Couple found guilty of battery on police
Courtesy photo Lindsay and Harrison McLean
A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and his wife were found guilty of battery on police officers Friday by a jury that deliberated three hours before reaching a verdict.
Lindsay and Harrison McLean were found guilty of felony battery on police after a fracas last year at Kootenai Health where the couple had gone to the emergency room after a party to seek treatment for Harrison McLean, a U.S. Army green beret and National Guardsman who suffered extreme stomach pain.
The McLeans, who said they acted in self defense and accused police of using undue force, had refused plea bargains, opting instead to take the case to trial.
The felony trial for the Coeur d’Alene couple began Monday with several days of police testimony, including testimony by Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White as an expert witness to explain police procedures and how force is used by patrol officers.
Lindsay McLean was also found guilty of DUI, a misdemeanor.
Jurors, until an hour before delivering the verdict, reviewed footage from hospital surveillance videos and police body cameras that had been shown in court, and which had been posted months earlier to the Facebook pages of media including the Coeur d’Alene Press. The McLeans publicized the incident, because according to court testimony, they had feared they would not get a fair trial.
The McLeans accused police of being overly aggressive without identifying themselves as police. Lindsay McLean told the court she thought the officers were security personnel, and at one point in the video she is shown sitting in a chair and calling police to report the incident.
The McLeans had filed no formal complaints with Coeur d’Alene Police within a 180-day grievance period, according to the department.
After the couple turned over videos earlier this year to the media, the defendants and their attorneys were ordered by First District Judge Cynthia K.C. Meyer to break ties with the media.
In his closing statements, deputy prosecutor Art Verharen told jurors that the couple was drunk that night in August 2017 and their actions were not reasonable.
“We can’t even get to the reasonable person standard with Mr. McLean and Mrs. McLean because they were both intoxicated,” Verharen said.
The standard was among criteria jurors were supposed to apply in their effort to reach a verdict.
Defense counsel Erik Smith, in a 20-minute closing statement, accused police officers of falsely testifying that they had asked Lindsay McLean to perform an alcohol test before pulling her by the arm, starting the melee. Surveillance evidence, he said, bore out his conclusion.
Sentencing in the case will be later this year.