Meehan Obstructed, Officer Testifies Claims Former Policeman Didn’t Say He Knew Suspect, Who Made Allegations Of Sex, Drugs

Former Spokane police officer Mark Meehan failed to tell other officers that a suspect they were looking for was a woman he knew, a witness in his trial testified Wednesday.

Spokane Police Officer Davida Zinkgraf testified in District Court that Meehan went with her and another officer to the home of LaiceL. Adams on April 9, 1997.

Zinkgraf said she met a woman at the house who denied she was Adams. Although prosecutors insist Meehan knew the woman, he said nothing about their association that day, Zinkgraf said.

In court earlier Wednesday, two other officers testified that they’d seen Meehan with Adams before April 9.

Meehan is charged with three gross misdemeanors: two counts of obstructing a public servant and one count of filing a false police report.

Adams, a former Spokane prostitute, has accused Meehan of having sex with her in his patrol car and smoking crack cocaine.

If convicted, he faces a maximum of one year in jail. Meehan denies the charges.

Zinkgraf’s testimony is critical to whether Meehan, 31, is convicted.

Prosecutors say Meehan went out of his way to obstruct other officers when he refused to identify Adams at her home April 9.

Meehan was fired by Police Chief Terry Mangan last September after Adams told investigators she had sex with Meehan about 10 times from May 1996 to spring of 1997. She said she performed oral sex on Meehan several times in his patrol car.

She also testified that she had been an East Sprague prostitute who was heavily into drugs at the time Meehan met her.

Adams - who also goes by the name Laice Peterson - testified Tuesday that she and Meehan had an “unspoken deal.” She let him do what he wanted to her and in return, Meehan, who is single, agreed not to arrest her for illegal drugs, she testified.

Zinkgraf was one of several officers giving jurors details Wednesday about the call they responded to last April at Adams’ house.

Spokane bail bondsman Jim Bishop reported he was assaulted at Adams’ home on North Martin in northeast Spokane while serving a warrant on Adams’ husband, Zinkgraf told jurors.

Zinkgraf said Meehan was one of three officers dispatched in separate cars to Adams’ house.

Two women came out of the house and were questioned by Zinkgraf and Officer Craig Wendt. Neither said she was Adams.

Zinkgraf said Meehan was standing nearby while she talked to one of the women who later was identified as Adams.

After allowing the women to leave, Zinkgraf and Wendt obtained a police photo of Adams, and realized they’d been lied to, she said.

“Officer Wendt said, ‘We’ve been had,”’ Zinkgraf testified Wednesday.

Defense attorney Carl Oreskovich tried to undercut Zinkgraf’s testimony, pointing out that it was Meehan himself who obtained the police photo of Adams.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT Prosecutor Kathryn Lee will conclude her case today. Mark Meehan is expected to testify today or Friday.