Suspect Spurns Chance To Hear Guilty Verdict

An osteopath spurned a chance to hear the verdict in his trial on drug-selling charges, hung up twice on the judge and later said he would not appear in court for a bail revocation hearing.

Dr. Vernon Clausing, 75, of Burien, was convicted Wednesday by a King County Superior Court jury of four counts of illegally selling prescription drugs, mostly the painkillers Soma and Nubain.

He could face as much as a year in jail when he is sentenced March 20.

The jury reached its verdict Tuesday morning, but Clausing told the judge he was sick, so Scott instructed the panel to return Wednesday.

At the appointed time, Judge Steven Scott had his bailiff call Clausing on a speaker phone. Clausing said he wasn’t coming to court and hung up.

The judge then had the bailiff call again, asked the osteopath to stay on the line and said he might hear the verdict with Clausing absent.

“Go ahead and do it,” Clausing said, and hung up again.

“He has voluntarily absented himself,” Scott ruled.

He set a hearing for Friday morning to determine whether to revoke the $20,000 bail posted by Clausing, who acted as his own lawyer in the trial.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Clausing told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by telephone he would not attend that hearing.

A bench warrant has been issued for Clausing’s wife, Cleo, 77, who failed to appear at a pretrial hearing in May, deputy prosecutor Tami Perdue said. She was charged with drug violations in December 1996, the same time as her husband.

Clausing’s license was revoked in April 1995 for overprescribing several prescription drugs.

His first trial on the illegal drug sale charges ended in a hung jury in July.