SEATTLE — The state prosecutor assigned to determine if criminal charges will be leveled against two former Clallam County deputies will likely make a determination next week.
Brian Moran, chief criminal prosecutor for the state attorney general’s office in Seattle, said he has received a letter requesting assistance from Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deborah Kelly.
Beyond that, the process is just beginning, he said.
“I haven’t eyeballed them,” Moran said of the three inch-thick investigative reports.
Kelly formally asked the attorney general’s office to investigate the likelihood of charges to avoid an appearance of conflict.
Kelly’s husband is Clallam County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Don Kelly.
Kelly’s request gives the attorney general’s office the right to file charges and prosecute.
County prosecutors must give the attorney general’s office permission to investigate charges, Moran said.
“We can’t swoop in and say, ‘This one’s ours,”‘ Moran said.
Kelly said she contacted the attorney general’s office on Nov. 23 after Clallam County Sheriff Joe Martin released three investigative reports on allegations of misconduct.
“It’s important that the public feel confident that if charges are filed or not, it is done by someone removed from the process,” Kelly said last week.
The two officers — former Sgt. David J. Fontenot, 36, and Deputy Anthony Dwane Hayden, 37 — have left the department.
