State keeps its word to Monroe to pay for investigation of correction officer’s slaying

Published 12:01 am Friday, May 13, 2011

MONROE — It has already cost Monroe nearly $225,000 to investigate the death of corrections officer Jayme Biendl.

That’s a lot of money, especially for a town that laid off two officers last fall because of a slow-to-recover economy.

Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer is grateful that th

e state Department of Corrections has agreed to reimburse the city for the entire cost of the investigation — particularly after it appeared for a time as if the state would not.

The police department has made deep cuts, Quenzer said. City officials knew that 2011 would continue to be diffi

cult.

“We hoped for a perfect year, meaning no major cases,” Quenzer said. “We made it 29 days.”

Biendl was found dead Jan. 29 in the prison chapel, a post she’d worked alone for five years. Inmate Byron Scherf is accused of strangling the corrections officer just before Biendl’s shift was over for the night.

Scherf, a serial rapist, already is serving a life sentence. Snohomish County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Scherf has pleaded not guilty.

Monroe police detectives, patrol officers and administrative staff have spent thousands of hours on the homicide investigation. Officers conducted more than 160 interviews. All those interviews had to be transcribed and reviewed for accuracy, Quenzer said. Other officers had to backfill for those involved with the case.

“We did our best,” police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said.

Quenzer called it an “A-plus” investigation.

Officers and staff spent nearly 4,000 hours on the case during the first two months of the investigation, Willis said. About a third of that was overtime. Typically the initial days of an investigation are crucial. Detectives want to interview witnesses while their memories are still fresh, Willis said.

Detectives continue to review the case and still have additional files they’ll be sending to prosecutors. They also will be expected to testify during trial.

Eldon Vail, the state’s Department of Corrections secretary, told Quenzer early on that the state would pick up the cost of the investigation.

That’s why it came as a shock when the city recently received a check for only $94,659.97 — about 42 percent of the actual cost.

Turns out that the Vail’s promise to Quenzer had not filtered down to those writing the checks. The city was reimbursed at $23.96 an hour — a rate established by a Washington Administrative Code enacted in the early 1980s.

The code sets reimbursement rates for police departments, attorneys, judges and others in the criminal justice system that are involved in criminal cases at the state’s prisons.

Snohomish County officials say they are negotiating with the state Department of Corrections to have some of the defense and prosecution costs reimbursed. It wasn’t immediately clear how far along they are with those efforts.

A Washington State Bar Association study found in 2006 that it cost an average of $467,000 more to try a capital murder case compared to a murder case where the death penalty is not sought. State court rules mandate that the defendant be assigned two attorneys. At least one of those attorneys must be specially qualified to handle capital cases. Death penalty cases also require investigations by both the prosecutor and defense into mitigation information to be presented to the jurors during the penalty phase of the trial. Those investigations, which typically probe the defendant’s entire life history, can be costly.

There is a statute that allows counties to ask the state to reimburse them for the costs associated with death penalty cases, said Snohomish County chief criminal deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro.

“It’s kind of a crapshoot. You’re not guaranteed to be reimbursed,” she said.

Quenzer was reassured on May 6 when Vail called him to say that the state intends to fully reimburse the city for its costs.

Vail wanted the department to feel assured it had the resources to conduct a thorough investigation, officials said.

“It is an extraordinary case,” Department of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said.

Biendl’s killing was the first on-duty death caused by an inmate in the 100-year history of the Monroe correctional complex.

Vail also has concerns about the current investigation reimbursement rate.

Monroe’s questions “led us to look at the law to see if we can change it,” Lewis said.

That’s good news for Quenzer and his department. Two out of the last three homicides in Monroe have been at the prison, the state’s largest. Those investigations take considerable manpower, the chief said. The current reimbursement rate doesn’t come close to covering actual costs, he said.

Monroe taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize the state Department of Corrections, he said.

State Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, said the state needs to examine its cost reimbursement rate in homicide investigations that occur in prisons.

“This was a lot for the city to take on,” he said. “My concern is a tragedy such as this could have a big impact on a community the size of Monroe that does not have deep pockets.”

Changing the reimbursement rate isn’t likely to happen so late in the current session of the Legislature with a cash-strapped budget, but a conversation does need to happen in the future, Pearson said.

“We have to look at it in extraordinary cases like this,” he said.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.