Arbitrator Mark Burstein recently overturned the
demotion from corporal to officer of 17- year Hemet police officer Duane
Wisehart. Wisehart is not only a career veteran of the Hemet Police
Department, but has also served as president of the Hemet Police Officer’s
Association.
After a multi-day hearing, during which Wisehart was
represented by panel attorney Bob Krause, law offices of Castle &
Krause, Temecula, California, Burstein ruled that the penalty of
demotion was excessive and more importantly, that the vast majority of
the charges brought against Wisehart were unfounded. Wisehart, to his
credit, admitted culpability where there was some and Burstein applied a
minor degree of discipline. Wisehart has been reinstated to his position
as corporal after almost a year of trying to resolve this matter short
of a hearing.
The department thought this matter so serious that it
assigned not one, but two lieutenants to investigate and prosecute the
case against Wisehart. Attorney Krause was able to dissect the
"evidence" compiled against Wisehart during the multi-day
hearing. Most interesting was a particular exhibit which purported to
support the allegations of misconduct. Through cross examination it was
determined that the facts did not even come close to supporting the
evidence upon which the chief of police and the city manager relied upon
in support of their joint recommendation of demotion.
Rather than seek out evidence and evaluate the
evidence for what it was, the department only sought out and evaluated
evidence that was incriminating. Any exculpatory information was not
thought to be relevant. How many times do we have to see this case
(insert any name, department or jurisdiction you want) before police
departments start to get a clue? Krause commented, "Whatever you do
as an association leader, please monitor the investigative techniques
and findings of your department. This is a classic example of what can
happen when we do. When we test the department’s evidence, motives or
whatever else, injustices can be overcome. This is yet another example
of when without the resources of PORAC LDF, another career would have
been lost."
