The lawyer for a Washington County sheriff’s deputy accused of assault has asked a judge to dismiss the case, alleging a prosecutor threatened potential witnesses to stop them from testifying.
Dan Thenell, who represents deputy Rian Alden, filed the motion Friday and argued the case should be dismissed because of outrageous government conduct and prosecutorial vindictiveness, among other reasons.
The motion for dismissal contains a wide range of allegations, including against Chief Deputy District Attorney Bracken McKey. Thenell linked the reopening of the case against Alden to political pressure tied to recent Black Lives Matter protests. He also contends video footage that appears to show Alden attacking a man being booked into jail in 2018 is inaccurate.
“Faced with both legal and political pressure, the district attorney’s office has decided to resurrect this case, not to benefit the public or seek justice, but to score political points and to advance the political ambitions of the lead prosecutor,” Thenell said in the motion to dimiss.
Alden has pleaded not guilty to two charges of felony second-degree assault, one of unlawful use of a weapon and a misdemeanor charge of first-degree official misconduct. The charges were filed after the district attorney’s office reopened a use-of-force case from 2018.
Alden was caught on video slamming an inmate, Albert Molina, into the wall of the jail’s booking area. Molina reached a $625,000 settlement with the county in June. Molina’s civil attorneys released video of the attack to the public after Alden was suspended in June for sending a racist email in 2003. The message contained slurs against several different ethnic and racial groups.
In court motion to drop the criminal charges, Thenell contends prosecutors have presented no new information since the investigation was closed without charges in 2018.
The sheriff’s office called in two outside agencies at the time to investigate the case. The Washington County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case but declined to prosecute, citing inability to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
Thenell accused McKey of reopening the case to bolster his career aspirations.
McKey said he began looking into Alden’s record as a police witness on other cases after the email resurfaced, and then discovered the dismissed use-of-force case.
In the motion, Thenell referenced statements that McKey allegedly made to two potential witnesses, Cpl. Cade Edwards and Sgt. James Cuthbertson. Edwards is the current director for the sheriff’s office’s use of force training unit, and Cuthbertson was the program manager for the unit for seven years. Cuthbertson supervised Alden’s use of force training.
Cuthbertson and Edwards both said in signed statements that McKey interviewed them June 3, two days before Alden’s case went before a grand jury.
According to the motion, both deputies said McKey told them he was reopening the case because he intended to run for district attorney and he didn’t want to be perceived as “soft on cops.”
The motion also contends McKey told Cuthbertson “it would not go well for” him if he were to testify for Alden, and that “it would not look good for the entire sheriff’s office.”
“Both Sgt. Cuthbertson and Cpl. Edwards believe Chief Deputy McKey was threatening them to intimidate them not to testify,” the motion says.
McKey told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a Friday phone call that he did talk with Cuthbertson and Edwards before the grand jury hearing. But he said he never discussed his career aspirations and has no plans to run for district attorney.
He said the comment perceived as a threat was taken out of context.
“There was a conversation about how this would not look good for the sheriff’s office, and I think that’s pretty obvious to anyone who’s seen the video,” he said.
McKey said the motion to dismiss the case contained “obvious lies” and was an attempt to distract from the serious assault against Molina.
“This is why many believe it’s virtually impossible to hold police officers accountable for criminal conduct.”
But Thenell contends a second video, which has not been released to the public, helps refute the criminal allegations against his client.
“There’s a video from the side, which has been prominently released, and there is one taken from behind my client’s position in the intake area, which shows a more accurate picture of what my client perceived,” he said.
Thenell said the video should be made public but declined to immediately disclose it without reviewing whether he was allowed to do so.
In the motion to dismiss, Thenell said Alden was taking pictures of Molina while booking him in jail. Molina repeatedly used profanity and flipped him off, then said “let’s go” while moving into a “fighting stance.”
According to the motion, Alden relied on his training and moved to restrain Molina using a technique called “crash the line,” in which an officer pushes the subject’s shoulders, forcing the person to step back and taking the person off balance.
Security camera footage shows Alden putting his hands at Molina’s throat, pushing him against the wall, then pulling him forward by his neck.
Thenell said that description of Alden’s actions was “not accurate.”
“You need to watch both videos,” he said. “I’m not going to get into that second video or argue the perception of the video. But what you should be focused on, in my opinion, are the other actions leading to this indictment.”
Alden’s next court date is Sept. 21.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR
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