Federal Court throws out lawsuit against county by teacher once charged with statutory rape

— by Steve Bernheim, Orcas Issues reporter —

In a complete victory for San Juan County, Sheriff Krebs, and former Deputy Stephen Parker, Gerald Tinner’s federal court lawsuit alleging violations of his federal rights and outrageous conduct was dismissed Tuesday by a senior federal judge in Seattle, Marsha Pechman.

Here is the background to Tinner’s failed federal lawsuit, according to the federal court decision: Tinner, while an Orcas High School teacher, was on trial in state court for sex with a minor, Natalia Garcia, whose sperm-stained underwear and tissues were entered as incriminating evidence along with Tinner’s matching DNA tests. Also providing key evidence was the prosecution witness and case investigator, then-Deputy Stephen Parker. Tinner was found guilty.

Before he was sentenced, Tinner alleged Ms. Garcia had a subsequent sexual relationship with Deputy Parker and, though Parker denied it, the Sheriff concluded it was true. Also according to Tinner, Deputy Parker had told a county employee that he thought Ms. Garcia had “set people up,” but never admitted this allegedly exculpatory opinion to Tinner’s defense team.
The state court granted Tinner’s motion to vacate his conviction for these and other irregularities, and before a second trial, the state trial judge dismissed all charges. Deputy Parker resigned and left town.

In spite of the DNA-matching underwear and tissue, Tinner sued Parker, Sheriff Krebs and San Juan County in federal court for not revealing Parker’s relationship with Ms. Garcia and his “set people up” comments sooner. The federal court dismissed all claims against all parties before trial based on the undisputed evidence.

First, the federal court concluded Parker, Krebs and the County were immune from Tinner’s claims because Parker’s relationship with Garcia and his alleged comments were irrelevant to Tinner’s guilt or innocence as proven by the incriminating underwear and tissues. The Court also dismissed claims against Krebs and the County because there was no evidence they knew about Parker’s relationship or his remarks.

Second, the federal judge dismissed Tinner’s negligence claims against Krebs and the County because no Washington law protects a target of criminal investigation from the negligence of criminal investigators.
Finally, Tinner’s “outrage” claims against the Sheriff and the County were dismissed because Parker’s concealing his relationship with Garcia (if he had one) and keeping quiet about his comments (if he made them) was not “beyond all possible bounds of decency,” as the tort of outrage requires, Senior Judge Pechman wrote in her opinion.

Tinner has 30 days to file any appeal, according to federal rules.