Former Police Officer Awarded $9 Million After Spending Almost 20 Years In Jail On False Charge

smallbadge-1gavel2Clyde Ray Spencer, a former motorcycle patrolman, was secured a $9 million damage award from a federal jury after spending nearly two decades in jail on a fabricated case. The jury found that two of his colleagues at the police department fabricated evidence and possibly coached witnesses to convict him of sexually abusing his two children. Retired Clark County Police police Sgt. Michael Davidson and retired Detective Sharon Krause have been accused of the most serious violations in the case.

Spencer entered an Alford plea in 1985 where he maintained his innocence but admitted that the prosecution could convince a jury of his guilt. The plea got him little benefit: received two life sentences plus 14 years. He says that he entered the plea after learning that his defense lawyer had come little investigation into this case and was not planning to call witnesses in his defense.

After about ten years behind bars, Spencer found an attorney who did investigate and confirmed, with the help of a private investigator, that prosecutors had withheld evidence that his wife was having an affair with the supervisor of the detective handling child sex abuse cases. There was also withheld evidence of alleged witness coaching and a video showing that his then-5-year-old daughter denied sexual abuse before being put through re-enactments with two dolls. News reports describe some of the allegations:

Clark County Det. Sharon Krause, he also discovered, had held unorthodox meetings with the Spencer children, interviewing them in unrecorded sessions in her Sacramento hotel room and buying them gifts and candy. She told the children their father was “sick” and that they could help heal him by accusing him of the sexual crimes. He learned that Spencer’s son, who at first denied any abuse, had changed his story under months of questioning, coming up with a fantastic tale: Not only his father but a group of police officers had abused him. Henderson, suspicious about the night Spencer’s second wife Shirley brought her son to his motel room, wondered if that was a setup. He found his answer: Shirley was having an affair with Vancouver Police Sgt. Mike Davidson—the supervising detective on her husband’s case.

His kids later recanted their testimony, even though they grew up being told by their mother that they could not recall the abuse because they were blocking the memory. She was later included in the group alleged to have conspired to fabricate the case. Shirley Spencer’s alleged affair with Clark County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Michael Davidson was cited in prior rulings in the case. In Spencer v. Peters, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148368, the court detailed Davidson’s involvement:

In October 1984, Davidson assigned Krause to investigate the Spencer case. Dkt. 168-3 at 19.

During the investigation of Mr. Spencer, Davidson’s role as a supervisor included activities such as reviewing the progress of the case, which meant, in part, reviewing the progress the assigned detective was making, reviewing for any problems, and reviewing the case to determine what follow-up needed to be done. Dkt. 168-3 at 18 (November 5, 2012 Deposition of Davidson). Davidson’s role also included having face-to-face meetings with the assigned detectives to review their progress. Id. Additionally, as a part of Davidson’s supervisorial duties he would review the assigned detective’s written reports. Id.

In the Spencer case, Davidson admits that he would have reviewed Krause’s written reports. Id. at 19 and 25. He communicated with the prosecutor’s office regarding the case, including having conversations with Peters. Id. at 22. Although Davidson recalls being involved in portions of the investigation, he has testified that he does not recall what directions or suggestions he gave to Krause. Id. at 27-28.
. . .
Although it is disputed as to what the nature of their relationship was and when it began, Davidson and Shirley Spencer became involved, and Krause became aware of his involvement with Shirley. On March 15, 1985, while Mr. Spencer was in custody at the Clark County jail, a quitclaim deed for the house Shirley and Mr. Spencer lived in was signed by Mr. Spencer and notarized. Dkt. 168-15 at 34-37. Mr. Spencer maintains that his signature on the deed was forged. Id. at 33. In May 1985, Shirley moved out of the house she and Mr. Spencer had shared together. Dkt. 168-1 at 23. Shirley and Davidson have testified that they moved in together in the fall of 1985.

For her part, Detective Sharon Krause was accused of using deliberately, grossly misquoted or misrepresented statements of abuse by the alleged victims; and using coercive interview techniques to manipulate the alleged child victims into making false allegations of abuse against Mr. Spencer. The allegations are familiar from other cases where detectives or experts are accused of putting words or images in the minds of alleged victims: the daughter later testified that “Krause was making the quoted statements and Kathryn would agree with either some or all of them, rather than Kathryn herself providing the graphic details of the alleged abuse and Krause simply quoting her.” The son also accused Krause of the same manipulation. Krause insisted that, even if true, she was entitled to immunity. Spencer v. Peters, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119022. We recently discussed such common immunity claims by police and prosecutors after abuse is raised.

Prosecutors were later found to have withheld critical evidence including a report questioning the legal basis for a prosecution:

King County Prosecutor, Rebecca Roe (“Roe”). The purpose of Roe’s review was to provide an opinion concerning whether criminal charges of child rape should be filed against Mr. Spencer. The Spencer file was sent to King County for review in part because Mr. Spencer was then employed as a police officer with the Vancouver, Washington Police Department, which is located in Clark County.

