Conviction tossed for man who claimed 'vindictive prosecution'
SEATTLE -- It took three years, but a Seattle man who claims he was the victim of vindictive prosecution finally had his record wiped clean on Wednesday.
Donald Fuller had been waiting a long time for this day, when his conviction for obstructing Seattle police would disappear from his record.
"It's a good feeling," Fuller said. "It's a good feeling, (and) now I can go ahead and focus on a few other things."
The ordeal started in March 2009, when Seattle police stopped Fuller and accused him of jaywalking. When he questioned the stop, Fuller said police tased him several times before arresting him and booking him into jail.
Both the King County Prosecutor's Office and the City Attorney's Office initially declined to file charges in the case. Fuller then complained to the Seattle Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability, which promises not to retaliate against complainants.
But Fuller believes that's exactly what happened. The OPA investigator's own case notes show that she hand carried Fuller's police report to the City Attorney's Office. She then met with a different city attorney, who agreed to reconsider the case and file charges against Fuller.
This fall, attorney James Egan found those OPA records, and he called the incident a clear case of vindictive prosecution. He was also able to get the city to remove the conviction from Fuller's record.
In a statement, the city attorney said while there was "absolutely no prosecutorial misconduct in this case," they agree Fuller was entitled to rely on the OPA's policy that filing a complain won't affect other proceedings.
Egan has now filed a $1.5 million claim for damages on Fuller's behalf.
"The city cannot unring the bell and make it like this didn't happen just by deleting the conviction," Egan said.
The city now has 60 days to consider Fuller's claim for damages. If there's no settlement, Egan plans to file a lawsuit in Federal District Court. A spokesman for the City Attorney's Office said they do not believe Fuller is due any damages and they will vigorously defend the city.
Donald Fuller had been waiting a long time for this day, when his conviction for obstructing Seattle police would disappear from his record.
"It's a good feeling," Fuller said. "It's a good feeling, (and) now I can go ahead and focus on a few other things."
The ordeal started in March 2009, when Seattle police stopped Fuller and accused him of jaywalking. When he questioned the stop, Fuller said police tased him several times before arresting him and booking him into jail.
Both the King County Prosecutor's Office and the City Attorney's Office initially declined to file charges in the case. Fuller then complained to the Seattle Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability, which promises not to retaliate against complainants.
But Fuller believes that's exactly what happened. The OPA investigator's own case notes show that she hand carried Fuller's police report to the City Attorney's Office. She then met with a different city attorney, who agreed to reconsider the case and file charges against Fuller.
This fall, attorney James Egan found those OPA records, and he called the incident a clear case of vindictive prosecution. He was also able to get the city to remove the conviction from Fuller's record.
In a statement, the city attorney said while there was "absolutely no prosecutorial misconduct in this case," they agree Fuller was entitled to rely on the OPA's policy that filing a complain won't affect other proceedings.
Egan has now filed a $1.5 million claim for damages on Fuller's behalf.
"The city cannot unring the bell and make it like this didn't happen just by deleting the conviction," Egan said.
The city now has 60 days to consider Fuller's claim for damages. If there's no settlement, Egan plans to file a lawsuit in Federal District Court. A spokesman for the City Attorney's Office said they do not believe Fuller is due any damages and they will vigorously defend the city.
Only in King County are criminals given million dollar payouts.
@Common Sense Where does it say that he is a criminal?
$1.5 million? Double that and pay the man out of the King County Prosecutor, City Attorney's and Seattle Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability budget. Corruption like this is so prolific in our cities today. It reminds me to much of the Officer Karl Thompson / Otto Zehm case in Spokane and all the cover-ups that have gone on there.Â
Pay the man and than All Parties involved need to be prosecuted and dismissed without severance pay or retirements. Their professional licenses revoked and a strong message from the people to the system that this will no longer be tolerated in any of our cities.
This is just one frivilous lawsuit and I really hope it gets thrown out of court. What happened to him isn't right, but to turn it into a million dollar lawsuit is more greed than anything else.
 @Jatok Those that do wrong have to be held accountable in some way.
@Oscar Eugene Hasten Okay, the OPA investigator took this to an attorney and they agreed to press charges. So who should be held accountable for this? The people responsible for the deed. This big payday from the local governments doesn't do anything to stop this kind of thing and probably causes more of it. Take those responsible to task for their actions.
Who's really paying the $1.5 Mil The King County Prosecutors or the tax payers? I'd be interested in knowing how many civil rights lawsuits the city pays over the course of a year and if there is a pattern or people actively looking for the right circumstances to escalate a small incident with with the intent of looking for a big pay out based on racial bias. I'm thinking of that other incident where a police officer kicked a man while he was in a mini mart downtown pretending to be a customer after a robbery but he still managed to win his lawsuit even though he was later charged with more felonies after he got his payout from the city.
