Seattle responds to allegation that police officer committed perjury
Jun 22, 2018, 2:53 PM | Updated: 3:48 pm
Charleena Lyles (File, KIRO 7)
(File, KIRO 7)
The City of Seattle has responded to allegations that one of its officers committed perjury when testifying about a controversial police shooting. The city has aimed its arguments at opposing attorneys.
Attorneys representing the family of Charleena Lyles recently argued that a Seattle police officer committed perjury when he testified about the incident. The officer, Jason Anderson, said that the door to Lyle’s apartment was shut when the pregnant mother was shot to death by police. The African American mother was shot five times by two white police officers on June 18, 2017.
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The Lyles family has filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Seattle.
On Friday, city attorneys said the motion filed by the Lyle’s lawyers was grandstanding meant to harass the city and the officer. Lyle’s attorneys asked the judge to refer the perjury allegation to the King County prosecutor. City attorneys also said that expert analysis of video and audio used to make the perjury allegation is faulty, because the recordings had been redacted for public release and were not meant for forensic analysis.
In its oral argument, city attorneys called the perjury allegations “baseless” and said that the city’s response has nothing to do with the police officer or Ms. Lyles. Rather, they targeted their statements at opposing attorneys and their conduct, arguing their motion lacks decorum and “flouts the bounds of our Civil Rules and Rules of Professional Conduct.” Seattle argues that the perjury motion is legally unsupported.
The next hearing date for the case is scheduled for Tuesday, June 26.
Karen Koehler, an attorney for the Lyles family, released this statement following the city’s argument Friday:
The disrespectful tone of the response and bully tactics used are a poor reflection on the City of Seattle. The City’s lawyers believe that by aggressively charging the Estate of Charleena Lyles’ attorneys with misconduct, they can sidestep and minimize the issue of whether Officer Anderson actually committed the alleged perjury.
We are confident that the truth will come out in this case. We stand on our motion and the evidence produced to support it.
