SPOKANE — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by former Spokane Police Chief Frank Straub alleging due process violations in his ouster from the city.
The Spokesman-Review reported that the court’s decision last week ends the case. The former chief alleged that the public release of a letter from police brass containing accusations of harassment damaged his reputation, and that he was not afforded the opportunity to defend against those claims before his dismissal from the city in 2015.
A federal judge ruled against Straub in 2016, and a federal appeals court panel upheld that decision last summer — though one of the judges called the city’s handling of the termination “a hot mess.”
Straub’s attorney, Mary Schultz, called the Supreme Court’s decision disappointing.
