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Charges tossed after judge rules King County detective used racial stereotypes, false statements for warrant

Seattle Times - 12/20/2021

Dec. 20—Prosecutors have been forced to dismiss felony drug and gun charges against a Seattle man after a federal judge ruled a decorated former King County sheriff's homicide detective, believing the man was involved in a 2018 gang-related killing, relied on racial stereotypes and intentionally made false statements to obtain a search warrant.

Former major crimes Detective Kathleen Decker, who last year was named the sheriff's Detective of the Year for the second time, was excoriated in a sealed order issued in July by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones, who threw out the search warrant and all of the evidence gathered as a result of the arrest of Gizachew Wondie in December 2018.

Decker, who retired last year after 34 years with the Sheriff's Office, was a "legend" among homicide investigators, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff, and was involved in the Green River Task Force and dozens of high-profile killings and cold cases.

The judge's ruling — unsealed along with other documents in the case last week — forced prosecutors in August to dismiss federal drug-distribution and firearms charges filed against Wondie that carried maximum penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

Evidence seized as a result of the illegal warrant included a 9 mm handgun, 11,000 Xanax tablets, a pill press, and quantities of cocaine, oxycodone, Adderall, hash oil and marijuana.

In response, Wondie earlier this month filed a federal lawsuit against Decker and the King County Sheriff's Office alleging violations of his civil rights, which included his arrest at gunpoint by a SWAT team outside a community college.

Wondie was under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and Seattle police for allegedly selling drugs on Capitol Hill. Those agencies aided the Sheriff's Office after Decker identified him as possibly being involved in the shooting death of 22-year-old Amanda Riley in Seattle in 2018.

Jones found that Decker's actions in the investigation were "reckless at a minimum and intentional at best," and determined there was no excuse or reason for a detective of her stature and experience to take the actions she did. The sworn affidavit she submitted to obtain the search warrant contained "materially false and misleading information that was recklessly communicated" to the King County Superior Court judge who issued it, Jones wrote.

The Sheriff's Office did not immediately comment Monday. Decker did not immediately respond to a message sent on social media.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case for more than two years before it was dismissed, said in a statement Monday that a search, first of Wondie's car and then his home, turned up significant quantities of drugs. The decision to pursue the case, despite problems with the warrant, reflected "substantial public safety concerns occasioned by the defendant's activities."

According to transcripts of hearings held last summer and other documents filed in the case, including the civil lawsuit, Decker was the lead detective investigating the death of Riley, who was shot in the head while driving on Rainier Avenue South on Sept. 19, 2018. Her killing remains unsolved.

As part of her investigation, Decker submitted shell casings from the scene to the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory for entry into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which analyzes markings on shell casings and recovered bullets and returns "presumptive" leads of possible matches for further investigation.

However, NIBIN leads are not conclusive and the reports it generates clearly state that a microscopic comparison by a trained ballistics expert is needed for confirmation before any search or arrest warrant can be issued, according to testimony and documents presented during four days of hearings in June.

Decker never sought that confirmation, according to the transcripts of those hearings.

The NIBIN reports also found unconfirmed similarities among the shell casings from the Riley homicide and two other shootings, including a drive-by shooting in Seattle possibly linked to a firearm that had been seized — and returned — to Wondie the year before. Wondie had no criminal history and had a valid concealed-carry permit at the time.

Decker did not order confirmation in those cases either, but instead flatly stated in her sworn affidavit that the gun owned by Wondie was the same one used to kill Riley.

Jones, the judge, said those statements were "false and reckless" and that it stretched credulity to surmise that Decker didn't know it.

Decker's warrant stated that "forensic examination has established that shell casing recovered from the [homicide] scene matched a gun known to be owned [by Mr. Wondie]," when Decker knew that the NIBIN reports "are unequivocal in their absence" of any such conclusions, the judge wrote.

"A simple review of the NIBIN clearly demonstrates that these reports do not establish any match or conclude that the shell casings detailed in the report came from 'the same firearm,' " Jones wrote. "Detective Decker's sworn declaration to [the judge] about the conclusiveness of her representation was false and reckless."

In testimony at a hearing in June, Decker said she had a "mixed understanding" of the significance of the NIBIN evidence, and admitted those statements were not true. Jones said the evidence indicated she knew the significance, and ignored it.

"These statements contain far more egregious representations than to be classified as mere negligence," Jones wrote.

There were other misrepresentations, as well, including some that potentially endangered Wondie's life. Decker wrote in her affidavit that Wondie had a "propensity for violence," when there was no evidence other than the fact he owned a firearm and had a permit to carry it.

As a result of that statement, Wondie was arrested — without probable cause — by a heavily armed SWAT team that believed he was involved in a homicide. Wondie was sitting in his car in front of Seattle Central College, where he was a student. Decker acknowledged under questioning that the situation was dangerous to Wondie and others.

She also swore that Wondie, who is Black, was an individual holding a handgun in an Instagram post showing Black men. Decker said Wondie was part of a street gang she believed was responsible for Riley's death.

However, Wondie's attorney, federal public defender Mohammad Hamoudi, demonstrated the man in the photo was not Wondie through testimony from defense investigator Michael Stortini, who told Jones that it took him 15 minutes on the internet to debunk Decker's evidence.

"The detective engaged in a pattern of recklessness in her identification that far exceeds an excusable case of mistaken identification," the judge wrote. "The Court has inspected the same photograph and concludes that perhaps racial stereotyping was involved in the detective's conclusion."

Wondie's civil attorney, Dan Fiorito, said the case "demonstrates how frail the justice system can be when truth is disregarded in favor of a false and convenient narrative tailored for an expedient result.

"Falsely portraying Mr. Wondie as a violent young black man with gang ties in possession of a murder weapon to get a warrant was inexcusable, and yielded a tremendous injustice," he said.

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