 @joefuss The taxpayers will pay, because it was the taxpayers who hired the police officers, the OPA Director and the prosecutors - and THEY violated the public trust, violated specific published policies, violated the civil rights of this man, and wrongly prosecuted and convicted this man so that he was forced with a "criminal record" for several years. So if you don't like all that - or the costs involved - may I suggest that you fire this lot and hire people who will actually prevent this sort of criminal behavior in the future.
Why, in the wake of a lengthy DOJ investigation, deaths at the hands of officers, officers caught on tape saying they would falsely implicate people for crimes they didn't commit are people defending the SPD and the OPA who went after someone for having the audacity of asking for their protectors to be held, not to a higher standard, but to the same standard other law abiding citizens are held to? Maybe this guy is looking for a payout but be clear, the city attorney does not strike a conviction at the request of the convicted. They may not publicly admit wrongdoing but that does not mean there was no wrongdoing even in their eyes.
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That said this is not worth $1.5M.
 @Nic Stevens I'd like to comment on this but I truly fear the repercussions of doing so again. The first time cost me $42,000 dollars in attorney fees to defend my beliefs. Our justice system, AKA "The Money Machine", is far too corrupt. Throw in one ambitious prosecutor and look out. You may win in court but you will loose in the pocketbook and they will remind you of that everyday.
 @Nic Stevens Attorneys always high-ball a claim in order to provide negotiating room. Call it the "dicker sticker" - there is no "list price" on civil rights violations.
Sue the hell out of the city. Eventually the lawsuits will lead to the insurance company dropping the Seattle Police Dept. Never talk to a cop. It only leads to more misery.
If one of these pigs uses a teaser against me "many times" because I was jaywalking, I'd go as far as I can to make him and the city pay for it.
Why does this kind of keep happening in Seattle?Â
@mac14 Because the citizens continue to allow it.
another loser zings seattle for big bucks. Im going to move over there. I feel "entitled" to a million bucks because the city cops keep following me man..... can the taxpayers tell this loser No we are not paying you a dime now get out of here.
 @sportbuff01 Well, with an attitude like that, maybe the city should simply fire the police department and hire the criminal thugs off the street to "protect" you. That should get about the same effect as letting cops get away with being thugs without being held responsible at all!
 @JLS1950  @sportbuff01 Actually if the city hired the Crips to police there would be less problems of thuggery by badge.
 @Nic Stevens ...but 10x as much thuggery by badgeless!
@sportbuff01 More to the point; the taxpayers should tell the SPD that enough is enough. Why give citizens a reason to sue?
Pay his attorney fees, any time loss from work why does he get to retire on our tax dollars?
@Blevnangels Why are the police allowed to run roughshod over the citizens?
"A spokesman for the City Attorney's Office said they do not believe Fuller is due any damages and they will vigorously defend the city." ... in other words, "We're gonna stall, refuse to accept responsibility, refuse to settle fairly, and just drag this out until a federal court judgment costs the taxpayers some really BIG bucks!"
@JLS1950 Yes, and then we'll pay.
 @Waif Point is, if you don't like the ding, elect a different city attorney and mayor, demand that Diaz be fired and replaced with someone better qualified, and demand that SPD officers be SERIOUSLY disciplined when they violate the rights of the people. Help sponsor a recall petition even.
Not condoning what they did but $1.5M takes some merit from your claim. Cleary damages did not come close to that. Agree the dollar amount should sting a little but should it go to a lawyer and claimant when the degree of damage doesn't match? Maybe $100,000 to the victim/lawyer and a sizable penalty $800,000 to a victims group or schools. Either way, I doubt a jury would approve this or will greatly reduce it. Smells like a money grab.
 @NWlife " Either way, I doubt a jury would approve this or will greatly reduce it. " Damned by your own words. You always file for more than you expect to get for that very reason.
Sounds as though Egan is bound and determined to gain a sizable fee out of this situation regardless of what it takes.
Had he stayed cool during the jaywalk stop, he could have avoided all of this and still gotten his answers. KOMO says he "questioned" the stop. Cops don't tase you for asking a question. This whole thing is about an attitude problem - Fuller's. Did the police and prosecutor deal with the situation correctly? No. Who is responsible for what happened to Fuller? Fuller.
@wysoumible Who is responsible for the actions of the police? They are. Who is responsible for the actions of the OPA? The OPA.
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Regardless of what Fuller may or may not have done, he did not make the police do anything.
