Attorneys for Vancouver protection legal professional Josephine Townsend are asking a choose to dismiss the forgery case towards her.
Townsend, 64, appeared Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court docket on a summons for 2 counts of forgery. A choose from Lewis County, Joely Yeager, is dealing with the case after the native Superior Court docket bench recused itself.
Throughout Tuesday’s listening to, Townsend’s attorneys, from Camas-based Vern McCray Legislation Agency, requested Yeager to postpone Townsend’s first look till after the choose has heard the prolonged movement to dismiss.
McCray known as the case a “unprecedented situation,” and he stated he has “grave concerns” concerning the possible trigger affidavit the costs are primarily based on. He stated if the choose heard the protection’s proof of omissions and misrepresentations within the affidavit, no judicial officer would have discovered possible trigger.
Yeager denied the protection’s request to postpone the listening to. The choose stated she was not going to deal with the case towards Townsend any otherwise than every other prison case.
The choose agreed to permit Townsend to stay out of custody with out posting bail, however she ordered Townsend to finish an administrative reserving on the Clark County Jail earlier than her subsequent listening to.
Yeager stated the attorneys should coordinate with the courts in Clark and Lewis counties to schedule the following listening to, at which period she is going to hear Townsend’s movement to dismiss and, if she denies it, full her arraignment.
In Townsend’s movement, her attorneys write that they’re not disputing a safety order proven to Clark County sheriff’s deputies towards certainly one of Townsend’s purchasers was solid. However, they denied Townsend solid it. As a substitute, they are saying Townsend’s shopper, Travon Santiago, and his girlfriend, Nicole Eagle, have been chargeable for the pretend doc.
Santiago was arrested in December 2023 on suspicion of first-degree assault, and a choose ordered a prison safety order, in addition to GPS monitoring, prohibiting Santiago from coming inside 1,000 toes of the sufferer. The sufferer’s associate additionally filed for a civil safety order towards Santiago. The civil safety order was issued in January 2024 and restricted Santiago from coming inside 5,000 toes of her, in accordance with courtroom information.
In April, a choose modified the space restriction within the prison safety order to 500 toes. Deputies discovered Santiago’s condo was roughly 1,000 toes from the sufferer’s dwelling. However, they stated the civil safety order prohibiting Santiago from coming inside 5,000 toes of the sufferer’s associate was by no means modified, courtroom information state.
On July 17, deputies responded to a 911 name from the sufferer’s associate reporting a violation of the civil safety order. When deputies accessed the net GPS monitoring system, they noticed Santiago was at his condo, which was in violation of the 5,000-foot restriction, courtroom information state.
When deputies went to the condo, Santiago’s girlfriend offered them with a doc that claimed the safety order had been modified. However deputies stated the case quantity on the doc was for the prison case, not the civil order they have been there to implement, in accordance with courtroom information. Deputies stated Santiago’s girlfriend was on the cellphone with somebody they discovered to be Townsend, Santiago’s legal professional.
The deputies left the condo.
Santiago’s girlfriend later known as the sheriff’s workplace. She advised a sergeant that Townsend had despatched her an order exhibiting the safety order had been modified. She forwarded the order to the sergeant, which deputies famous was dated April 25 and now had the right case quantity for the civil safety order. They stated it additionally had Clark County Superior Court docket Decide Suzan Clark’s digital signature — with the identical time stamp, right down to the second, because the modified prison safety order — together with the clerk’s workplace’s e-filing stamp, in accordance with courtroom information.
Townsend’s attorneys allege the sheriff’s detective who investigated the case mismanaged it in hopes of gaining notoriety for investigating a training protection legal professional. They wrote investigators carried out a one-sided investigation and ignored Santiago and Eagle’s motivation to deceive keep away from arrest for allegedly violating the safety order and obstructing officers.
The attorneys additionally pointed to Townsend’s 2014 run for Clark County prosecuting legal professional towards present Prosecutor Tony Golik. The case is being prosecuted by the Washington Lawyer Basic’s Workplace on the request of the Clark County Prosecuting Lawyer’s Workplace.
Included in Townsend’s movement to dismiss was the outcomes of polygraph examinations of Townsend and Townsend’s paralegal. Each polygraphs indicated they weren’t being deceitful once they stated they didn’t forge the order, in accordance with the protection’s movement.