SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A federal appeals court has reversed a decision granting immunity to State Patrol investigators who wrongly accused a Spokane firefighter of possessing child pornography, and ordered a trial to determine if investigators lied in obtaining search and arrest warrants.
A divided panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of city fire Lt. Todd Chism and his wife, Nicole, in a case that goes back to a 2007 investigation of websites containing child pornography.
The Chisms sued the State Patrol and officers Rachel Gardner and John Sager in federal district court, contending their constitutional rights were violated because the officers obtained search and arrest warrants based on information that was deliberately false or misleading.
