EXPERT OPINION REGARDING THE MAY 8, 2005 SHOOTING OF JASON WILKINSON
BY VANCOUVER POLICE OFFICER
RICK TORRES
This expert opinion is a review of the May 8, 2005 shooting of Jason Wilkinson. This opinion covers facts that were not known at the time of the opinion of Judge Benjamin Settle in 2009, or the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision issued in Wilkinson v. Torres in 2010. In addition, it covers the subsequent events of Clark County in their attempt to cover up this “execution”.
This opinion is also a review of the policies and procedures used to conduct the internal affairs investigation.
The logical starting point is from a summary of what Judge Benjamin Settle found in the lawsuit of Wilkinson v. Torres.
January 23, 2009, Judge Settle holds:
Taking the facts in light most favorable to the plaintiffs, there is no question that Torres acted with the unconstitutional purpose to harm, terrorize and in fact, kill Wilkinson. After Key walked to the front of the minivan and the minivan began to back away from the telephone pole, Key and Torres looked at each other, seemingly acknowledged each other; then Torres walked to the passenger side of the minivan and effectively executed Wilkinson by shooting him eleven times at close range. Torres shot Wilkinson when the minivan was traveling at a slow speed in the exact opposite direction from where Key stood. Even after Wilkinson dropped his hands from the steering wheel and slumped in the driver’s seat mortally wounded, Torres continued to fire into Wilkinson as the minivan coasted in reverse.
On an undated document (approximately May 24, 2005) headed MC 784, Eric O’Dell the lead Detective for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office writes a “SYNOPSIS”. Detective O’Dell opines:
The driver of the van put the transmission in reverse and was attempting to flee. The vans tires were spinning in the grass and mud as the van lurched backwards and towards the side that Officer Key was on. Officer Key was struck by the vehicle and knocked him to the ground. Officer Torres heard Officer Key yell out, but Officer Key had disappeared from his sight. Officer Torres, believing that Officer Key was being run over by the van, fired his weapon at the driver. Officer Torres recalled firing two separate volleys of rounds. The second volley came after the first volley appeared to have no effect on the driver and as the van made a tight turn in turn in reverse and appeared to be heading in the direction where Officer Key had scrambled to the edge of the grass next to the roadway.
Officer Torres fired 11 rounds at the driver of the van until he slumped at the wheel. The van continued rolling backwards, striking Deputy Schanaker’s patrol car and then was pinned to stop by Officer Rawlins patrol car. Officer Rawlins had just arrived on scene.
(cont)
CONCLUSION:
Officer Torres fired a total of 11 rounds into two separate volleys. He fired until he felt the threat toward Officer Key was no longer present. Officer Torres acted within the guidelines of RCW 9A.16.020 Use of Force and it is recommended that this case be cleared as a Justifiable Homicide in accordance with RCW 9A.16.040.
The only logical conclusion, given these two varying conclusions, is that Judge Settle’s opinion is correct. A review of the internal affairs documents along with the actions of Clark County confirm the conclusion Judge Settle reached:
Rick Torres “effectively executed Wilkinson by shooting him eleven times at close range”.
This expert interviewed Anthony Davis on March 30, 2019. He stated:
I left my mom's house to go get some cigarettes from Oscars. I left my mom's house to go get some cigarettes from Oscars and I pulled up to the stop sign and I took a right. And when I went around the corner, I seen a bunch of cops and they were going into my lane. So I thought that they were going to come towards me. So I pulled up on the curb and pulled over and they got back in their lane behind the minivan and as the minivan turned the corner, one of the cops hit him and PIT maneuvered him into the yard next to me where I was parked on the curb. And as he was going through the yard, there was another cop car blocking him and cars in the driveway. So he couldn't go anywhere. And two cops ran up one with this gun out. The other cop ran up, grabbed the door handle of the car, kind of slid, fell down on his butt and jumped back up, ran in front of the minivan and then he was... walked out in front of my car and laid down and holding his knee. Like he got ran over something, but he didn't. And the other cop started walking with the minivan shooting. And then when I saw as he was shooting, I seen the kid fall down and melt in his seat and the van started rolling backwards and the cop just kept walking backwards shooting him and shooting him.
