FIRED OFFICER GETS HIS JOB BACK WITH SETTLEMENT

A Mountlake Terrace police sergeant who was fired in part for alleged
dishonesty has gotten his job back and an $812,500 settlement from his
department, Snohomish County and the city of Lynnwood.

Jonathan Wender's battle to clear his name centered on allegations
that police internal investigators and the prosecutor's office
targeted him unfairly because of his outspoken views in favor of
limited decriminalization of marijuana and reforms in the nation's war
on drugs.

"I think that those of us on the front lines have an obligation to
speak out," said Wender, 42, who now is on a two-year paid leave and
teaching at the University of Washington. "I have devoted most of my
professional life to protecting constitutional rights of citizens.
Rights are violated when there is a chilling of free speech, which I
believe was the case here."

Wender's case illustrates a wider issue reported last year by the
Seattle P-I -- abuse and unequal enforcement by police departments of
requirements that police officers be truthful. Internal disciplinary
records indicate some officers are fired for dishonesty, some are
reprimanded and some are accused of lying so that departments can fire
them.

Wender alleged that he falls in the latter category. Court records
show he uncovered evidence to support his claim.

Wender joined the department out of college in 1990, and while working
full time obtained a Ph.D. in criminology from Simon Fraser University
in British Columbia. Though he stated in court he made more drug
arrests than other Mountlake Terrace patrol sergeants, Wender came to
believe the nation was wasting police resources jailing addicts, while
failing to curb drug traffickers and to solve the underlying problems
leading to drug use, including unstable families.

He joined a well-known organization -- Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition -- and encouraged exploration of decriminalization of
marijuana. He was quoted in a weekly newspaper on his views.

He said some fellow officers, including Lynnwood officers who were
part of a drug task force, objected to his views and targeted him.
Though he admitted smoking pot once -- when he was 15 years old -- he
said he is not pro-drug.

Police and prosecutors began investigating Wender after a woman called
911 one night in June 2005 to say she saw a single marijuana plant at
her ex-husband's house when she picked up their daughter.

She said she didn't want to get her ex in trouble, she just wanted to
make a record of it because of custody issues, according to court
records. Wender called the man and told him to obey the law or risk
losing visitation rights. The woman later found a small pot-growing
operation inside her ex-husband's house. Wender was unaware of that,
or he said he would have acted differently.

Lynnwood police officers in the drug task force -- who were aware of
Wender's views on marijuana -- called for a full-scale criminal
investigation of Wender as a result of that case.

That went nowhere and the prosecutor declined to pursue charges. Then
the Mountlake Terrace department opened an internal investigation.
During that investigation, investigators claimed to the Snohomish
County Prosecutor's Office that Wender had made false statements in
regards to a side issue. That led the prosecutor to open a "Brady"
investigation on Wender, and to issue a "Brady letter," a move that is
often fatal to a police officer's career.

Brady v. Maryland is a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires
prosecutors to inform criminal defendants of any evidence that they
might use to defend themselves. That includes information whether a
police officer who accused them of a crime has ever lied in an
official proceeding.

A "Brady letter" is a note in prosecutor's files about any officer
that has lied. "Brady" officers are often terminated because they
become ineffective as witnesses in criminal trials. Wender was
terminated on Oct. 19, 2005. He filed a lawsuit two years later.

The case investigators made against Wender had serious flaws. He
passed a polygraph test, and the evidence that he misled anyone was
shaky. And at least one other Mountlake Terrace officer was simply
reprimanded in 2000 when the prosecutor's office created a Brady file
on him for statements he made during an investigation of a vehicle
ramming. Moreover, Wender had a reputation in the department for honesty.

"I never questioned his honesty," said Mountlake Terrace Assistant
Chief Mark Connor, adding that he was a "good guy to work with."

Connor still believes Wender violated policy when he let the man off
regarding the one pot plant, but that violation wouldn't have resulted
in termination. Connor wasn't named in the lawsuit.

Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Michael Held said his department
did not want to continue spending money on the case, and risk losing
it. He said prosecutors would be put in an untenable position if they
were held liable for obeying the Brady ruling.

Wender won't get all the money at once. In the settlement, he was
reinstated as a sergeant and placed on paid leave, which will continue
through Nov. 10, 2010, when he will resign. He got back pay, and about
half the settlement money went to reinstating his pension fund.

"He is walking away with his reputation restored," said his attorney
Andrea Brenneke.

Though he is now teaching criminal justice at the university, he said
he might go back to law enforcement: "I miss it."