Mistrial declared in trial of Pullman police officer charged with sexual assault

Whitman County Superior Court judge Gary Libey on Thursday evening declared a mistrial in the trial of a former Pullman Police Department sergeant charged with sexual assault because the jury of 12 could not agree on a verdict one day after they began deliberating.

Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy said the hung jury means his office will have to consider whether to try Dan Hargraves in court again.

Hargraves was charged with custodial sexual misconduct after an 18-year-old Washington State University student alleged he sexually assaulted her while she was intoxicated and in his custody March 31, 2018.

Hargraves, a 19-year police officer with the Pullman Police Department, was arrested Oct. 30, 2018.

The trial took nearly two weeks as the jury was presented with evidence from the prosecutor and the defense attorney, including phone records, police body camera footage and testimonies from forensic experts.

Hargraves was alleged to have placed the WSU freshman in his patrol car and taken her to Reaney Park in the early hours of March 31. There, the woman alleges he coerced her into performing oral sex on him before driving her back to her friends’ dormitory on campus. Hargraves denied the allegations in testimony Wednesday.

In her testimony, the woman said she had been drinking and did not remember all the events of that night. The woman said she did remember Hargraves telling her to get on her knees and her friend testified that the alleged victim said she was raped by a cop.

During Washington State Patrol’s investigation, a forensic analyst found a sperm cell on the sleeve of the woman’s body suit she wore that night, and DNA evidence that matched Hargraves.

Boise State University professor Greg Hampikian, in his testimony at the trial, said he had doubts about whether the cell that was found was a sperm cell.

In Tracy’s closing argument, he said phone records show the woman did not send any texts or make any calls during the time she was alleged to have been in Hargraves’ custody.

He said evidence also shows Hargraves was silent on his police radio during this time as well, and he did not respond to seven calls to the police that night. Hargraves did not turn on his body camera for most of the night.

The jury deliberated Wednesday afternoon and all of Thursday.