This expert compared the transcripts of the interview on May 8, 2005, an affidavit Davis wrote in 2008 in support of the Wilkinson v. Torres case and the March 30, 2019 interview and they were consistent. Additionally, Davis shared the name of another eyewitness to the “execution”, R. Costello. This expert tried to interview Mr. Costello but was unable to. His testimony warrants further examination.
A review of Officer Torres's earnings prior to the shooting is irregular and warrants further examination. January 2005 pay is $3227, February $1112, and March $2719. His base pay is regularly $5648 and typically worked overtime raising his pay to over $6000 monthly. This discrepancy is odd and warrants further explanation.
A REVIEW OF THE INVESTIGATION
Anthony Davis was interviewed twice the day of the shooting. He recalls the officers recording both of the interviews. There’s only one transcript, so the first tape was either destroyed or Anthony Davis is mistaken, or not credible. The credibility of Anthony Davis has never come into question. He submitted an affidavit in support of the Wilkinson family in 2008. Neither VPD, nor Officer Torres disputed his statements in Summary Judgement. His character cannot be impugned at this point, given the fact that VPD and Officer Torres do not challenge any of the factual claims made in the case, i.e, they don’t challenge the credibility of Anthony Davis.
This expert has been trying to obtain the audiotapes of the recordings since January of 2017. Clark County has not provided them. Davis states he returned the day after the shooting and this session was videotaped, however, there is no listing of the videotape in the IA list of documents, nor was it provided in the public records response from the County.
The transcript reveals Davis was interrupted 17 times during his recorded interview. It was clear that Detective O’Dell was trying to reign him in and redirect his attention to another topic when it came to Davis describing what he saw. For instance, at one point, Davis is pointing to a spot and stating “he was right there”, signifying the location of the officer when Torres was shooting. This was never memorialized in any report or signified on any map, drawing, or report.
Instead, Officer Torres drew on the map where Officer Key was when Torres started firing during the IA interview on May 10, 2005. He placed his own evidence into the record to the complete exclusion of Anthony Davis’s account. The police were manufacturing the evidence. This can be gleaned through the news media reports about the shooting. The “PRESS RELEASE” depicted the facts written in Detective O’Dell’s final SYNOPSIS. Unfortunately, the Press Release was issued before Officer Torres testified. Officer Torres was the only one that saw what happened on May 8, 2005, other than Anthony Davis.
Deputy Schanaker, Officer Key, Officer Torres, Anthony Davis, and R. Costello were the only ones that were capable of seeing the shooting.
Deputy Schanaker was backing his vehicle up to block the minivan that was supposedly going to make a complete 360-degree U-turn, so he didn’t see the shooting. He states he looked up just in time to see the gun recoiling in Torres's hands. Officer Key states he was getting chewed up underneath the tires and didn’t see anything. At one point, Key makes a statement that implicates them in murdering Wilkinson, however, Detective Stuart Hemstock recognizes the fatal remark made by Officer Key and makes a statement at the end and asks him if that is what he meant and Officer Key agrees. This is the only time I have ever seen an interrogator rehabilitating their own witness when they are in a fact-gathering phase of an investigation.
Often, officers indicate their true intentions, such as rehabilitating Officer Key so they don’t leave any questions for someone to look at. They actually can indicate what they are doing when they are trying to cover things up.
Another example of this is the documentation of Detective O’Dell when he writes that he told Anthony Davis he heard he had marijuana on him that day. Days later, he documents that he advises Davis, a 21-year-old, to hire an attorney and come down to the station and “set the record straight”.
What is not documented in Detective O’Dell’s report is, according to Anthony Davis, that he and Detective Hemstock dropped by Anthony Davis’s residence on a constant basis trying to get him to change his story. If Davis’s account is correct, and there is no contrary evidence, this is a cover-up of the murder of Jason Wilkinson. This expert has tried to get the notes written by Detective O’Dell via a Public Records Act request but this witness has not been provided O'Dell's notes.
