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Public inquiry needed in shooting, say former D.A.s Question use of grand jury alone in killing of Smith By CHRIS BRISTOL In the aftermath of the Cole Smith ruling, a former Jackson County prosecutor has questioned the use of secret grand juries instead of open inquiries to investigate police shootings. Two former district attorneys agreed. "Maybe the public would like to know what the hell's going on in this particular circumstance," growled Lee Werdell, a former chief deputy district attorney now in private practice in Medford. Werdell A grand jury last Friday declined to indict three Medford officers in the death of Smith. The mentally disturbed and suicidal 25-year-old father of two was shot more than 20 times in a standoff last month outside the Oregon State Police district headquarters in Central Point. Police said they felt exonerated. But questions persist about their tactics that night and the role they played in Smith's death. Werdell said an inquest -- a public proceeding that has fallen into disuse in recent years -- would be the perfect forum for a review on the record. The last time local authorities convened an inquest was in 1991. "If there was ever an incident begging for a public airing, this is it," he argued. "The way to clear the air is with a jury of inquest, where everything's out on the table." District Attorney Mark Huddleston said inquests are simply too limited in scope to be of much help. "The purpose of the grand jury is to determine whether or not charges ought to be filed, and my role is to enforce the law," he said Wednesday, adding that neither a grand jury nor an inquest is "intended as a review of the entire incident." The standoff occurred Dec. 28 in the OSP parking lot. Smith, who had a history of mental problems and suicide attempts, told police he had a gun and threatened to shoot. Police opened fire after a failed attempt to remove him from his pickup led him to ram two squad cars and get out of the truck, moving toward officers with a dark object in his right hand. It was only after officers fired their weapons that police learned Smith was unarmed. He was carrying a black razor case. Authorities characterized the incident a lamentable episode of "suicide-by-police." Werdell does not dispute that that may be the case. Instead, he questioned what he says is a disturbing trend in the law enforcement community -- using grand juries, which operate behind closed doors -- to control information about police shootings. "Inquests have been manipulated into disuse by law enforcement types that would prefer to keep their dirty linen quiet," he said. "If they don't have a problem, I think it could stand the light of day." Werdell used to work for Justin Smith, a local public defender who was Jackson County district attorney from 1968 to 1988. In a brief interview Tuesday, Smith also questioned the use of grand juries to investigate police shootings. "To take one of these cases to the grand jury, for the purpose of clearing a police shooting, I don't think it's all that appropriate," he said. "I've never been comfortable with a grand jury being a body that would be the last word in police conduct." Tom Owens, who was Jackson County district attorney from 1964 to 1968 and is now retired, also questioned the process. "An inquest would be the better procedure because the entire record can be made public," he said Wednesday from his home in Corvallis, "and you can't do that with the grand jury." Inquests are not unheard of locally. As recently as nine years ago, then-D.A. Bill Juba convened an inquest into the Halloween 1990 police shooting of a deranged White City man who attempted to rob a Medford bank with an inoperable Uzi machine gun. Under Oregon law, inquests are limited in scope, requiring only that jurors determine the dead person's identity, the time and place of death, and the cause and manner of death. Back then, police described the inquest as a convenient alternative to an internal review of the shooting. Huddleston was Juba's chief deputy at the time. He became DA in 1992 when Juba died in office, and is seeking a third re-election this May. In an interview Wednesday, Huddleston said he could not recall specifics of the inquest, which was handled by a different prosecutor. He said the decision to rely on grand juries was made in 1996, when every law enforcement agency in the county agreed to a so-called "protocol" that sets out the way police-involved accidents and deaths are to be investigated. The protocol does not specifically mention grand juries. But Huddleston and Lt. Tim George, a spokesman for the Medford police, said it has always been understood that grand juries were the best method for reviewing such matters. "The thing about juries of inquest that is an attraction is that they are public and people could come in and watch it," Huddleston said. "But they don't seem to be designed to reach the issue that I think we need to reach, and that is whether or not the officers' conduct was justified or whether or not it was criminal." Huddleston said he could still convene an inquest if he was so inclined. But he doubted whether it would do any good. "It would be a more public airing," he said, "but the statute is very limited, and it doesn't seem to answer the type of questions folks want to see answered." Tony Schrick, Cole Smith's uncle, also expressed doubts about whether an inquest would help. Either procedure -- inquest or grand jury -- is stacked in favor of the police, he said. "I think the forum for this is going to be some form of civil rights review and probably a lawsuit," he said. "We all know that somehow this got out of control and there needs to be a more thorough investigation. "That didn't happen here." Other police shootings The death of Cole Younger Smith after a 90-minute standoff with police marks the sixth time officers in Jackson County have shot and killed a suspect since 1990. In the five most recent shootings, grand juries have declared that officers took justified action when they opened fire on suspects. The last time the district attorney's office called for an inquest was in 1990, after officers killed a bank robber. A recap of the shootings: Feb. 27, 1998 -- Police killed William Paul Kincaid, 43, after he pulled a loaded gun on officers who were called to Kincaid's Cedar Street apartment by his girlfriend. Police shot Kincaid five times. Feb. 13, 1998 -- Donald Rozelle, 33, of Medford was shot and killed after he charged at a Medford officer with a knife. Aug. 4, 1996 -- Mark Lawson, a Eureka, Calif., drug suspect who fled from officers, was killed by police after he crashed his sports car on Interstate 5. Ron Hosek, a former Oregon State Police sergeant, fired first at Lawson's car to prevent him from driving. After crashing the car, Lawson led police on a chase by foot. Believing Lawson was armed, Medford officer Keith Mak fired one shot into the side of Larson's head. April 23, 1995 -- An assault suspect, Oscar Aguilar, 17, was shot and killed by Medford police after the teen pulled out a rifle during a struggle in a residence. Oct. 31, 1990 -- Medford police officers fired 46 bullets at a man, dressed as a clown on Halloween, after he robbed a downtown bank. Christopher Jeffries, 28, was trying to load an Uzi semiautomatic when officers opened fire in a downtown parking lot. Police later learned the Uzi was inoperable. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA