The retired FBI agent who protesters have been lobbying to have brought back onto the ongoing investigation into the 2017 slaying of a Humboldt State University sophomore is disputing the implication that he declined the city’s invitation to return.
Protesters effectively shut down Arcata City Council meetings Wednesday and Thursday, occupying city council chambers and disrupting the council’s attempts to impose order with loud clapping and chanting as they continue to demand justice for 19-year-old David Josiah Lawson, who was fatally stabbed at an off-campus party April 15, 2017. The protesters’ primary demand has been consistent: Bring back Tom Parker.
A retired FBI agent, Parker had been offering his consulting services pro-bono to aid the Lawson investigation until he stepped away in April of this year, alleging that the police department had refused to heed his advice in the case, was making little progress and had lied to him about aspects of the investigation. Less than 24 hours after Parker’s resignation, then Police Chief Tom Chapman abruptly followed suit.
During Wednesday’s council meeting, City Manager Karen Diemer indicated she would reach out to Parker in an effort to quell the protests. Then, after Thursday’s meeting adjourned prematurely in the face of another 30 or so protesters, Interim Police Chief Richard Ehle offered an update on the investigation and answered protesters questions for about 20 minutes.
Ehle told the group that the city has poured an additional $100,000 into the investigation, and has brought on six detectives and case analysts in recent weeks. He said he hopes to have a “good chargeable case” to forward to the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office within six to eight weeks. When the conversation turned to Parker, Ehle seemed to imply that Parker had declined an offer from Diemer to return to the investigation.
“We talked to Tom Parker today and he agreed when talking to Karen that, with the forces we have martialed, the cooperation with the DA’s office, the letters we’ve sent to the FBI, the Department of Justice, that, he said, ‘You might as well keep going with what you’re doing because I can’t be of further assistance,’” Ehle said Thursday.
Reached by the Journal, Parker disputed that he said any such thing.
“I never said that,” he said. “I never would have said that because I think that I do (have something to offer the investigation). I do think that there are things I have to offer but, at this point, they haven’t asked and I haven’t offered, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the people they’re bringing in do have that knowledge and those skills.”
Parker said he’s glad Arcata is finally throwing additional resources at the case, though he questioned why it took more than a year to assemble a team of outside investigators. He also bristled at Ehle’s characterization of him Thursday as just a “white collar” crimes investigator.
“It’s obvious that he has not done his homework,” said Parker, who works as an expert witness on police procedures in homicide cases. “There’s no way I’d be certified to testify in courts throughout the state and the nation on police practices and homicide investigations if I didn’t have the experience and the training.”
Ehle said a few other things of interest Thursday night, including his assertion that it was “lucky” the murder charge against Kyle Zoellner — the 24-year-old McKinleyville man arrested at the scene and charged with Lawson’s murder — was dismissed without prejudice because it means he can be re-charged again in the case. The comment seems to suggest that Zoellner remains the investigation’s primary suspect.
The interim police chief also made some comments about how he’d like to see the case progress when or if criminal charges are filed.
“I will tell you this, we are looking at a potential change of venue,” he said. “We are also looking at bringing in a career prosecutor to assist us on the case. If [the district attorney’s office] would acquiesce to that career prosecutor helping them prosecute the case, then we might have a bargain. … I think I’ve got this city talked into probably paying for it. I’d rather the DA pay for it — that’s their responsibility as far as I’m concerned.”
Ehle’s comments aside, it would be up to prosecutors to decide whether to argue for a change of venue in the case and a judge to decide whether that would be necessary. Similarly, it would be Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming’s decision how to charge and prosecute the case, and whether to seek outside assistance.
Reached via email Saturday, Fleming seemed surprised by Ehle’s comments and dismissed the notion that the case would require bringing in an outside “career prosecutor.”
“I have not had any conversations with APD about a change of venue nor about bringing in an outside prosecutor,” she wrote, adding that she doesn’t see “any benefit” to talking about a potential change of venue with no case filed. “The Lawson case has not been, and will not be, affected by any limitations on the capability or capacity of the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office — one additional murder case would not cause any such limitations. Our office includes a number of attorneys very capable of prosecuting murder cases, as evidenced by recent results. We will proceed with the filing and prosecution of all the cases we are responsible for when admissible evidence allows, unless an excellent alternative such as prosecution by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office is made available.”
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This article appears in Creatures of the Shallows.
So the interim police chief says they spoke with Parker that very day, and that he’d declined to return. Parker simultaneously denies saying that. What DID they say to eachother? Who, in this tiny fraction of the ongoing story, is bullshitting whom? Why doesn’t Parker elaborate on the conversation? Can a reporter press this factoid? Is there really such a thing as a “retired” FBI agent who still gumshoes? Former police chief’s resignation suggests more going on. The police know more than they’re letting on, and I doubt nefarious intent. Crazy case.
Fleming says they have a number of attorneys capable of prosecuting murder cases so she saw no need to bring in an outside prosecutor. If what she says is true why then when the preliminary trial against Zoellner happened did she step out in the last minute and put in a new to murder cases attorney who had no time to prepare and learn all he needed to know and the case was flubbed. Nothing said by the cast of characters seems to hold together.
Also Ehle implying that Zoellner remains the main suspect was a stupid thing to say. Something like that could be pointed to as something that could effect a jury and could get Zoellner off. This makes me lack even the little faith I may have had in Ehle.
Sylvia De Rooy, what says you of Zoellner’s assailants, Josiah Lawson among them? To suggest the case was “flubbed”, your words, is to ignore literally all the testimony from Lawson’s own friends, none of whom so much as saw Zoellner with a weapon, but many of whom participated in assaulting Zoellner. I defy you to claim if races were reversed, the media tragedy at face value would be that of a lone black kid defending himself against a gang of white attackers. I hate to seem “politically incorrect” but that’s the reality of circumstances the public is clearly debating. Even under the assumption that Zoellner was overtly racist when he approached Lawson and friends (and despite unanimous testimony that he was not) the worst form of name calling in the world doesn’t warrant physical assault. Being physically assaulted, however, does warrant defending ones’ self. Wouldn’t justice, in this case, if Zoellner is convicted, mean convicting his assailants as well, including Lawson himself?
…and in response to my post a week ago, again nothing. Why is this element of the fiasco so difficult for so many to address? I’d sincerely like to know. The push for open dialog has been promoted by all “sides” of this story, but so many are stumped to address some serious corroborated facts about the case.
Tom Parker is a fraud. He wrote speeches for the director and they threw him a bone to be agent in charge. Parker retired in 1993 and doesn’t have a grasp on current investigation techniques. He was reprimanded b6 a judge on one homicide trial he testified on. Pro bono my a$$. Ask if he submits expense sheets. He is a white collar crime guy. FBI agents rarely investigate murders.
Art! You are on the money! This is exactly the point I’ve made and why is it so hard for that aspect to be discussed. I’m assuming it’s because they don’t want to be sued for racial injustice but that’s the thing…. Kyle could make the same claim and quite honestly win. Not to mention… his girlfriend is Hispanic…. They fail to mention that…