There is no documentation that Anthony Davis was offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony regarding what he saw. Instead, he was told to hire an attorney and come to the station and testify. Davis stated in his March 30, 2019 interview that the PIO for the VPD was testifying as to what was released in the press release issued May 9, 2016, and there were cut-ins of Eyewitness Anthony Davis nodding his head as if he were agreeing to what the VPD Officer was stating in the news media. Anthony Davis was effectively silenced by the news media reports that contradict what he said on the record multiple times, Rick Torres “effectively executed” Jason Wilkinson.
It was left to the testimony of Rick Torres against Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis knew the odds of that and still had the courage to file an affidavit depicting what he saw that day. The affidavit was in support of the Wilkinson family in Wilkinson v. Torres filed in 2008, 3 years after Detective O’Dell exonerated VPD Officer Torres of the “execution” of Jason Wilkinson.
Detective O’Dell documents numerous attempts to contact Davis before he closes his report. He calls Davis to warn him he needs him to come in to clear up his testimony before he closes it. It’s clear that Detective O’Dell is attempting to document he is conducting a thorough investigation. However, this documentation belies the fact that he and Detective Hemstock repeatedly stopped by Anthony Davis’s residence and attempted to get him to change his story. This is witness tampering.
Officer Torres makes 4 phone calls immediately after the shooting. This is gleaned from a fellow officer’s transcript. Torres does not mention it, nor is this mentioned in any other police report. None of these witnesses were identified or interviewed and Torres does not mention them in his interview in spite of asking him if there was anything else he wanted to add. 4 witnesses Torres spoke to immediately after the shooting are an important piece of evidence in this investigation. This expert has requested the phone records via a Public Records Request. There are no responsive records within the VPD.
Immediately after the shooting, Detective O’Dell directs the resources of his investigation team to track Anthony Davis. They pull his background, unlike the other witnesses. The reporters Davis spoke to were interviewed. That is supposedly how they found out he had marijuana, but he said he went to “Oscar’s for some smokes”. He’s said that every time. This expert draws the conclusion that Anthony Davis was threatened with the marijuana charge to shut him up immediately, Detective O’Dell was in touch with the three attorneys Davis was in touch with and when they told Davis to put out the No Trespassing sign, that was the signal to the officers that Davis was silenced by the actions of Detectives O’Dell and Hemstock.
This expert contacted the reporter that allegedly told LE Officers about Davis having marijuana on him. Dan Tilken was allegedly the reporter that allegedly stated Davis had marijuana on him. He did not recall anything about the case nor did he have any notes. The news station was unable to provide the video footage.
A more accurate investigation could be conducted with subpoena powers to ascertain if what Anthony Davis stated, that the news media was working in conjunction with VPD to cover up this “execution” and editing him into the news reports as if he was an eyewitness agreeing to what VPD was saying.
Davis’s account appears to be the most accurate account. When the LEO from VPD sent the email informing Detective O’Dell about the marijuana Davis had on him, he writes that he notes he did not tell a reporter they could not print a disparaging story citing the facts as Davis saw them.
Instead, the VPD held the reporter at bay and told them they were just coming out with some new facts to release to the news media and asked the reporter to hold off and they would get some new facts to the reporter shortly. The email is troubling, as it indicates there are times when LE officers tell the media they cannot print something. Furthermore, investigations are not conducted in the media. It is clear that VPD was controlling the media narrative, as they released the ultimate conclusions of their findings on May 9, 2005, in a press release, to the exclusion of the testimony of Anthony Davis.
RICK TORRES HISTORY
Torres is a former US Marine. He was stationed in Camp Pendleton, Ca. and served between the years of 1987 and 1991. He was hired by the Vancouver Police Department in 1999. He was a member of the SWAT Team while at the VPD.
Being both a former Marine and SWAT member gives Torres an advantage over almost every citizen in America when it comes to firearms training. He has been taught to shoot in high-stress situations. The repetitive nature of his training cast doubt as to the credibility of his story about the shooting. Discussed in detail later.
The months leading up to the shooting, there is an unexplained reduction in Officer Torres pay. His normal pay is between 5600 and 7000 per month. However, the months leading up to that, his pay is less than ¼ of his regular pay. This absence is unexplained. Torres was reprimanded on a prior occasion for conducting a chase that was against department protocol, but this would not justify three months of reduced pay. This reduction in pay should be explored.
Officer Torres was issued a written reprimand on a second occasion in January of 2006. After the reprimand, Torres resigned from the Vancouver Police Department. This expert has contacted former Vancouver Police Chief Martinek to get background information on Torres. He has not responded.
Torres went to work for the Lind Group from 2006 through 2013. While he was working he received his master’s degree from Marylhurst University in Oregon. He volunteered for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office starting in 2011 as a reserve deputy. He was hired as a Deputy in 2013. He was quickly promoted to Sergeant in 2014.
This expert has attempted to get background information on Torres hiring at Clark County, however, the documents have been withheld citing employee privacy laws. Lie detector test questions have been asked for, and information regarding Wilkinson v. Torres has been requested if Torres revealed the affidavit of Anthony Davis prior to being employed at CCSO. These requests have been all been denied citing employee privacy. Clark County said there is nothing in Torres background check or anything referencing the Wilkinson v. Torres case in his application.
November 11, 2015 Sergeant Torres arrested Lawrence M. L’Hommedieu
Sergeant Torres was sent a LinkedIn message from L’Hommedieu inquiring about Wilkinson v. Torres on or about July 25, 2016. Torres did not respond to the request for information about the case nor did he file a police report.
August 3, 2016, Sergeant Torres meets with Breanne Nelson and KC Kasberg. The following day Torres sends him the following message.
The document references the meeting on August 3, 2015. The only reasonable inference that can be drawn, the August 3, 2016 meeting was held because of the LinkedIn message sent to Torres in July, inquiring about Wilkinson v. Torres, which he was going to have to testify about at the August 10th, 2016 trial.
The same day of the meeting, August 3, 2016, the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney calls the “victim”, Shelane L'Hommedieu. Two days later, Shelane calls her back (August 5, 2016). The same day the DPA files a motion to extend the trial stating that Shelane L'Hommedieu is not available because she will be out of town on a preplanned vacation.
The only reasonable inference is that Clark County was trying to cover-up the murder of Jason Wilkinson and they knew they were calling a known perjurer to the stand, Torres. Both VPD and Clark County had evidence that Torres lied under oath. Even Judge Settle writes this in his opinion, yet Torres is not placed on the Clark County Brady List, and the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's Office Brady Policy and Brady Committee Protocol was not followed, which would have placed Torres on a Brady list just months after he was hired by the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
This expert has requested the documents for the reservations for the preplanned vacation Shelane L'Hommedieu was supposedly on, i.e., cell phone and bank records, depicting when and where this “preplanned” vacation was planned and taken. The “victim”, Shelane, was sent a subpoena on July 2, 2016, notifying her to appear for the August 10th, 2016 trial. It should be noted these documents were requested from the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney via email, and in the form of interrogatories in a divorce trial and were never provided by the “victim” or DPA Blair.
In the resignation email sent to KC Kasburg, Sergeant Torres wants to address the rumors with his guys before his abrupt exit. He gives a 6-day notice. This expert has asked the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office who was present and what those rumors were. There has been no response.
After Torres resigned from CCSO he went back to work for an affiliate of the Lind Group, Praxair in Vancouver, Washington, circa, August 2016. Nobody has questioned Torres about this transition, and why he made it. In emails, Clark County command staff refer to Torres as “retired” Sergeant Torres, when, in fact, Torres is not “retired”. This is more evidence CC officials are trying to spin the narrative surrounding Rick Torres.
Sergeant Torres lists on his resignation email that he is testifying at a trial on August 10th. He makes sure to document that he is ready to testify at the upcoming trial as if he is looking forward to answering questions about the Wilkinson v. Torres case. This is an example of a law enforcement officer writing his alibi as if Torres were intending to testify and stand up to the scrutiny of being questioned about the Wilkinson v. Torres opinion. Torres knew the trial was going to be postponed, they insured it when Blair filed the motion to extend the trial on August 5, 2016.
On January 27, 2017, Torres summons the Clark County Sheriff’s Office to his home in his gated community. Deputy Chris Luque wrote the report. Torres reported that the mentally ill defendant that was bringing up the Wilkinson v. Torres case was outside of his gated community in a Comcast van. Torres's neighbor saw the Comcast driver.
Torres took a photo over to his neighbor and asked if the mentally ill defendant was the one in the Comcast van. Torres knows that this is not customary police procedure and he was doing this to taint the testimony of an uninvolved neighbor. The LE community needed a witness that was not connected to Clark County and this was Torres's attempt to get someone outside the LE community to finger this witness. Later, Deputy Luque brings a line-up of photos of people with the defendant part of the photo line-up.
The defendant later contacted CCSO deputies, to include Luque and Sheriff Atkins requesting to meet with them and provide updated information, as in the police report it states the investigation is still pending, and to contact officers with additional information. The defendant contacted Deputy Luque to attempt to provide his alibis for the time of the incident and to provide Clark County with additional information about this attempted frame-up by Rick Torres and other government officials. The defendant was never contacted by CCSO even though the case was still open. CCSO officials did not want the defendant to put anything into the record, they only wanted to get the neighbor as a witness and place the "mentally ill" defendant outside of the gated community where Torres lived so they could depict the "mentally ill" defendant as a person that wanted to harm Torres and his family. There is no evidence that Deputy Luque, or any other CCSO LEO contacted Comcast to ascertain if they had a driver in the area.
Deputy Luque documents in his report that Torres gave him a LinkedIn message sent from the defendant to Torres along with multiple Facebook posts. These are documented and listed in line item in the report. None of these items were logged into evidence. In spite of multiple requests to get the entire police report with the LinkedIn message and Facebook posts Torres gave to Luque, Clark County has not produced them. Their last response; they spoke with Deputy Luque and he has no such documents, in spite of them being listed on the police report.
During the interview of Torres, Luque documents that Torres states he had very little to do with the arrest of the mentally ill defendant. Contrarily, Deputy Schmidt testified Torres was the sole decision-maker as to who decided to arrest the mentally ill defendant, Mr. L’Hommedieu.
This is not the only time Rick Torres makes contradictory statements. Judge Settle notes the conflicting statements Torres makes during his May 8, 2005 sworn interview. In addition to the opinion of Judge Settle, reviewing the transcript of the May 10, 2005 interview into the shooting of Jason Wilkinson, Torres completely contradicts himself. At one point Torres states he heard Officer Key screaming and yelling. Earlier in the interview, he states he didn’t hear a thing. Ironically, his story changed when there was a break in the interview and discussions took place off of the record. This is yet more indicia that the police were coordinating with Torres and manufacturing probable cause to get it into the record. Unfortunately for the LEO’s Torres had already stated that he didn’t hear a thing, then changed his story to hearing screaming and yelling after a break in the interview and a discussion off of the record. In addition, more than one witness saw Torres running up to the van with his gun drawn. There is no explanation as to why he had probable cause to use deadly force in the first instance, i.e., why he had his gun drawn after a low-speed vehicle chase that ended in the van crashing into a telephone pole.
Torres was tapping on the passenger side window with his gun and had to back up from the window to shoot Jason Wilkinson, pumping 11 rounds, striking Jason 10 out of 11 times.
A second Internal Affairs investigation of Torres was conducted by the VPD after the homicide investigation. This led to his written reprimand for conducting an unauthorized chase. Torres resigned from VPD in January of 2006 after the VPD internal affairs investigation.
Amazingly, there is no comment about the completely contradictory statements Torres made during the homicide investigation in the VPD IA investigation.
