Sweetser Testifies For Defense In Suit Against County Former Deputy Prosecutor Says Family’S Health Suffered After Trial

Former Spokane County Prosecutor Jim Sweetser testified as a defense witness Thursday in a $5.4 million suit brought against the county.

The county is being sued by former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Hearrean, who contends he and his family were put in jeopardy and suffered health problems after he prosecuted a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in a murder trial.

Hearrean and his wife, Carol, now suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to trial testimony.

Closing arguments in the 2-week-old trial are expected today before the case goes to an eight-member jury in U.S. District Court. Judge Robert Whaley is presiding.

Sweetser was called by defense attorneys Amy Clemmons and Terry Lackie, who are trying to persuade the jury that the county did everything it could to accommodate Hearrean.

But his team of Seattle attorneys contends the county violated provisions of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the state’s anti-discrimination law.

They argue that Hearrean wasn’t given adequate medical leave or disability accommodations when he returned to work in October 1997 in the prosecutor’s Family Law Department.

Sweetser’s testimony detailed the measures the county took to protect the deputy prosecutor and his family during the Hells Angels murder trial.

Sheriff’s deputies were assigned to guard Hearrean and his family during the trial in the spring of 1996.

Sweetser said the Sheriff’s Department had to pay deputies overtime for the protection work.

Attorney Michael Murphy, who represents Hearrean, asked Sweetser if he and the Sheriff’s Department were arguing who was going to pay for the protection.

Sweetser said he asked county commissioners for a supplemental budget appropriation to pay the $18,922 protection bill.

Murphy asked Sweetser why the protection was necessary.

“From our perspective, we don’t want to be wrong, so it was better to get protection during the trial,” Sweetser said.

“I wanted to do everything in my power to ensure there was protection during this trial,” the former prosecutor told the jury.

But the protection for Hearrean and his family ended when the murder trial ended with an acquittal in May 1996.

After the acquittal, another prosecutor brought criminal charges against other Hells Angels, accusing them of intimidating Hearrean and witnesses in the murder case.

Sweetser, who became prosecutor in January 1995, said one of his first decisions was picking Hearrean to head a new gang prosecution team.

Sweetser said he and Hearrean worked together as deputy prosecutors and union representatives before Sweetser was elected to the prosecutor’s job in November 1994.