Prosecutor, FBI sought no charges

A federal prosecutor and an FBI supervisor recommended against filing criminal charges against seven Spokane County Jail corrections officers involved in a 2003 incident that an inmate described as a jailhouse beating, FBI investigative records show.

The 40 pages of FBI documents were delivered to The Spokesman-Review on Tuesday in response to a federal Freedom of Information Act request filed earlier this year.

While the heavily edited records confirm that Robert J. Galliher was involved in an incident with jailers in 2003, they do not characterize it as a beating.

In interviews with the newspaper last spring, Galliher claimed he suffered a retaliatory beating three months after publicly accusing a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy of sexual abuse.

Earlier this spring, Galliher told The Spokesman-Review he was molested multiple times in the 1970s by former sheriff’s Deputy David Hahn. Galliher also accused Jim West of sexually abusing him during the same era when West was a sheriff’s deputy and a friend of Hahn’s.

West has denied the allegations.

The FBI documents don’t address the abuse allegations.

According to the documents, the FBI opened a civil rights investigation in October 2003. The jailers were told no criminal charges would be filed against them after the results of the FBI probe were reviewed by the U.S. attorney’s office in Spokane and the FBI special agent in charge in Seattle.

The seven jailers, whose names are redacted in the records, said Galliher sustained minor injuries when he became unruly and refused to be moved to a different cell.

Galliher claimed he was beaten by the jailers because they were angry he accused Hahn in a June 2003 story published in The Spokesman-Review.

The story described abuse Galliher and two other men said they suffered as young boys in the 1970s and 1980s at the hands of Hahn.

Galliher and the other men subsequently filed a lawsuit against Spokane County, set for trial next spring.

As part of the pending suit, Galliher told the newspaper he was also molested by West, who is now Spokane’s mayor. West has called the claims “flat lies.”

Galliher told The Spokesman-Review the jail beating occurred after he was arrested on drug charges in September 2003, three months after he was identified in a newspaper story.

“Galliher recalls hearing a female (jail) supervisor say that they were not going to let him disgrace the (sheriff’s) department,” according to the FBI report.

Galliher told FBI agents he “was not looking for money” from Spokane County for the beating, but wanted jailers “to mellow out” in their treatment of prisoners, according to the documents.

Jail supervisors provided the FBI an “incident report” which stated Galliher did not like his cell assignment.

“Galliher responded with curse words and was advised he was going to be taken back downstairs to the booking area of the jail,” the FBI report said.

“When prompted to return downstairs, Galliher resisted, which forced the jailers to physically restrain him. The initial officer had to call for assistance to restrain Galliher as he continued to curse and resist.”

The FBI report said the incident was not referred to the sheriff’s office for an internal affairs investigation.

Galliher told the newspaper he sustained a black eye that was swollen shut, bruised ribs and internal injuries that resulted in blood in his urine. He said he was stripped naked, put in solitary confinement for two weeks and denied medical attention for days after the beating.

According to the documents, the jail nurse said Galliher “suffered a cut above his right eye resulting in a small amount of bleeding,” which the nurse “cleaned with water.” The jail nurse also “noted scratches on Galliher’s neck and back which did not require medical attention.”

Galliher’s attorney, assistant public defender Doug Boe, told the newspaper earlier this year that he believes his client was beaten by jailers.

According to the report, “no photographs were taken of Galliher.”

When contacted Tuesday for comment, Galliher said, “There were photographs taken.” He also disputed the jail nurse’s statement to the FBI, claiming he was given medical treatment.

“They wouldn’t give me any kind of medical attention,” said Galliher, who now lives outside Eastern Washington.

His mother, Marlene Traynor of Spokane, requested the FBI civil rights investigation.

“To me, no abuse in any Iraq prison comes close to what they did to Robert in the Spokane County Jail,” Traynor said Tuesday. She had not seen the FBI documents but had been told earlier the investigation was closed without charges.