Still-getting-paid-for-doing-nothing Marysville, WA police officer Derek Carlile got an early Christmas present this year. The Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney’s office announced yesterday that they will move to dismiss Carlile’s manslaughter charge, after the jury deadlocked 7-4 in favor of acquittal with one juror undecided. From the Seattle Times . . .
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro said her office will file a motion today to have the charge of second-degree manslaughter dismissed against Carlile. In seeking the dismissal, prosecutors plan to indicate they do not believe a second jury will be able to reach a unanimous verdict following another trial.
We’ve been harsh (okay, I’ve been harsh) on Carlile around here, because he directly caused his daughter’s death by leaving his loaded .38 revolver unattended within reach of his three year-old son. Because he should have known better, and did know better. And because we know that as ‘civilians’ (i.e., not police) every man-Jack one of us would have been prosecuted in a heartbeat to the fullest extent of the law if we’d broken the same rule with the same results.
Perhaps he’s memorized that rule by now: don’t leave guns around children. No excuses, no exceptions. Perhaps he’s already paid a terrible price for his carelessness. But so do drunk drivers who crash and kill their own friends or family members, and they certainly don’t get to walk like Carlile will.
Still in question is whether Carlile will get to keep his job. My vote would be no, but my guess is yes. Police unions are obscenely powerful in the Evergreen State, where a member of the Thin Blue Line almost literally has to kill someone to earn a pink slip. And sometimes not even then. As reader G puts it:
So the question is… will he retain his job as an officer? I hate to say it, but his lapse in judgement was a HUGE one. Not the sort of guy I’d want to be a cop in my neighborhood.
I’m right there with you, G.