Off the Wire News
PORT ANGELES -- A judge slapped the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney's Office with a $500 fine last week for incorrectly stating that a defendant is a member of the Hells Angels and that a local attorney involved in the case represents the motorcycle club.
Clallam County Judge Brooke Taylor sanctioned the office, which has 30 days to make the payment, on Friday.
The fine will be paid to the attorney named in the motion, Karen Unger, through Clallam County Superior Court, said Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly.
"We disagree, with all due respect, with this ruling and are considering whether to appeal," she said.
In her request for sanctions filed Feb. 9, Unger, who could not be reached for comment, referred to the motion filed by Prosecutor Erika Soublet as "unethical intimidation."
Kelly, while disagreeing with those comments, said she still regrets the mistake, adding:
"I think everyone in this office has taken the appropriate lesson from it and I have no doubt that we will be exceptionally careful in review of our pleadings."
The false statements were contained in a motion filed Feb. 8. requesting that co-defendants Roger D. Mallicott and Lovera M. Blackcrow -- who face vehicular homicide charges in the Aug. 16 death of Shelly M. Bartlett -- be tried separately.
Both Mallicott, 46 at the time of the wreck and from Port Angeles, and Blackcrow, who was 29 and resided at the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation at the time, pleaded not guilty.
They face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $50,000 fine if convicted.
As part of the prosecutor's argument, Soublet referred to a police probable cause statement that said Mallicott is a member of the Amigos motorcycle club and attempted to call Unger after being taken into custody.
But rather than referring to the Amigos, the motion stated he was a member of the Hells Angels and that Unger "apparently" was the club's attorney without providing any facts to back up that claim other than the phone call.
Kelly said she wasn't aware of Unger defending any motorcycle clubs in the past.
But based on what the prosecutor's office believed to be true, it pointed to a potential conflict of interest since Unger is defending Blackcrow.
Beyond the phone call to Unger, and incorrectly stating that she was a Hells Angels attorney at the time of the wreck, court documents show no other attempt by the prosecutor's office to connect her to a motorcycle club or Mallicott.
In her motion, Soublet also argued that the defendants shouldn't be tried together since they may start pointing fingers at one another during the trial, therefore complicating the case for the jurors who would determine their guilt or innocence.
Mallicott's membership in a motorcycle club may also be used by Blackcrow to "paint herself in a more favorable light," the motion said.
Soublet additionally wrote that Mallicott may also point the finger at Blackcrow during the trial.
In defense of her office, Kelly argued in court that its motion remained legitimate despite the errors since both defendants have made out-of-court statements against each other.
Blackcrow and Mallicott were both involved in the August wreck, although in separate vehicles.
Blackcrow, driving a sport utility vehicle, and Mallicott, riding a motorcycle with Bartlett as a passenger, were both drunk, police said, when they collided at Dry Creek Road and Edgewood Drive in west Port Angeles.
Bartlett, 45, a Sequim resident who was described as Mallicott's girlfriend in the probable cause statement, was thrown into the SUV, and was declared dead later that day at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
A hearing on whether the two defendants should be tried separately will be held Friday.
Kelly said that she initially chose to prosecute them together because they face the same charge from the same incident and: "It's usually easier to sever than it is to join them."
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsula dailynews.com.
Original article...
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100225/news/302
