Document text
Former police officer acquitted in domestic violence trial Douglas County Deputy District Attorney Ian Ross, left, former Rogue River police officer Nathaniel Staller, blue shirt, and defense attorney Christopher Missiaen are shown during Staller's trial Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court. [Mail Tribune / Vickie Aldous] Friday Mar 16, 2018 at 2:01 AM Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune @VickieAldous A jury found former Rogue River police officer Nathaniel Staller not guilty of fourth-degree assault and harassment on Thursday after a one-day trial. He was accused of injuring his wife, Tonya Staller, in a Sept. 27, 2017, domestic violence incident at their Medford home. He resigned from his Rogue River police officer job on Nov. 21, 2017, according to Rogue River City Administrator Mark Reagles. The couple offered opposing views on what happened that day. Jurors had little physical evidence on which to decide the case, other than photographs of red marks on Tonya Staller’s arms that she testified darkened into bruises in the days after the confrontation. Tonya Staller, who works for Asante, testified she thought their 14-year marriage was fine. The couple had just moved into a home in Medford with their four children. Two days before the confrontation, her husband told her by phone he had a girlfriend, she testified. Nathaniel Staller testified the marriage had been in trouble for years and confirmed he did have a girlfriend. He said he came to the house on Sept. 27, 2017, expecting to talk to his wife about their relationship and to see his children, but they were not there. The two began arguing about their relationship and Nathaniel Staller’s cellphone. Tonya Staller said he began yelling and swearing at her and grabbed her by the arms. She said they fell to the floor and he pulled her hair. She said she tried to leave out a sliding glass door but couldn’t get it open because of a dowel used to keep it closed. Tonya Staller said he slammed her into a door frame and when she went to escape through the garage door, he shoved her off the steps, causing her to fall into crates and hurt her leg. She said she went to the house of a neighbor, who called police. Nathaniel Staller offered a completely different version of events, saying he was the one who tried to leave out the sliding glass door, the front door and the garage. He said his wife grabbed a drink out of his hand and threw it, knocked a chair down to block his way and slammed against him. Nathaniel Staller said his wife lunged at him and she fell into the garage. He said she was trying to frame him by saying, “Don’t hit me! Don’t hit me!” loud enough for any neighbors outside to hear. Several Medford Police Department officers arrived on the scene and interviewed the couple. According to MPD police officer body camera footage that was played in court, Nathaniel Staller told police the marriage was breaking up and he had a girlfriend. He said Tonya Staller made threats, demanding to know his girlfriend’s name because their “kids’ lives depended on it.” Nathaniel Staller said she had been following him around at work and told the Rogue River police chief he was cheating on her. He said he was in danger of losing his job. “After you guys get done investigating, I want her charged with initiating a false (police) report,” Nathaniel Staller said. One police officer told Nathaniel Staller he shouldn’t have come to the house, saying there is validity to the saying hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. The officer said if no assault occurred, all Tonya Staller would have to do was grab her own arms to cause marks and then accuse her husband. “She’s putting you in a real precarious situation,” the officer said. Another MPD officer interviewed Tonya Staller and took cellphone photos of the marks on her arms. The officer said he had to go talk to her husband, but warned her Nathaniel Staller was about to be arrested, saying, “He’s going to be coming with me.” The officer told her Nathaniel Staller would be treated like everyone else and it didn’t matter that he was a Rogue River police officer. The officer listened to Nathaniel Staller’s version of events, then handcuffed him, read him his Miranda rights and placed him in a patrol car. The officer testified in court he arrested Nathaniel Staller because the marks on his wife’s arms were consistent with her version of events. Taking the witness stand, Nathaniel Staller testified he did not grab his wife, pull her hair or push her. Douglas County Deputy District Attorney Ian Ross prosecuted the case to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest for the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office. Ross said the marks on Tonya Staller’s arms could not be explained by Nathaniel Staller’s version of events. “The only version of events that makes sense is Tonya’s,” Ross said. Defense attorney Christopher Missiaen argued the prosecution had not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Missiaen said Tonya Staller at one point said the marks on her arms were caused by her husband grabbing her, but said at another point the marks were caused when she was shoved into a wall. Missiaen said she had motivation to accuse her husband in order to get a restraining order, have him evicted from the house, win sole custody of their children and get higher child support payments because she had sole custody. He said she also might have been angered by the affair. “Maybe it was pure rage,” Missiaen said. Ross countered that a conviction for Nathaniel Staller would make it more difficult for him to have a job and make support payments to his wife. “It’s to her detriment — at least financially ­­­— that she would come in today,” Ross said of Tonya Staller’s willingness to testify against her husband. After closing arguments, the six-member jury quickly found Nathaniel Staller not guilty of the two misdemeanor charges against him. Tonya Staller declined to comment about the verdict. Missiaen said his client did not want to comment. But Missiaen said the jury did its job and called juries the bedrock of the American criminal justice system. “That’s why we have juries in our country,” he said. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or [email protected]. Follow her at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous.