PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County judge will hear arguments Thursday on whether the case against a former Clallam County Sheriff’s Office employee accused of stealing $8,644 from the evidence room should be dismissed.
Ralph Anderson, the attorney for Staci L. Allison, is seeking dismissal of the case on the grounds that the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office failed to adequately hand over documents related to the case.
Allison, a former evidence technician who now lives in Montesano, was charged with first-degree theft and money laundering in June 2009.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office in November 2006 found 129 empty evidence bags — which once contained $51,251 — stuffed in a plastic tube in the evidence room.
Allison is charged with stealing $8,644 because that’s the amount prosecutors think they can prove was stolen, they have said.
Anderson — who said he also has made a settlement offer — filed the motion for dismissal in October, a month after then-Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erika Soublet notified him of a box of previously unknown evidence.
He said he received the notification at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 10, the Friday before the case was initially set to go to trial.
“It’s a serious issue,” Anderson said. “There’s a real question when you show up on the day of trial with 2,000 pages of discovery.”
He also claims that the prosecution failed to provide in a timely manner an on-the-job diary kept by Allison and did not disclose that county Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly’s husband — hired by the Sheriff’s Office to organize the evidence room after the theft — discovered $5,000 in the evidence room that had previously been thought missing.
Kelly attributed the late discovery of evidence to a heavy workload and said none of it occurred on purpose.
“I think she [Soublet] devoted her full time to the case as soon as she could,” she said. “I don’t think she was sitting around eating bonbons.”
Kelly has been prosecuting the case since Soublet left the office for another job in October.
She said Soublet was not aware of the box of evidence until the day she notified Anderson and that the diary and her husband’s name were mentioned in the previously disclosed documents.
Anderson responded by saying there was no reference to the money Don Kelly discovered in the documents already disclosed.
Such information needs to be disclosed in order for the accused to prepare a proper defense, he said.
Anderson said he is seeking dismissal of the case, rather than more time to review the additional evidence, because “incompetent handling by the state is prejudicial to the defendant, and dismissal is in the interest of justice.”
Deb Kelly said the $5,000 found by her husband is not connected to the thefts with which Allison has been charged.
Anderson also has filed a motion to remove Deb Kelly from the case, citing a conflict of interest.
Deb Kelly said she thinks it’s not a conflict of interest for her to be prosecuting the case because she was not going to use her husband as a witness during trial.
The trial is now scheduled for Monday, Jan. 24.
Anderson said he is not expecting Judge Ken Williams to rule on the motion to dismiss Thursday.
He said he also expects the trial will be rescheduled that day to allow more time for the motions to be addressed.
Anderson said he could not comment on his proposed settlement.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
