SPOKANE – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a former Spokane police officer who was convicted in the 2006 death of Otto Zehm.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take the case of former Officer Karl Thompson Jr., who is serving a prison sentence for the death of Zehm.
The Spokesman-Review reports that Thompson’s attorneys contended the Yakima jury that convicted him of civil rights violations heard evidence that legally should have been withheld.
The decision ends a two-year appeals process for Thompson, who is scheduled to remain in a low-security facility in Arizona until July 2016. He is serving a four-year sentence after the Yakima jury found him guilty in 2011 of using excessive force and attempting to conceal evidence in Zehm’s death.
