Judge vindicates Terrace police

By Scott North

Herald Writer

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Seattle man who claimed his rights were violated when he was arrested and jailed for 80 days in connection with a brutal December 1999 attack.

Majacque Gregory had consistently denied he was the person who pulled a woman into a Mountlake Terrace parking garage, attempted to rape her, and repeatedly stabbed her in the face, chest and throat with a screwdriver.

Gregory was charged with attempted first-degree murder and attempted first-degree rape. But prosecutors dismissed the case after the woman failed to pick Gregory out of a lineup and genetic tests on a single drop of blood found in Gregory’s coat provided no link to the crime.

Gregory in July 2000 filed a $5 million claim for damages and sued Mountlake Terrace police, alleging he was the victim of flawed police work.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly on Sept. 26 dismissed the suit, ruling, among other things, that officers had probable cause to arrest Gregory. A deadline for Gregory to appeal the ruling recently passed.

"We were really pleased," Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Scott Smith said Tuesday.

Smith has consistently defended the work his detectives did, and he said it was gratifying to see a federal judge agree.

"Did we do what was appropriate? No question about it. We followed proper procedure. We followed the Constitution," Smith said.

Gregory’s attorney, Susan Johnson of Seattle, said that even though the judge found police acted legally, the judge also said there were two victims: the woman who was attacked and Gregory.

Gregory was arrested when the woman identified him as the assailant after viewing his photograph in a police montage. He was among five young black men who had consented to be photographed after police rode the bus route the woman took the night of the attack looking for people who matched the description of her attacker.

Gregory rode that same bus to reach his job at a grocery store. His defense attorney, Pete Mazzone of Everett, spent months trying to convince prosecutors to dismiss the charge and free his client.

The attack drew national attention when prosecutors filed in court the woman’s written account of how she fought off her attacker. She credited her survival to tips she learned watching "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431

or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.

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