Wasco County District Attorney Matthew Ellis announced this week he found a decade-old disciplinary notice for a city of The Dalles police officer buried in a drawer of his predecessor’s desk.
Ellis, a former criminal defense attorney, took over as the county’s top prosecutor at the beginning of this month after beating long-time District Attorney Eric Nisley.
“In the bottom drawer there was some old Oregon vehicle codes,” Ellis said, of Nisley’s desk. “Under one of the vehicle codes from 1986-87, I found a notice of discipline to an officer in the City of The Dalles Police Department. Basically, he was demoted for violating their policy for truthfulness.”
The record is dated Feb. 17, 2011 and signed by the former police chief. Ellis declined to release the name of the officer or provide details about why that officer was disciplined. He did say the record detailed “pretty blatant lying” to superior and fellow officers. Ellis said the letter appears to be the original, but he doesn’t know how it got there and has not spoken with Nisley about the document.
Nisley was Wasco County’s district attorney in 2011. He didn’t respond to OPB’s requests for comment.
The officer, who still works for the same department, has been placed on administrative leave since the disciplinary notice was discovered. Ellis also opened an investigation into the cases the officer worked.
“When you question an officer’s truthfulness, it would clearly be what’s known as Brady material,” Ellis said, referring to the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Brady v. Maryland.
The court established prosecutors have to turn over all material that could exonerate a defendant. Some prosecutors and police departments keep so-called Brady lists of officers who have had issues with truthfulness.
“This letter should’ve been going to any defense attorney. In any case, this particular officer was investigating and being charged out of the district attorney’s office for about 10 years now,” Ellis said. “If you’re untruthful in your official capacity as a police officer, that absolutely needs to be considered as evidence in any case that officer is investigating.”
Ellis said his office has already had to release one defendant from jail who was set to take a plea because this officer worked the case.
“What’s more disturbing is this letter is 10 years old,” Ellis said. “It’s basically been covered up now for the last decade and there are countless cases that we have conviction integrity problems with now because this should’ve been discoverable evidence.”
The exact number of cases that could be affected is unclear, but it includes 24 open cases and numerous others, Ellis said.