This should have automatically triggered a Brady hearing per VPD Brady Protocol, where Torres's conflicting statements warranted his placement on the Brady List for the VPD. He was allowed to resign without being placed on the Brady List. The only logical conclusion one can reach is that Torres was written up and told to resign. VPD did not put him on the Brady List to avoid liability.
This would have prevented this executioner from being employed by CCSO. Yet, they were the ones investigating the homicide and 7 years later they hired him with this in his background.
IN CONCLUSION
There is no credible way the events transpired as Officer Rick Torres described them in his interview, nor do his statements lend any credibility to the statement of Detective O’Dell that this was “Justifiable Homicide”.
From the eyewitness account, Torres had his weapon drawn before he got to the vehicle. He had no probable cause to have his weapon drawn in the first instance. There was no threat to Officer Torres, nor was there one to Officer Key. The threat was manufactured.
From approximately 8 feet away, Officer Torres shot two different volleys of shots into Jason Wilkinson. The first consisted of 7 rounds, followed by another 4, striking Wilkinson 10 out of 11 times. Another expert witness opined that 3 of the shots were fired after there was no power to the vehicle and it was coasting.
When shooting someone in high-stress situations, muscle memory plays an important role in the reactions of law enforcement officers with the training background of Sergeant Torres.
Torres walked up to the passenger side window, put his hand on the window and was tapping the gun on the window. This was to intimidate and mock Jason Wilkinson. Torres then had to back away from the window before he fired 11 rounds into Jason placing Torres approximately 8 feet away.
Typical close-quarter battle training would indicate a shooting from muscle memory in a high-stress environment. The customary shooting pattern to dispatch an individual is to place 2 bullets in the center mass (the area of the heart), and then 2 bullets in the head. This is taught in the military and SWAT training. This drill is repeated until it becomes second nature, to avoid having to think in high stress situations. That is precisely why it is called muscle memory. Your body automatically reacts.
Torres account of only recalling shooting 4 shots, followed by another 2 shots is to minimize his culpability. If, in fact, Officer Torres was so shocked, his muscle memory would have taken over and he would have recalled immediately shooting at center mass and then transitioning to a headshot, as he had been trained to do. His failure to recall 11 shots and instead only recalling shooting 4 shots fired by another 2 shots does not comport with a reactionary shooting in a high stress environment where he would have been able to recall the events specifically, as he would have reverted to his training as a SWAT officer and Marine.
Officer Torres tries to minimalize his involvement by limiting the number of rounds he fired to 6 shots versus the fact he fired 11.
His description is accurate about looking over and seeing the outline of the back of Officer Keys vest. From the description of events, the timing and description of events depict Officer Key falling down, getting back up, moving to the front of the van where he bumps his knee on the front pumper and is jostled around. They look at each other, appear to acknowledge each other, then Torres fires 7 times into Jason. Officer Key cannot believe what transpired, fell down on the ground in disbelief, and Officer Torres looks over at him and sees the back of his vest, reacquires Jason and fires the last 4 rounds into him ensuring his “execution”.
Torres admits to looking up and seeing the back of the outline of Officer Key’s vest. This is corroborated by Anthony Davis that Key was standing up in front of the vehicle and just fell down all of a sudden. After Torres looks up and sees the outline of the back of Key’s vest, he reacquires the Wilkinson and fires another 4 rounds into him. This would signify Torres knew there was no power to the vehicle and he pumped another 4 rounds into Jason to ensure his “execution”, as Judge Settle opines.
INDICIA OF A POLICE COVER-UP
In the police report written by Deputy Luque January 27, 2017, it states he forwarded the evidence of Rick Torres reporting the defendant was outside of his gated community in a Comcast van. The police report is forwarded to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. A request was sent to Prosecuting Attorney Golik on January 2, 2020, asking for the LinkedIn message. He has not responded.
UPDATE on January 27, 2022, Clark County responded there were no responsive records about the LinkedIn message sent to Rick Torres, the evidence is destroyed.
This is yet more indicia the Prosecuting Attorney is withholding evidence that implicates Clark County in covering up the murder of Jason Wilkinson.
