Alcohol charges against Sallee dropped - again

By Janet DelTufo, Assistant Editor

Alcohol-related charges against former Wickenburg Police Officer and Detective James Christian Sallee were dismissed late last week by Manistee Justice Court Judge Gary Handley.

In a separate case, criminal theft charges have recently been filed against Sallee. Information regarding the Maricopa County Superior Court case is currently being gathered, and a story is expected to appear in next week’s edition of The Wickenburg Sun.

The DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) charges stemmed from a December 2005 automobile accident and were dismissed last week for the second time in less than two years. They were dismissed in April 2006 and re-filed by the Town of Wickenburg several months following the original dismissal.

Steven W. McClure of Gila Bend, acting as an attorney for the state and as the Town of Wickenburg’s special prosecutor in the re-filed case, last week motioned to dismiss the DUI charges for a lack of evidence against Sallee. Handley later granted that motion.

“The state moves the court to dismiss all pending charges against the defendant due to the unlikelihood of conviction.” McClure’s motion stated. “This motion is made pursuant to the court’s rulings of April 11 and Sept. 12, whereby the state’s necessary evidence to convict was suppressed.”

According to the April court order, a defense motion to suppress Sallee’s breath alcohol concentration (BAC) test from that December evening was granted. A further order read that all evidence obtained as a result of that BAC test also be suppressed.

The April order also granted a defense motion to suppress evidence obtained from unlawful seizure, resulting from coercion or deception.

“It is ordered that all evidence obtained after, and as a result of the Wickenburg police officers’ refusal to allow Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Ross Disken to transport defendant (Sallee) to the Wickenburg Hospital for treatment of his injuries, is also suppressed,” the order said.

Sallee was originally cited on a DUI charge, an extreme DUI charge (.187) and a charge of failure to control a vehicle. In February 2006, during initial court proceedings, Sallee’s defense motioned to suppress the BAC tests citing two reasons.

Those reasons included the failure of the Wickenburg police to lawfully place Sallee under arrest, and for a false statement by Wickenburg Police Officer Ken Lutkiewicz in an affidavit filed with the Motor Vehicle Division of the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The Wickenburg police have disputed these two items, saying that Sallee was arrested and processed at the Wickenburg police station.

There, Sallee signed a consent affidavit and submitted to give two breath tests, resulting in BAC levels of .187 and .180. In Arizona, a person is legally intoxicated at .08.

In Lutkiewicz’s report, he stated that Sallee was asked at the accident scene if he had been consuming alcohol that evening and Sallee answered yes. The report said Sallee told Lutkiewicz that he had been drinking beer.

However, the special prosecutor in the original proceedings, James P. Hernandez of Peoria, motioned to dismiss the case on the grounds of no likelihood of conviction.

According to police officials, Hernandez did not interview any members of the Wickenburg Police Department before making his motion to dismiss the charges, and several calls made by the police department and The Wickenburg Sun at that time to Hernandez’s office went unanswered.

“Police Chief Tony Melendez attempted to contact Mr. Hernandez via phone and mail to question, without reply, the dismissal,” Police Commander Gary Newton said. “In July of 2006, Chief Melendez requested review by other counsel for an independent analysis of the case due to Mr. Hernandez’ failure to communicate.

“At that time, Steve McClure was serving as special prosecutor on other matters, and he agreed to review this file,” Newton added. “He conducted his own inquiry and concluded that it was appropriate to file a complaint against the defendant. The court in the re-filed case ruled that notwithstanding the lack of any hearing on the evidence in the first case, and notwithstanding that the dismissal of the first case was without prejudice, Mr. Hernandez’s dismissal precluded the introduction of any evidence of the DUI investigation in the second case.”

McClure’s decision to drop the case came once he learned that the evidence had been suppressed, and Sallee was relieved when he got the news that the charges had been dismissed for the second and final time.

The charges were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be re-filed at a later date. He said he was happy the case had finally concluded.

“Everyone should now go on with their lives,” Sallee said. “It is a shame that the town chose to re-file these charges after they had already once been dismissed. They were re-filed just after I filed a special action against the town, and it is the taxpayers who are being charged with unnecessary attorney fees.

“These charges should have never been re-filed,” he added. “If you look back at town court records, you will see that a case such as this has never been re-filed. It is very odd, but I am glad it is over with.”

Had the case gone to trial, the state had planned to call 12 witnesses. Of those witnesses, five were members of the Wickenburg Police Department and three would have been called to say they saw Sallee just prior to the automobile accident.

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