Water heater theft case comes to a boil

For an alleged crime in which the missing item was valued by the owner at less than $150, case no. 08-1-1728-1 has generated a lot of heat in Clark County Superior Court.

But a defendant arrested last year for taking a water heater out of a vacant, condemned mobile home was charged by the Clark County Prosecutor's Office with residential burglary, a class B felony, and third-degree theft, a gross misdemeanor. The felony elevated the case to Superior Court. With 12-person juries instead of six-person juries, Superior Court operates at a greater cost to taxpayers, approximately $1,500 to $2,000 a day for trials, including staff costs.

Taxpayers paid for one trial, which ended April 15 with a jury deadlocked 8-4 in favor of acquittal.

A second trial is set for June 8.

The case has had unusual fallout:

-- The defense attorney was ordered May 1 to take legal refresher courses after being found in violation of a pre-trial order not to argue her client had permission from a maintenance man to take the water heater. The worker had since died, and therefore couldn't testify as to what he may have told the defendant.

-- Jury forewoman Dr. Courtney Lower, who didn't think a mobile home deemed unfit as a human habitat qualified as a "residence" for the crime of residential burglary, wrote Prosecutor Art Curtis an April 19 letter asking him to please justify why "this case is an appropriate use of taxpayer money."

-- Judge Diane Woolard warned attorneys May 1 if she so much as hears the name "Tim Grace" (trailer-park maintenance man found dead of a drug overdose the day after the burglary) in trial no. 2, she'll fine attorneys for being in contempt of court.

"And we'll start at $500 a pop," Woolard said.

Curtis, the county's top prosecutor since 1981, did not respond to a request for comment.

His deputy prosecutors get more than 95 percent of felony defendants to plead guilty. Approximately 2,300 cases are filed annually; last year only 89 cases went to jury trials in Superior Court.

But Kevin Scott Vinsonhaler did not go with the herd after his May 12, 2008, arrest for stealing a water heater out of a closet in a vacant mobile home, 4611 Leverich Park Way in the Minnehaha neighborhood.

The 45-year-old Vancouver man has prior drug convictions. A plea deal would have netted him more than one year in prison.

Jurors, who don't typically hear a defendant's criminal history, weren't told about Vinsonhaler's convictions for possession of methamphetamine.

What they did hear during the two-day trial was that Vinsonhaler and a few friends went to the trailer park around midnight and entered the mobile home through a window, then took the water heater and loaded it into a truck. A witness called 911, and Vinsonhaler was soon stopped by a Vancouver Police Department officer.

Vinsonhaler said he planned on giving the water heater to a friend in need.

The property owner, Dr. Harold Lee of Portland, testified he hadn't given Vinsonhaler permission to take the water heater out of the mobile home, which he said the city condemned because of mold. When called and told about Vinsonhaler's arrest, he told the officer to just leave the water heater outside the mobile home.

The next day, it was gone. Lee testified the value was between $100 and $150.

During closing arguments, Vinsonhaler's attorney raised the issue of Grace. Among other things, she said, "when you have a case where the most important witness is dead," then was cut off when the prosecutor objected.

Jurors returned for a third day in order to deliberate, but could not reach a unanimous decision.

On April 17, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Abigail Hurd filed a motion asking Woolard to find court-appointed defense attorney Darquise Cloutier in contempt of court. Hurd wanted Cloutier to be fined $250, with the money going to the crime victims' compensation fund. She also wanted Cloutier to reimburse the county for jury expenses and give up her fees for the case.

During a May 1 hearing, attorneys blamed each other for bringing up Grace.

Woolard noted several witnesses who testified mentioned Grace. Woolard said she didn't think Cloutier mentioned Grace out of "belligerence or theatrics," but said she would impose a $500 fine. The fine will be suspended one year, Woolard said, and tossed out if Cloutier takes two legal refresher courses, one on evidence and one on trials.

That, Woolard said, would be money better spent.