The Brady protocol for both Clark County and the City of Vancouver refers to Brady evidence as to what a common person would understand to be exculpatory evidence. The affidavit of Anthony Davis, which Judge Settle garnered the facts from, was strong enough to have Judge Settle opine that Jason Wilkinson was “executed”. A reasonable person would deem this as exculpatory evidence.
Clark County has withheld this evidence from the Defendant since February 11, 2015, and all defendants Torres interacted with after the May 8, 2005 shooting.
The only conclusion this expert can reach is this was a conspiracy to commit murder, a conspiracy to cover up that murder, and a conspiracy to frame the defendant that was going to expose Rick Torres as a murderer at a trial on August 10, 2016.
From that point forward, Clark County framed Mr. L’Hommedieu for crimes he did not commit.
Clark County has one of the most interesting public policies this expert has ever heard of. After manufacturing evidence (and withholding evidence in a case against one of their own Law Enforcement Officers, Ray Spencer) attorneys representing Clark County made the following argument in front of the 9thCircuit Court of Appeals.
The Judge asks:
Is it your position that as long as the defendant is guilty, the police do not violate the constitution by fabricating evidence?
Clark County Attorney:
Our position is that the en banc court in Devereaux…
Judge:
I wanna know what your position is, is your position that there is no violation of the Constitution if evidence is fabricated as long as the defendant is guilty or the police believe is guilty.
Clark County Attorney:
That’s not only my position your honor, but that is also the position of the en banc court in Devereux.
There is no evidence this policy within Clark County has changed. This case was argued in 2017. Therefore, it can only be concluded that Clark County still holds the position that it is OK for police to manufacture evidence. That is what they did in this instance, trying to protect Sergeant Rick Torres and the LE Community from the sure uprising that was to ensue after the “execution” (per Judge Settle) of Jason Wilkinson, had all the facts been presented.
A more in-depth analysis is on vector23.org
Given my education, training and experience, I concur with the opinion of Judge Benjamin Settle who holds:
“there is no question that Torres acted with the unconstitutional purpose to harm, terrorize and in fact, kill Wilkinson.”
And:
“Torres walked to the passenger side of the minivan and effectively executed Wilkinson by shooting him eleven times at close range”.
Officer Torres “executed” Jason Wilkinson from approximately 8 feet away.
Rick Torres is not a credible witness. He should have been placed on the Brady List for the Vancouver Police Department, per protocol. Additionally, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is aware of the false and conflicting statements Torres made under oath, yet they have failed to follow their own protocol placing Torres on the Brady List.
MATT L’HOMMEDIEU
BACKGROUND:
US Navy SEAL (1987-1991)
US Air Force ParaRescueman (1993-2002)
US Forest Service Smokejumper (1991-1994)
Captain/Paramedic Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (1996-2010)
Publications/Presentation/Investigations:
Lane v. Skamania County argued a CR 13(e) After-arising counterclaim in the Supreme Court of Washington as a pro se litigant.
Wrote legislation in Washington and Oregon
Author of vector23.org, an investigation research page involving cold cases and the case outlined above.
WEAPONS TRAINING
Trained on multiple weapons systems using many different firearms, both foreign and domestic
Sniper training
Close quarter battle training (room clearance)
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
Wrote protocols for the fire department’s Standard Operating Guidelines for Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue.
Developed a trench rescue program and was the lead instructor for the Trench Rescue Program.
Chairman of the Research and Development Committee, TVFR, responsible for purchasing all PPE used by firefighters.
Designed and administered a tracking program for all PPE used within the Department.
Member of the Quality Improvement Committee, doing case analysis on Emergency Calls from the time of dispatch through the call and the final outcome of calls, including critical patients, fire scene investigations, and catastrophic incidents.
Developed training programs based on the recommendations of the QI Committee’s investigative outcomes. Instruct members of the Fire Department based on QI recommendations.
Trained in interrogation techniques, US Military
Top-Secret Security Clearance
Worked with LE Officers as part of an emergency response team Paramedic.
Investigative researcher, blogger, vector23.org
