Skip to main contentThe agency that regulates Oregon's lawyers continues to dog the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office.
Last week, the Oregon State Bar released a complaint against deputy district attorneys Charles Ball and Pat Callahan for saying in court that documents didn't exist, when in fact they did.
Ball and Callahan made the statements during their 1996 prosecution of Portland police Sgt. Michael Barkley, who was charged with stealing $20,000 from an elderly Greek couple. Judge Janice Wilson pronounced Barkley not guilty at the time and dinged the prosecutors for presenting a weak case that tarnished Barkley's career (see "One Angry Cop," WW, April 11, 2001).
During the trial, Barkley defense attorney Larry Matasar submitted a subpoena requesting documents that would prove that Mel Tellinghusen, one of the detectives probing Barkley, was himself being investigated criminally at the time.
Ball and Callahan claimed in court, however, that the reports did not exist, citing an affidavit from a Portland Police Bureau captain to that effect. But later the reports on Tellinghusen surfaced.
Prosecutors say that Matasar's request was a red herring and that, if anyone is at fault, it's the police, not Ball and Callahan. The Nov. 29 bar complaint, however, contends that Ball and Callahan should have known that the reports existed, since they knew of the Tellinghusen investigation and every investigation generates paperwork.
Bar spokeswoman Kateri Walsh says it's unclear when a trial panel will hear the complaint. If the hearing decides to discipline the prosecutors with more than a six-month suspension, it will have to be approved by the Oregon Supreme Court.
WWeek 2015