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Defendant in DUII trial says police framed him By CHRIS BRISTOL Protestors became spectators Thursday, as a Medford man whose supporters claim he is being persecuted and harassed by the police went on trial for drunken driving and driving with a suspended license. Dennis "Denny" Chancler, a 56-year-old businessman who has been convicted twice in four prior drunken driving arrests, contends Medford police officers have been out to get him for years and toward that goal have filed falsified arrest reports to justify bogus traffic stops. He has also filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against the Medford Police Department, and his complaints have become the latest cause of the Oregon Observer newspaper, which backed the failed recall of a Grants Pass judge earlier this year and has organized several demonstrations outside the Jackson County Justice Building in recent months. "It is obvious they (Medford police) think they are above the law and report to no one," the Observer reported in its December issue. Against that backdrop, trial got under way Thursday in the courtroom of Jackson County Judge Dan Harris. Chancler waived his right to a jury, so the judge will decide the merits of the case. Chancler (sounds like Chancellor) is accused of driving drunk and suspended at 2 a.m. on Jan. 10, 1998, and driving suspended again on the evening of Jan. 30 this year. All three charges are Class A misdemeanors. He also got a ticket for an alleged lane-change violation. In opening statements, prosecutor Tim Barnack avoided any mention of the political tension associated with the case. He simply described the sequence of events, and noted that Chancler refused a blood-alcohol breath test during his first arrest. Under Oregon law, refusal to take a breath test results in an automatic DMV suspension. In Chancler's case, it meant a three-year suspension of his license. A refusal can also be used as evidence at trial. But defense attorney Terry McCauley argued that Medford police have a "history" of citing Chancler for drunken driving, even though he blew a .00 on the breath test during his second arrest. His client was not drunk the first time, either, he added. "Something else is going on," he told the court. He admitted his client was driving suspended in his first arrest. Drunk driving trials are not rare, but rarely do more than a few people attend. About 25 or 30 of Chancler's supporters sat in on the proceedings Thursday, packing the judge's small courtroom. The state rested after Barnack presented the testimony of three officers. The defense case, which included testimony from a former police officer who now writes for the Observer, was still being presented when Harris called a recess shortly before 5 p.m. Trial resumes today at 9 a.m. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA