Hearing on foster mother's case dismissal continued

EPHRATA - A hearing was continued recently on whether the case against a foster mother accused of assaulting children in her care will be dismissed or not.

Grant County Superior Court Judge John Knodell wrote a memorandum of opinion in May stating he thought the case should be dismissed because of alleged misconduct by previous prosecutors.

The state filed a motion for reconsideration and a hearing was scheduled for Friday, but it was continued because Knodell was unavailable at the desired time.

According to defense attorney Garth Dano on Wednesday, a date for the hearing hasn't been scheduled.

Suzanna Danzer-Thompson, of Marlin, was charged with one count of second-degree child assault in January 2010.

According to a previous Columbia Basin Herald article, she allegedly pulled a girl down a flight of stairs, held her face down and hit her with a broom handle.

Other foster children in the woman's care allegedly told police Danzer-Thompson disciplined them using the extension cord on the vacuum cleaner.

According to a memo sent by Knodell to the prosecution and defense, the case was continued more than 13 times and the state has amended information five times.

At the time the memo was sent, Danzer-Thompson was charged with 10 counts of child assault against four victims, all former foster children in her care. She was also charged with three counts of witness tampering.

Knodell explained a trial was set for November 2012, but Prosecutor Carole Highland received a box of between 1,500 and 2,000 pages of material about the case from the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

This new information caused a mistrial and the resetting of trial twice.

The added information also revealed to the defense that DSHS had made previously undisclosed contacts with the victims and the nature and extent of these contacts were not described in any of the documents.

Knodell recounts DSHS investigator Kevin Slack's participation in the case.

According to Knodell's message, Slack was communicating with previous prosecutors Erek Puccio and Karen Horowitz, who have both since left the prosecutor's office.

From April 2010 until September 2010, Puccio advised Slack to keep the DSHS case open until the criminal trial was completed.

In September 2011, Highland, who had taken over the case, contacted Slack and asked what the ramifications, advantages and disadvantages of keeping the DSHS case open were.

"Slack stated that the two prior prosecutors in the case wanted the case kept opened as the defense would be able to access records from the case that are not available while the case remains open," Knodell wrote.

After communicating with Slack, Highland left the decision on whether to close the case or not up to DSHS.

"These entries reflect a pattern of action by the first two prosecutors involved in this case which is to say the least, anomalous," Knodell stated.

Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee stated that his office doesn't condone the alleged actions of the former prosecutors. Lee reiterated that Knodell described the allegations against the former prosecutors as anomalous and that his office takes its prosecutorial responsibilities seriously.

Slack reportedly testified that he had never received similar instructions from prosecutors and that it is unusual for a criminal case investigated by the DSHS to go to trial while the file is still open.

"If DSHS had closed the investigation when it normally would have, the defense would have received the withheld material described above shortly after the case was filed," Knodell stated.

Knodell opined that there was misconduct by the prosecution due to the information provided by Slack.

According to Knodell's memo, Puccio and Horowitz allegedly violated the rules of professional conduct, the rules of criminal procedure and perhaps Washington criminal code.

Knodell explained the court may dismiss if the government misconduct causes prejudice to the accused rights and prevents a fair trial.

Knodell continues it would be difficult for the defendant to find evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, but that the court must presume misconduct because of the actions of the previous prosecutors.

"The misconduct creating this state of affairs not only violated the most vital policies underlying our system of justice but also violated the public trust," Knodell wrote.

The delay of evidence reportedly prevented the defense from preparing for the trial and also prevented Danzer-Thompson from investigating and challenging the credibility of the primary witnesses against her.

Knodell concluded his statement to both the prosecution and the defense with his opinion to dismiss with prejudice.

Lee stated that he did not believe dismissal was the proper remedy in this case.