The file Roe reviewed contained the reports by Sacramento law enforcement officers and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office reports concerning allegations of sexual abuse made by Kathryn to Shirley. Id. at 3. Also included in the file were narrative reports prepared by Krause, which documented her interviews with Kathryn on October 16 and 18, 1984, as well as the August 30, 1984 report which included the narrative written by Shirley after Kathryn disclosed the allegations of abuse to her. Id. at 3-4. On November 27, 1984, Roe concluded that the case was not “filable” due to problems with what Kathryn had said, may not be willing to say, or may not be competent to testify to at trial. Id. For example, inconsistencies in Kathryn’s statements, her reluctance to talk about abuse, and Kathryn’s statements about rubbing Shirley in combination with other statements created questions of “fact v. fantasy,” which Roe indicated was “built in reasonable doubt,” all factored into Roe’s recommendation. Id. at 1-3. While Roe opined that the case was “unwinnable,” she also stated “I believe the child was clearly abused and probably by the defendant….” Id. at 3.

As we have seen in so many cases, there has been no reference to any disciplinary action taken against the prosecutors in this case for such abuses in withholding evidence or other alleged violations. I am also curious how this supervisor could live with this person and not have a single officer raise the obvious ethical concern with the department.

Spencer’s sentence was commuted in 2005 but remained a convicted sex offender.

31 thoughts on “Former Police Officer Awarded $9 Million After Spending Almost 20 Years In Jail On False Charge”

  1. This scenario is repeated dozens of times over in American courtrooms every single day of the working week. A man gets falsely accused of sexual abuse by his own children in the context of a divorce or separation, and at the base of it is a manipulative, lying, and emotionally abusive mother. What happened to Mr Spencer is an absolute loss of his basic human rights, the chance to cross examine his accusers in a legal forum and have a jury decide. Instead he was convicted on hearsay. The contextual law behind this is called CAPTA, it provides federal funding for states who follow proscribed legal practices and laws as dictated in the law and its compendium. It was recently reauthorized by our president, Barack Obama. I hate to sound apocalyptic or cynical, we are in essential ways no more free in this country than a Soviet citizen in the USSR was 25 years ago. The truth is anything and everything can be taken from you in America, even your own children, at a moment’s notice and without due process of law. I use to scoff at such nonsense having been behind the Iron Curtain myself until I, also a Spencer, was put in a similar situation. The police did absolutely nothing when the fraud by my ex became evident.

    1. r Spencer – Well written analysis on another piece of the injustice puzzle. I got kicked out of my own home. Mainly because of my own ignorance. No one harmed or even touched and yet I had a restraining order against me to enter my own home to see my own kids, without having the opportunity to defend myself.

      I keep telling everyone that a system of politically selecting members of the judiciary from the top down, isn’t nor has never worked. Just a few hundred years ago they were still hanging people for heresy and they were also taking children away for not taking them to church and teaching them the Bible correctly.

      When you allow to few people to control the rule of law what do you think is going to happen?

      We need to create a Voluntary Association of Jurists, selected by “We the People” with “NO” prohibition attached. As long as you’re a Citizen you can be selected. No BAR or educational exclusions. What a country. We enforce UPL, don’t teach the Citizens anything about the law and expect justice to prevail. .

      We can even do a test of what I envision on this site. http://rsjexperiment.wordpress.com/home/

  2. When cops are framing other cops, what chance do we citizens have?

    Stephan Gregory Patterson

  3. It really amazes me how much comes out of Vancouver PD and Clark County. There are some real problems there, not just in 1985, but today.

  4. AY;

    It’s not just one of their, nor insignificant’s such as I; but also men of wealth and accomplishment extraordinaire. Such as Mr. Baron in TX owning a Domain Name business worth hundreds of millions. Judge in that case told the man he could call the Marines and order him killed.

    In our eToys/Kay Bee/ Stage STores/ Petters Ponzi case, the Villains took Thane Ritichie’s Capital Management etc., for hundreds of millions. Thane is the son of “the” Scott Armstrong and G-dson of “the” Bob Woodward that took down Nixon.

    Still didn’t stop a judge there from naming Tom Petters attorney as the Federal Receiver; who seized Polaroid and sold it at auction to the 2nd highest bidder for $83 million (and the 2nd Highest Bidder was a partner in the Ponzi).

    Then they announced a $2 Billion contract.

    Judge said Tough Luck; and even said there would be NO Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. (Because it was too complicated a case)

  5. “When they can do this to one of their own… Just imagine what they can do to people without means…” -AY

    Yep.

  6. hsskiprob you should contact william aka bill windsor he is travelling the country documenting the crimes and injustices committed by any and everyone in law enforcement..

    the name of his site is lawless america… ive linked you to his facebook page. because i lost his blog link…

    https://www.facebook.com/lawlessamerica2

    1. RobinH45 – Thank you I’m equally and perhaps even more interested in prosecutorial and Judicial misconduct. I believe that the Police would stop behaving so poorly, if the system was not so protected by those in the legal system. The lack of prosecution and more importantly the lack of harsh enough punishment seems to permeate the body politic, yet they will put a tax protestor in jail for 20 years, who was at best a small businessman.

      I find it interesting that they catch so many, yet the system seems to be getting worse. There are obviously some great people out there fighting for truth and justice, yet we keep seeing so many injustices.

      It will be interesting to see what happens to these people for framing this guy. They should each get triple the time of what he served and every asset, including any pensions sold and given to this guy.

      It is just so hard for me to imagine the sociopathic mindset these people must have, to allow a innocent guy to spend his life in prison.

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