Dramatic start sets the tone for ousted Benton Co. sheriff abuse trial
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jury will decide if Benton County owes millions to deputies over Hatcher abuse
- Plaintiffs link 2019 domestic violence, recall and alleged retaliation to damages
- County contends leaders followed law; defense attacks timing and plaintiff credibility
A Walla Walla County jury is being asked to decide whether a group of Benton County sheriff's deputies and command staff deserve to be compensated for former Sheriff Jerry Hatcher turning their lives into a nightmare.
“It’s October 2019 and a county sheriff not far from here is losing his grip,” attorney James Meade told jurors in his opening statement for the deputies.
“The choices he has made cause him to spin further and further into trouble. One crime leads to another,” he continued. “What does he do? He tries to cover up these crimes. He tries to use his power to protect his power.”
“Instead of facing the consequences of his actions Sheriff Hatcher makes matters worse, he turns against his men, and he squeezes them and squeezes their lives in a desperate attempt to hold onto power.”
The group of current and former deputies in leadership positions, who are asking for millions in damages, are Mat Clarke, Jason Erickson, Jon Law, Erik Magnuson, Steve Caughey and Todd Carlson. Caughey and Carlson allege they were forced out of their jobs.
Setting the stakes
Attorneys said they plan to take jurors through a two-year period beginning with domestic violence allegations against the former sheriff that surfaced when his ex-wife, Monica Hatcher, filed for divorce in 2019. From there, Meade says Hatcher’s behavior spiralled out of control and the abuse grew worse against the officers as he attempted to retaliate.
Benton County will argue that the county’s leadership did everything they could, based on the information they had at the time and what the law allowed.
Benton County’s attorney Andrew Cooley made an unsuccessful motion for a mistrial after Meade’s opening statement, arguing that comments about whether Hatcher was locked out of other areas of the justice center in Kennewick violated a pretrial order to narrow the scope of what the jury can consider to just the damage caused by Hatcher’s behavior.
Cooley took issue with comments that county leaders “locked Hatcher out” of other county offices, but not his own and potential safety concerns.
He also took exception to a report detailing Hatcher’s attempt to intimidate the deputies, which mentioned Hatcher trying to get deputies added to the “Brady List” to damage their credibility.
The potential impeachment disclosure list, more commonly known as the Brady List contains witnesses whose integrity and trustworthiness could be questioned if they were called to testify that is normally kept by the prosecutors.
It is seen as a “career killer” for law enforcement because it potentially takes away their ability to testify in cases.
Meade said the context matters because it illustrates that the deputies were afraid of retaliation, and Cooley plans to call into question why they didn’t report certain issues before they filed a lawsuit.
Walla Walla Superior Court Judge Brandon L. Johnson denied the motion for a mistrial, but reminded the attorneys to keep his earlier order in mind. Meade said it would not be the first time Cooley tries to get the trial thrown out. He asked a second time during witness testimony later in the day, which was also denied.
Cooley said he officers did not report the concerns to Human Resources, the county administrator, prosecutor or other county leaders.
“The plaintiffs will argue Jerry Hatcher will try to murder them, that he would come in … with a gun and shoot them, that they put on their body armor and bought ball-peen hammers to stage around the office to break out windows … because it’s better to break their legs than to die,” Cooley said in his opening statements. “They did not express it at the time of these events.”
He made no effort to defend Hatcher. He, instead, asked jurors to focus on whether Hatcher’s behavior warranted millions of dollars in damages.
“Jerry Hatcher was the elected sheriff of Benton County, we are not defending him,” Cooley said. “We didn’t hire him, and we couldn’t fire him.”
Benton County Commissioners did initially appoint Hatcher before he was eventually elected to a full term. The two sides disagree on whether he could have been stopped once he was elected, though that argument won’t be allowed to be debated to the jury.
Benton County on the defensive
Cooley’s opening statement largely focused on the fact that Hatcher never outright fired anyone, as well as what the deputies did not report during the two-year-long ordeal.
Of particular focus was the lack of reports over the perceived safety concerns and attempts to retaliate.
He also attempted to chip away at the credibility of the deputies and the severity of the abuse they claimed to have faced. He painted them as officers who were once Hatcher’s biggest advocates.
“(Hatcher) is not a defendant in this case, you will not be awarding damages against Jerry Hatcher, but he was recalled from office,” Cooley said. “That was the first time in state history a sheriff was recalled ... and he left the state in disgrace.”
Meade said that the jury will decide how high of a cost these deputies and leaders paid.
“These costs were not borne by the county, they were borne by individual members of his command staff,” Meade argued. “These six men refused to bend to the will of Sheriff Hatcher despite relentless and immense pressure.”
He said that by forcing Caughey out of his job and destroying his career, he suffered $1.2 million in economic loss. Caughey had to manage paying for his children’s college, selling a home and trying to live on less than half of his old salary.
Carlson, another member of the command staff, allegedly suffered $800,000 in economic loss by being denied promotions he was qualified for to the point he was forced out of his job.
Cooley argued that the situation could not have been as bad as the officers claim if Carlson was trying to move into a position that would require more time spent with Hatcher.
Meade argued that Cooley would present no real defense of Hatcher’s abuses, opting to focus on questioning whether the abuse was really bad enough to warrant damages.
“This is real pressure, it is not manufactured tear-stained testimony,” Meade said in reference to Cooley’s questioning of potential jurors on Tuesday. “You will not hear any evidence on the other side to counter that Sheriff Hatcher did these things.”
What comes next?
Cooley told jurors to remember three things: the case is against Benton County, not Hatcher; the plaintiffs should be assessed individually; and that the recall process worked and Hatcher was held accountable.
Meade told jurors that whether or not Hatcher’s behavior was targeted or indiscriminate, ”the idea that he’s a jerk to everyone is not a defense.”
He also pointed out that it was this group of deputies, not county leaders who worked to have Hatcher removed from office.
The attorneys began calling witnesses Wednesday afternoon. The trial is expected to last several weeks.
Potential witnesses could include Monica Hatcher, Benton County Commissioner Jerome Delvin, Auditor Brenda Chilton, a number of current and former sheriff’s office employees, mental health experts, economic experts and more.
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 4:31 PM.
