Judge won't change date in Zehm case: Officer's trial scheduled to begin early next year

The Spokesman-Review July 17, 2010
By Thomas Clouse, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

July 17--A federal judge has denied a request to move up the March 2011 trial date of Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. for his role in the 2006 confrontation with Otto Zehm.

Jeffry Finer, who represents Zehm's estate, asked U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle to consider an earlier trial date because of the health of Zehm's mother, Ann Zehm.

But Van Sickle denied the motion and kept the trial at March 7, according to court records.

Thompson's trial was originally set to begin June 7. But with the jury waiting in another room, federal prosecutors informed Van Sickle that they intended to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals his decision barring the presentation of evidence that Zehm had not committed a crime.

Victor Boutros, a trial lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, asked Van Sickle to reset the trial in August to give federal appellate judges more incentive to quickly consider the appeal. But Van Sickle instead set the trial for March 7, which is almost five years after Thompson confronted Zehm following a report by two women who had erroneously claimed Zehm had taken their money from a cash machine on March 18, 2006.

Thompson struck Zehm with a baton and shocked him with a Taser, and several other officers hogtied Zehm for about 17 minutes until he stopped breathing. Zehm, a 36-year-old janitor with paranoid schizophrenia, never regained consciousness and died two days later.

In June 2009, a federal grand jury indicted Thompson on felony charges of using excessive force and lying to investigators. As the criminal case proceeds, a civil case against Thompson has been put on hold.