Benton sheriff’s deputies want their boss kicked out of office. Judge puts off decision

A judge granted a request to delay Sheriff Jerry Hatcher’s recall hearing at least one week so his attorney has more time to review the lengthy petition and prepare arguments.

Hatcher, the Benton County sheriff since 2017, is facing an effort to remove him from office.

The recall is being led by one of his employees, Sgt. Jason Erickson, but is backed by nearly the entire membership of the Benton County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild.

On Thursday, Hatcher and Erickson sat at opposing tables in Benton County Superior Court for a hearing to decide if the allegations against the sheriff are legally and factually sufficient to proceed to a special election.

A proposed ballot synopsis by Benton County prosecutors includes charges of misfeasance, malfeasance and violations of his oath of office.

Those allegations include intimidating witnesses and public servants, tampering with physical evidence, discrimination and retaliation.

The case has been assigned to Judge M. Scott Wolfram of Walla Walla County Superior Court. He appeared Thursday by live video from his chambers.

Hatcher and his lawyer, George Telquist of Richland, and Erickson and his attorney, Alan Harvey of Vancouver, gathered in the Kennewick courtroom. There were about a dozen people in the audience supporting the recall effort, and a live stream link provided by Superior Court administration at one point had up to 140 viewers.

Telquist sought the delay, saying he was on a long-scheduled family trip to Wyoming when he was hired by Hatcher.

Telquist said because the recall hearing has to be held within 15 days of the ballot synopsis being filed, he had to leave his vacation and return to the Tri-Cities since Harvey would not agree to meet by video conference to discuss a continuance.

Recall petition

The recall petition filed by Erickson and Harvey is 317 pages, including attachments and exhibits.

Hatcher’s lawyer said he got the materials three days ago and needs additional time to review them. He called the recall effort “frivolous,” politically motivated and intended to harass the sheriff.

“Every time I read it, there tends to be another allegation hidden away that I am going to need to address,” he said.

Harvey objected to the delay, arguing that there is no filing to show exactly when Telquist was retained by Hatcher and that everyone else has been following the normal time requirements in a recall effort.

Wolfram noted at the start of the 34-minute hearing that he “received 100-plus pages of information” on Thursday morning and had not yet read all of it.

The next hearing will be in seven to 10 days, the judge said.

Prosecutors, in preparing the ballot synopsis for a judge’s approval, had to keep it to a 200-word limit based off Erickson’s allegations in the recall petition.

8 charges

The eight charges on the proposed ballot synopsis are that Hatcher:

▪ Illegally appropriated for his own use 14 cases of ammunition belonging to Benton County.

▪ Illegally tampered with physical evidence by directing the distribution of ammunition that was potential evidence of his own alleged unlawful acts

▪ Interfered in an investigation into his conduct by acting to prevent witnesses from being interviewed.

▪ Violated county anti-discrimination policy by hindering an investigation into his conduct and retaliating against the complainant and witnesses to the investigation.

▪ Illegally intimidated public servants and witnesses in investigations into his conduct by raising false allegations of impropriety and threatening witnesses’ jobs.

▪ Illegally made false or misleading statements to law enforcement and the court regarding the number of guns he needed to surrender pursuant to a court order.

▪ Illegally made false or misleading statements to public servants claiming that he had initiated a criminal investigation into his own conduct when he had not.

▪ Falsified a public record by placing a false date on an investigation request.

Voters then will be asked, “Should Jerry Hatcher be recalled from office based upon these charges?”

Judge Wolfram can approve all of the alleged charges, some of them or dismiss the entire recall action.

If approved, Erickson then will have up to six months to gather nearly 14,000 signatures from registered Benton County voters in order to qualify for a special election.

The number of required signatures must equal to 25 percent of the votes cast in Hatcher’s last election.

A “Committee to Recall Sheriff Hatcher” has formed to support the efforts of Erickson and his union.

The committee is said to be “a diverse group of citizens from the community,” none of whom are sheriff’s deputies or office personnel.

A Facebook fundraiser has also been been started by Patrick Bauguess called “Citizens for Sheriff Hatcher.”

Bauguess notes that four Washington state sheriffs currently “are under attack,” and Benton County commissioners declined to support Hatcher’s legal defense.

“As our constitutional sheriffs are our last defense against tyranny, we need to support Sheriff Hatcher in defending himself against undue attack,” he wrote on the Facebook page.

The fundraiser for Hatcher’s legal costs so far has raised $1,303, with a goal of $60,000.

This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 11:57 AM.