[WA] Det.Mehring's wife Lisa tries to recant but jury hears tape of her reporting his threat to kill her

Suspended police ex-sniper & Undercover Detective, Jay Mehring
Spokane Police Department Special Investigations Unit

...Sgt. Dave Overhoff said he reported Mehring's conduct to the department's senior chiefs because "of the tone of his voice and his behavior. He was very angry," Overhoff testified. "His behavior was not something I'd ever observed before"... Overhoff testified he and other officers are mindful of a 3-year-old department policy that requires them to report domestic violence or threats of domestic violence. Lisa Mehring signed a protection order prepared by her attorney, Bugbee said, "but she didn't read a word of it"... Monday, the prosecution played a 911 call Lisa Mehring made in March 2007 in which she asked sheriff's deputies to stand by at the couple's house after she returned from an out-of-town trip. "He threatened to kill me yesterday," Lisa Mehring told the dispatcher...

Previous entry:
[WA] Detective Mehring's terroristic threats find an understanding Judge - Detective Mehring - charged now with FELONY THREATENING - called his wife names, made death threats to her in front their kids and two police officers - and his wife says did so repeatedly in the past. He made it clear that he doesn't care what happens to him - even if he loses his job or goes to jail. "I was initially reluctant to seek restraints because I didn't want to negatively impact Jay's job. However, due to the extreme escalation of anger occurring, I now feel I must have some sort of protection for myself and my children... He has told me that he will destroy me, burn down my home with me in it and otherwise completely ruin my life... he will hurt me or the children." Mehring told another Spokane Police Sgt. what he was going to do to his wife also - "Jay said, ‘I’m going to burn that bitch and her house down to the ground… I have nothing to lose and a piece of paper isn’t going to stop me, either.’ " It's looking indisputable. On the bottom of his wife's restraining order against him it says, "Ms. Mehring needs to be in a safe location when Mr. Mehring receives this notice" - with an asterisk.

EXCERPTS FROM 9/26 THRU 10/10

JUDGE BLASTS KIRKPATRICK OVER MEHRING CASE
KXLY
Posted: Sep 26, 2008
Updated: Sep 30, 2008
[Excerpts] A Superior Court judge has criticized Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick for her heavy-handed approach to disciplining her officers and her discouraging them from challenging her authority. Judge Michael Price's comments came after Chief Kirkpatrick was accused of intimidating witnesses in a trial for a policeman suspected of threatening his wife. Jay Mehring says the chief threatened a fellow officer with an internal affairs investigation if she offered testimony that would have helped Merhing's case. Judge Price says the threat had a chilling effect on any other officers who might have benefited Mehring's defense. Price also criticized the chief for putting Mehring on unpaid leave when the harassment allegations against him have not been proven in court... [Full article here]

OFFICER MADE THREATS AGAINST WIFE, COP SAYS
Sergeant testifies in harassment trial
The Spokesman-Review,
Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com
October 2, 2008
[Excerpts] A Spokane police sergeant, who refused a pretrial interview with an attorney for police Detective Jay Mehring, was ordered Wednesday to answer questions in court. The unusual deposition by Sgt. Dave Overhoff, ordered by Superior Court Judge Michael Price at the request of defense attorney Chris Bugbee, came before a jury was selected in Mehring 's felony harassment trial... Overhoff testified he was attempting to remain neutral in the divorce when he and Mehring , once friends, had a chance meeting at a private gym March 26. Overhoff asked Mehring if his marital problems had improved. Mehring replied, "No, it's not going better. It's about to get a lot (expletive) worse"... Mehring referred to his wife using a vulgar term and said he would burn her and "her house to the ground" and destroy her and "everything she owns," Bugbee said in court... Once on the job, Overhoff said he called Maj. Bruce Roberts, who ordered him to write a report detailing the encounter. The report triggered a criminal investigation by a sheriff's detective, culminating with Mehring 's arrest. Overhoff said he reported Mehring 's conduct to the department's senior chiefs because "of the tone of his voice and his behavior. He was very angry," Overhoff testified. "His behavior was not something I'd ever observed before"... Overhoff testified he and other officers are mindful of a 3-year-old department policy that requires them to report domestic violence or threats of domestic violence... After Mehring's arrest, several other officers contacted Bugbee and said they would be willing to testify that Overhoff was "well-known within the department for exaggeration, pot-stirring and deception." None of those officers is now willing to come forward in Mehring 's defense, Bugbee has told the court, because they would be subject to internal affairs investigations ordered by the police chief. Bugbee asked Overhoff about Kirkpatrick's "you lie, you die" policy, in which she promises to fire any officer she catches being untruthful. That new "cardinal rule" from the chief has caught the attention of everyone in the department, Overhoff said. "We didn't realize the whirlwind storm she was going to bring on the department," he testified.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=16985

