A poster with information on slain Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Wales is displayed during a news conference on Feb. 21, 2018, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)

A poster with information on slain Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Wales is displayed during a news conference on Feb. 21, 2018, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)

Judge allows homicide case against Everett woman to continue

The FBI was eyeing a Snohomish County man as the real killer of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales.

By Mike Carter / The Seattle Times

A federal judge says prosecutors violated court rules and the law by failing to disclose key evidence to attorneys representing an Everett woman accused of lying to a grand jury investigating the 2001 killing of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales.

However, the judge found the failures don’t justify dismissing the indictment against her.

U.S. District Judge James Robart, in a 21-page ruling issued Wednesday, made it clear that the Department of Justice special prosecutors came close to losing their case against 37-year-old Shawna Reid due to negligence, before ever getting it in front of a jury. Reid is the first person indicted as a result of a 19-year FBI investigation into Wales’ slaying.

However, the judge concluded the errors were unintentional and could be remedied by granting the defense additional time to incorporate the new evidence into their case. That, he said, was accomplished when he postponed her trial last month.

“The government’s discovery errors are serious, and violate both the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the requirements of Brady,” a reference to Brady vs. Maryland, a landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that mandates prosecutors turn over any exculpatory evidence to the defense before a trial.

At issue is an audio recording of Reid’s grand jury testimony, which occurred on Feb. 18, 2018, where she was questioned about statements she purportedly made the previous August to an FBI agent and a Seattle Police homicide detective about a former boyfriend.

According to court documents, after Wales was killed Reid became involved with an older man, identified in court papers as “Suspect #1,” who purportedly bragged to her about being involved in the murder of a “judge or attorney that lives on top of a hill.” According to the indictment, Reid later told the agents the victim was “someone of importance, like a judge or attorney general.”

Wales, a white-collar criminal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle and a gun-control activist, was sitting at a computer in the basement of his home on Queen Anne Hill the night of Oct. 11, 2001, when an assassin shot him several times through a basement window and fled.

Reid’s defense attorneys asked for any recording or documentation of her testimony, and were originally given a written transcript of the proceeding. Based on that document, they sought dismissal of the charges, alleging prosecutors bullied Reid, misinformed her of her rights and confused her into incriminating herself. In doing so, they persuaded the court to issue subpoenas so they could question at trial the agents and prosecutors who were in the grand jury room at the time, to attempt to prove Reid’s confusion.

In early July, however, prosecutors turned up an audio recording of the grand jury proceedings, apparently made without their knowledge by the court reporter, according to court documents. Defense attorneys argued the recording proved what they had contended with the transcript — that Reid was confused and didn’t understand what was being asked of her.

Moreover, the defense claimed Reid eventually conceded to making those statements — even if they were wrong — and that she can’t be charged with lying when she’s admitted the issue.

Robart didn’t see it that way, saying her concessions “were equivocal and unclear” and that, while the discovery violation was serious, the disadvantage it served on Reid’s defense could be mitigated by giving them more time to prepare.

“She could fairly be described as conceding that she had made certain statements” to law enforcement in August “that contradict her earlier denials that form the basis for the perjury charges against her,” Robart wrote. “However, her statements are frequently hedged and contradictory” and don’t justify a dismissal.

Michael Nance, one of Reid’s attorneys, said in a statement Wednesday that the defense was pleased the judge recognized the discovery violations but was disappointed it didn’t lead to a dismissal of the indictment.

“This has been a ham-handed prosecution with a pattern of overreach and careless attention to basic prosecutorial duties,” Nance said.

By all accounts, Reid had nothing to do with Wales’ death — she was a teenager when Wales was killed. However, the FBI believes Reid’s story provides a key link in what investigators have called a “continuum” of circumstances and evidence pointing to a longtime suspect in the case — a former airline pilot Wales had once prosecuted in a fraud case they believed hired a hit man.

FBI officials have said they were looking at a “small group of people,” including a 50-year-old Snohomish County man thought to be the hit-man, when Reid was interviewed and subpoenaed to testify before a Seattle grand jury investigating the killing.

However, Reid, a troubled woman with a tragic past, has recanted and muddled her testimony, claiming she was confused, intimidated and tricked into committing perjury. Her lawyers insist she can offer nothing useful to the case.

The investigation into Wales’ death is one of the most extensive and long-lasting criminal investigations ever undertaken by the FBI, involving a task force of FBI agents and Seattle Police homicide investigators who have worked the case continuously since Wales was killed.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Lynnwood
Crash in Lynnwood blocks Highway 99 south

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, fully blocked southbound lanes. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.