PORT ANGELES — The legal fallout from two investigations into Clallam County sheriff’s officers continues to spill over, disrupting court cases and dealing the department a public relations black eye.
So far, three Superior Court cases and one District Court case have been dismissed because of the involvement of either former Sgt. Dave Fontenot or Deputy Dwane Hayden.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are combing through their cases and bracing for more dismissals.
Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deborah Kelly said her office is going through case files, searching for those scheduled for trial soon and acknowledged there may be more dismissals to come.
“I’m sure there are more that these two have been involved in over the past year,” she said.
All the dismissed charges could be refiled, but Kelly said she wouldn’t know if they will be refiled until after the investigations are completed.
Clallam Public Defenders Executive Director Harry Gasnick said his attorneys are also going through their cases looking for instances where Fontenot was involved in obtaining search warrants and handling evidence.
“We’ll do the same thing with Hayden,” Gasnick said.
Evidence mismanagement
Allegations against Fontenot include mismanagement of evidence, according to statements from the Sheriff’s Department and court documents.
Fontenot was placed on paid administrative leave Sept. 16 and he resigned Sept. 22.
Hayden was placed on paid administrative leave Oct. 10.
Sheriff Joe Martin said Thursday that the outside investigation into Fontenot has been completed and he is awaiting the results.
The investigation into Hayden is ongoing.
No criminal conduct has been alleged in either case, but Martin said that the longer the investigations are drawn out the more harm that is done to the department’s reputation.
“I’m a firm believer in timely and accurate investigations and bringing any situation to fruition as soon as possible,” Martin said.
“Unfortunately, this process has gone on for awhile, longer than I would like to see happen.”
He has instructed staff to not speculate on the investigations and to “move on the things we do so well.”