EX-WIFE DIDN'T FEAR DETECTIVE, LAWYER SAYS
Mehring previously accused of threatening estranged spouse
The Spokesman-Review
Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com
October 3, 2008
[Excerpts] The estranged wife of Spokane police Detective Jay Mehring was as shocked as anyone last year when her husband of 18 years was arrested on a felony harassment charge and placed on unpaid leave, a Superior Court jury was told Thursday... The defense attorney told the jury Lisa Mehring wasn't fearful of her husband and didn't want him arrested or his job jeopardized in March 2007 but wanted him to finalize financial details of their marriage dissolution. "Her greatest fear was he was going to hurt himself," Bugbee said. Lisa Mehring signed a protection order prepared by her attorney, Bugbee said, "but she didn't read a word of it"... Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindsey opened with a starkly different version. His opening words to the jury: "I'll destroy you. I'll burn the house down with you in it." The prosecutor said Mehring terrified his wife with those words in March 2007 after she discovered a $20,000 discrepancy and froze a financial account shared by the couple, five months into their messy divorce... Lisa Mehring called her longtime friend, Sgt. Overhoff's wife, telling her Jay Mehring had threatened to "burn down the couple's house with her in it," Lindsey said. Lisa Mehring , a pharmacist and mother of two, also repeated those statements in a phone call to Teigen, the prosecutor said. "She believed that threat, and she was scared," he told the jury... [Full article here]

PROSECUTOR CALLS MEHRING CASE 'STUPID'
Attorney filed detective's harassment case
Spokesman Review
Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com
October 7, 2008
[Excerpts] The deputy prosecutor [Mark Lindsey] in the felony harassment trial of a suspended Spokane police detective referred to it in court Monday as a "stupid case" that he didn't take willingly... The prosecutor's comments, audible to the few spectators in the courtroom, came after Mehring's ex-wife, Lisa, told the jury she never heard him say he was going to burn down the couple's home with her in it... At least two of Mehring's fellow police officers, Sgts. Troy Teigen and Dave Overhoof, filed department reports, claiming they heard him make threats about burning down the couple's home while his wife was inside... Also Monday, the prosecution played a 911 call Lisa Mehring made in March 2007 in which she asked sheriff's deputies to stand by at the couple's house after she returned from an out-of-town trip. "He threatened to kill me yesterday," Lisa Mehring told the dispatcher, saying she was fearful even though her husband no longer lived there... [Full article here]

DETECTIVE'S SUPERVISOR TESTIFIES HE WASN'T QUESTIONED
Spokesman Review
Bill Morlin
Staff writer
October 10, 2008
Spokane Police Department senior commanders, while investigating one of their detectives for suspected domestic violence threats, failed to question his immediate supervisor. Washington State Patrol Detective Sgt. Ken DeMello, a supervisor with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Spokane Regional Drug Task Force, said no one from the Spokane Police Department questioned him about Detective Jay Mehring's demeanor and job performance during a contentious divorce in 2007. DeMello has been Mehring's supervisor since 2001. The regional drug task force includes federal DEA agents working alongside WSP detectives and officers from the Spokane Police Department and Spokane County Sheriff's Office... Overhoff testified earlier Thursday, telling the jury he would not have written the internal memo triggering the investigation if he hadn't been ordered to do so by his commander, Major Bruce Roberts. Overhoff wrote the report after encountering Mehring at a gym and allegedly hearing him threaten to "burn down" his estranged wife's home. Another police detective, Lonny Tofsrud, was at the gym, Overhoff testified, admitting he failed to put that officer's name in the report. The trial will continue on Monday and probably go to the jury by midweek... [Full article here]