Eluding police conviction overturned on technicality

A man sent to prison after he allegedly led a police officer on a car chase will be released because there was no mention during his trial that the officer pursuing him was wearing a uniform.

The Washington Court of Appeal overturned the man’s conviction in a ruling last week.

Sean M. Wright, 31, was convicted of attempting to elude a police vehicle after a car chase on March 6, 2013. Evidence was presented that the officer’s car had its lights and sirens on, but Wright’s attorney argued that there wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction on the charge because there was no evidence about the officer being in uniform.

According to court documents, Spokane police Officer Sean Wheeler checked the registration on the car Wright was driving and learned that Wright had a felony warrant out for his arrest. Wright sped off when Wheeler tried to pull him over.

The officer is described as “uniformed” several different times in court documents.

In his report on the incident, Wheeler says he activated emergency lights in his unmarked patrol car near Empire Avenue and Division Street, but Wright continued north on Division until turning west on Lacrosse Avenue, where he drove at “a high rate of speed.” The officer lost Wright near Rockwell and Maple, but arrested him without incident later at a residence in north Spokane.

“The requirement that the police officer be in uniform is an express element of attempt to elude a police vehicle,” the judge’s decision said. “The State concedes that there was no such proof here.”

Prosecuting attorney Kyle Treece said he thought he had asked the officer during testimony about whether he was wearing a uniform, but when he went back and looked at the transcript of the trial he realized he hadn’t asked the question.

“I made a mistake,” Treece said. “I don’t know how else to put it.”

The judges ordered that Wright’s conviction be reversed and dismissed. Wright cannot be tried for the crime again.

Treece said he is disappointed that Wright’s conviction was overturned on a technicality but understands why it was done.

“If the prosecutor misses something, it’s proper for the Court of Appeals to overturn it,” he said.

Wright’s criminal history includes convictions for forgery, vehicular assault, riot and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. He had been in prison since July serving an 18-month sentence.