TACOMA — An embattled Pierce County prosecutor is the subject of a new $6.5 million damage complaint filed with the ounty’s risk management division.
Sheriff’s deputy Glenda Nissen is arguing that Prosecutor Mark Lindquist broke a 2011 settlement agreement by retaliating against her after she clashed with him over his text messages, reported The News Tribune .
Nissen filed the claim Nov. 2 as the prelude to a lawsuit. Fircrest attorney Joan Mell represents both Nissen and retired Deputy Mike Ames, who filed his own damage claim Oct. 8.
The settlement agreement from the earlier dispute says Nissen would not face retaliation from county officials, a promise she now says was broken.
According to her claim, the county has continued to present her “in a false light, and has retaliated against her in violation of her free speech rights, including her rights to seek redress and due process.”
The claim sites findings from a recently released whistleblower investigation that show prosecutors tried to blackball Nissen after she was assigned to investigate sexual assault cases against child victims in 2015.
High-ranking prosecutors ordered subordinates not to speak with the sheriff’s deputy or use the evidence she gathered, the records show. The subordinates protested and said doing so could put children at risk.
The News Tribune asked Lindquist for comment.
His assistant responded with a statement from the prosecutor’s civil division that said, “Assistant Civil Chief Denise Greer gave legal advice to safeguard our ability to prosecute child sexual abuse cases and to protect the county from civil litigation. The advice was not intended to be publicized. We’re confident we’ll prevail in any lawsuit.”
In 2011, Nissen tried to obtain text messages on Lindquist’s personal mobile phone as a public disclosure. She believed the prosecutor was disparaging her in the messages.
Washington state Supreme Court ordered Lindquist to review the messages and determine if they pertain to public business. He has not done so and the case has been returned to a lower court.
That dispute grew out of a 2010 incident, when one of Lindquist’s most trusted staffers received a death threat in the mail and the sheriff’s office initially looked at Nissen as a possible suspect. She had sent a critical email about Lindquist to The News Tribune during the same time frame.
She admitted to sending the email but denied any knowledge of the death threat.
Investigators found no evidence to prove otherwise and an outside prosecutor’s office declined to charge Nissen.
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