A deputy prosecutor who was placed on paid administrative leave in December has been fired from the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for insubordination.
Alan Harvey was last assigned to the Arthur D. Curtis Children’s Justice Center. In December, he defied orders by his managers when he tried for a second time to disqualify a defense attorney representing convicted child rapist Steven Dillon, according to a Friday termination letter to Harvey from Prosecutor Tony Golik.
“You had been instructed as to the need for prior communication in the event you ever again sought to file a motion like that filed by you in December 2013,” Golik wrote. “Yet two years later, in the same case, you again raised the issue to the court without any prior consultation with me or your supervisor.”
Harvey said Monday he could not comment on whether the Prosecutors Guild would appeal his termination. He serves as president of the guild until further notice.
“My termination smacks of retaliation, and the timing of the decision appears to be politically motivated,” Harvey said in a statement. “My quest for truth and justice was never an issue with my employer until I spoke candidly and openly about the issues as to legal conduct and activity of the elected prosecutor.”
Harvey first filed a motion to disqualify Vancouver defense attorney Jeff Sowder from the Dillon case on Oct. 4, 2011, when he accused Sowder of helping Dillon commit perjury during testimony the previous month.
Harvey’s bosses — Golik, Chief Deputy John Fairgrieve and Chief Criminal Deputy Scott Jackson — found there was insufficient evidence to support Harvey’s claim that Sowder was an uncharged accomplice to perjury. They confronted Harvey about his claim, and Harvey apologized for filing the motion without first discussing it with any of his supervisors, according to Golik’s letter.
“We took you at your word when you promised us that this would never happen again,” Golik wrote in the termination letter. According to Golik’s letter, Harvey also was reminded during subsequent performance counseling to consult with his supervisors before filing any questionable motions.
Golik wrote that Harvey’s actions went against the “basic duties and expectations of a criminal prosecutor” and exposed Clark County to civil liability.
On Dec. 5, 2013, Harvey again filed a motion to disqualify Sowder, using arguments similar to those from his first motion in 2011.
Harvey’s Dec. 5 motion to disqualify Sowder also brought attention to the fact that Harvey’s original motion to disqualify had been improperly sealed at the request of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. (Golik has said he sought to have Harvey’s 2011 motion sealed so that Sowder would not sue his office for libel.)
“In the almost 15 years of work in prosecution I have never been disciplined, until after I engaged in public disclosure in open court about the current elected prosecutor’s conduct,” Harvey said.
Golik said in the letter that the insubordination justified Harvey’s termination but that Harvey also had been the subject of previous complaints.
Harvey received performance counseling in September for failing to properly advise police officers who were serving a search warrant on a criminal defense attorney’s office and for failing to advise managers at the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in a timely manner that the execution of a search warrant on a defense attorney’s office was scheduled to take place, Golik wrote.
He was demoted in February from the position of senior deputy prosecutor after an investigation by Clark County Human Resources regarding his behavior toward some female employees, according to Golik’s letter.
Other employees of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office have said the investigation was into allegations that Harvey created a hostile work environment. The Columbian earlier this year requested records related to the investigation, but Harvey filed an injunction in court to temporarily stop the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office from releasing the records.
Harvey also was warned about his professional conduct while interviewing a witness in a child sex abuse case, according to Golik’s letter.
Before Harvey’s termination Friday, the county hired Seattle attorney Rebecca Dean to conduct an independent investigation of the insubordination allegations against Harvey. Dean specializes in investigating employment and workplace complaints.
Based on advice from the Clark County Prosecutors Guild, Harvey refused to answer questions from his supervisors and from Dean during the investigation, according to Golik’s letter.
Clark County officials didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Columbian for the cost of the investigation.
