County Gets $19,000 Bill For Biker Trial Threats Raise Cost Of Protecting Lawyer, Jury, Witnesses To $15,000

Spokane County spent nearly $19,000 - more than twice the expected amount - for security during last month’s murder trial of a Hells Angels member.

More than $15,000 covered 454 hours of overtime paid to sheriff’s deputies who helped protect Deputy Prosecutor David Hearrean and his family, as well as jurors and witnesses.

Hearrean says his wife was intimidated by two bikers - one wearing Hells Angels insignia - who stared at her in a store then roared on his motorcycle beside her car on U.S. Highway 2. The next day, the telecommunications company where she worked received a bomb threat.

Hearrean’s wife lost her job and the couple were told they no longer could take their son to the day care he attended for six years.

Hells Angels member Timothy Myers was acquitted of the murder charges.

Three members and two associates of the motorcycle gang were arrested Tuesday on charges that they tried to intimidate the Hearreans and witnesses during the trial.

Presented with the bill for security on Tuesday, Spokane County Commissioners Steve Hasson and John Roskelley said they were shocked at the cost.

When the threats were reported, Prosecutor Jim Sweetser told commissioners he needed about $8,000 for security.

Hasson and Roskelley said there is no question the extra protection was needed. But they criticized Sheriff John Goldman for not working the assignment into deputies’ normal work hours.

“That doggone sheriff. We’ve got to get him weaned from overtime,” Hasson said. “We really do.”

Commissioners said they’ll pay no more than $10,000. The prosecutor and sheriff will have to cover the rest from their budgets.

Neither Goldman nor Sweetser were present when commissioners discussed the bill.

Contacted at his office Tuesday afternoon, Goldman defended using off-duty officers for the work.

Deputies already are spread too thin, Goldman said. Pulling some away from their duties for the trial would have left the department dangerously short-staffed, he said.

“It’s simply not an option to take people off the street,” Goldman said.

In addition to overtime, the Sheriff’s Department spent nearly $2,000 on hotel rooms, about $1,000 on meals and $400 on rental cars.

During the trial, the Hearreans were moved from their home and stopped using their own cars so gang members could not find them.

, DataTimes