Trial on ex-Benton sheriff’s behavior to start after tense jury selection

The former Benton County sheriff allegedly belittled, threatened and tried to convince his command staff to break the law for him for years.

Now, six current and former deputies, who said they suffered because of Sheriff Jerry Hatcher’s “tyrannical behavior,” will get their day in court.

Attorneys finished picking a jury Tuesday to determine whether Hatcher engaged in “extreme and outrageous” behavior against Mat Clarke, Jason Erickson, Jon Law and Erik Magnuson and if his behavior effectively forced Steve Caughey and Todd Carlson out of their jobs.

They have previously said they are seeking $22 million in damages.

Hatcher’s behavior led to his deputies taking the extraordinary step to seek his removal from the office in 2020. This led to more than a year of legal battles and finally a successful recall vote in 2021.

Even before his recall, Hatcher said his primary residence was in Montana, according to public records. He has since moved to the state.

While the trial is expected to focus on Hatcher’s behavior and the damage it did, the former sheriff is not expected to be present at the trial.

The defense will be allowed to note that the deputies were offered services to help, they aren’t being allowed to bring evidence about whether they felt deputies needed the help.

Attorneys for both sides spent Tuesday asking jurors about their experiences. Several times during tense questioning, potential jurors pointed out that it would be unusual for six police officers to decide to challenge their boss.

“You should have done something before this,” one of the potential jurors told the defense’s attorney Andy Cooley, who had pointed out that they would hear “tear-stained testimony” from the deputies.

Most of the potential jurors said they believed in law enforcement, and the few skeptics said they didn’t like seeing workers treated unfairly.

The attorneys are expected to present their opening statements on Wednesday morning.

Accusations

Hatcher was appointed by Benton County commissioners in 2017 to take over from Steve Keane, who retired with little more than a year remaining in his term. He was then elected in 2017 to serve the remainder of Keane’s term and again in 2018 for a full term.

Problems with the sheriff allegedly started early in this first full term, when his wife, Monica, came forward with allegations that he had strangled her and made a threat during a fight about an extramarital affair.

She later said her husband forced her to recant her abuse statements by writing a four-page email to a detective saying she is “confused about quite a lot of things” and cannot in good faith swear to what happened two years ago.

The public soon learned about the allegations when she filed for a domestic violence protection order.

While Jerry Hatcher was charged with fourth-degree assault and witness tampering in October 2019 by a special attorney, the charges were dismissed without prejudice before he was arraigned.

He was required to turn over his guns as part of a protection order issued in the divorce case.

Then, in January 2020, Monica Hatcher discovered 14,000 rounds of Benton County-owned ammunition in the home that they had previously shared, court documents said.

Caughey took possession of the ammunition as evidence, but Hatcher ordered him to distribute it, court documents said. The deputy refused, believing it would amount to evidence tampering.

Hatcher would later pressure Caughey and Law to say “they do not know” whether Hatcher stole the ammunition.

Carlson, who was put in charge of the sheriff’s office ammunition, was also pressured to lie during investigations.

Whistleblower Complaints

By the end of January, Magnuson had filed a whistleblower complaint against the sheriff. A day later the Benton County Deputies Guild issued a letter of no confidence in the sheriff.

“Sheriff Hatcher blamed the plaintiffs for the no confidence letter,” the deputies’ attorneys said in their complaint. “He told them that he thought it was one of them that had pushed the situation and that this person should resign. Sheriff Hatcher stated his belief that either Plaintiff Magnuson or Plaintiff Erickson were behind the no confidence letter.”

Hatcher allegedly pushed Caughey to reveal who filed the whistleblower complaint, leading to a “heated exchange.” He also tried to get Law to turn over the person who made the complaint.

The complaint was investigated in 2020, and it was determined that Jerry Hatcher had harassed and retaliated against Magnuson for engaging in union activities and for participating in a whistleblower investigation.

Erickson filed a complaint with the auditor’s office in February after he stepped down from his position as lieutenant and became a sergeant again.

Hatcher threatened to fire Erickson over the complaint, according to the complaint.

Over the course of 2020 and 2021, as recall efforts started, Hatcher opened internal affairs investigations or used other means to allegedly retaliate against the six deputies. He did his because they participated in investigations of him or because they refused to follow his orders, their attorneys said.

He threatened to use the deputies’ cooperation with the whistleblower investigations as a reason to put them on the “Brady” list.

“Placement on the Brady list ... has the practical effect of preventing that officers from becoming employed as a police officer in any other jurisdiction,” the deputies’ attorneys said in the complaint.

Caughey and Carlson resigned ahead of their planned retirement because of the sheriff’s actions.

Hatcher was successfully recalled out of office in August 2021. After his removal, the deputies filed the lawsuit in federal court before it was moved to Walla Walla Superior Court.