti-abortion counseling session.

The couple subsequently proceeded with the abortion.

“Jackstadt has cheated justice up until now. … He won’t cheat justice again,” Thomas and Cooper said in a written statement Monday. They added that the patrol had asked them “to cooperate if he tries to appeal. We will be ready if needed.”

Jackstadt, a conservative Christian, makes no apologies for his handling of the traffic stop, though he disputes the couple’s account. He contends he has been a victim of a vendetta by pro-choice groups and “vicious” media.