 @Waif  @wysoumible Well, you think that this story is about the police and the prosecutor. It's not. I'm looking for solutions so that this doesn't happen again; you're looking for reasons to be angry and bitter to ensure that it does.
Another disgraceful display of abuse of power by LE here in the northwest. We've got the foxes guarding the hen house.
It is truly scary that the OPA retaliated against a citizen for complaining. I don't care if that citizen was a goofball. Something was (and presumably still is) broken in the SPD's system of checks and balances.Â
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SPD needs to clean up its act. I would start from the top and work down. It's likely that even the 'good' cops have been tainted by the SPD's culture of corruption.
 @Waif Somebody OUTSIDE the SPD needs to clean up SPD's "act" for them - preferably with some thorough "soaking in hot soapy water" for a few officers and officials in some prison somewhere. That is the ONLY way that the message is going to get through "the thin blue line".
It might sound like he (or his lawyer) are just greedy, asking for over a million.  And maybe he is.  But think about it - he went to complain about his tazing and wrongful arrest to the department of accountability, the one place he should have felt safe doing so because they promise not to retaliate against you for complaining.  And then that department retaliated against him by convincing a city attorney to file charges! And the city says nothing wrong was done.So the city needs to be taught that no, this is NOT the way to do it, that the department was wrong to do what they did, so they don't do it again.  People shouldn't be charged with crimes for bringing problems with the police system to light.  Thus, $1.5 million, an amount that could convince them that there is a problem they have to deal with, whereas asking for, say, $5,000 wouldn't change anything at all.
@CommutingGuy Some of the employees are on a huge power trip and big settlements hasn't changed a thing. Perhaps it's time to hold those employees responsible for their individual behavior and take necessary measures against them. When someone else is paying the tab it doesn't affect the person responsible.
 @CommutingGuy Agreed. I think it is a lot of money but the OPA needs to be held accountable in some way.
 @SouthofSeattle Ideally the b.... who just resigned as head of the OPA - and who personally created this nightmare - would be held PERSONALLY responsible for some or all of the $1.5 million.
 @Waif When people commit crimes and you DON'T make them personally accountable (both criminally and financially)... THAT is the "slippery slope"!!!
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Or to quote an old sage, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."
@JLS1950 @SouthofSeattle That would be a slippery slope, allowing employees to be personally sued for their actions. Furthermore, she didn't do it on her own, the prosecutor went along with it. Equal culpability.
@SouthofSeattle @CommutingGuy I agree but the OPA wont learn anything from a large settlement. None of the money will come from their budget or any of the employees wages. Since Seattle is self insured, it will cost the taxpayers. Unfortunately, only oversite by an outside agency with some teeth can work to reverse the abusive nature of the local police.Â
Tased over jaywalking? I'm not buying that. I would think there would be witnesses if he was crossing the street, this article seems to leave out a bit of info.Â
 @Isadora My understanding from the earliest stories on this was that he did not even actually jaywalk - but merely looked like he MIGHT be getting ready to do so. However, this has not been clearly confirmed from later stories.
@Isadora If the police had a legitimate reason to taze him, I'm certain they would have publicized it. It sounds like they did it because they could.
Why is KOMO the only news covering this story? $1.5 million for what? He's looking for a payout and looking for a settlement. Slick and slimy. Just cooperate when the cop pull you over and there shouldn't be any problem.
 @STK HE WAS TASED! Do you know how awful that is? It is literally one of the worst things that I have ever felt. And then to be treated like a criminal for filing a complaint?! Oh, no. He has every right to that money.
 @SouthofSeattle  @STK south of, what did you do to get tased? I have never been tased, but then I follow the laws.
 @k_did  @STK I demonstrated it to a class. It was awful. They tell you what to expect but you have no idea. NO WAY will I volunteer for that again.
@SouthofSeattle @STK Cops don't tase you for no reason. Obey the law and use the cross walk. Go to court, trial by jury and this guy will get nothing. Give this guy $50k and settle to avoid expensive trials. It obvious this guy and his lawyer is looking for a payout.
 @STK  @SouthofSeattle  @STK Your English grammar is awful. Please go back to 10th grade.
 @STK Nice apology for statism there. Just let the thug violate your rights, don't question it....maybe you don't enjoy your freedom enough to fight for it, but the rest of us do.
 @STK Why should you kiss butt a cop when your not doing anything that gives them the right to take your civil rights away. Some cops think they are gods but they forget that they are public servants and work for us. We pay out a lot of money because of bad cops and the good cops don't do anything about it so they all look bad to the public. Please do the job or quit if you can't handle it.