Client Outcomes

Red Bluff Officer and Tehama County Correctional Officer Found Not Guilty

Tehama County Sheriff's Correction Officer Colleen Lewis and former Red Bluff Police Officer Kelly Meek were found not guilty by a Tehama County jury after less than one hour of deliberations. Both Ms. Lewis and Ms.Meek had been charged with a violation of Vehicle Code ' 31 (giving false information to a peace officer) from an off duty incident that occurred on April 14, 2004. Ms. Meek was represented by Paul Q. Goyette of Goyette & Associates, Inc. Ms. Lewis was represented by Mr. Richard Maxion.

This unfortunate case for Ms. Lewis and Ms Meek started on April 14, 2004, when Ms. Lewis' husband, Trevor Lewis was involved in an off-road motorcycle accident near the Meek's home. Ms. Meek and Ms. Lewis' daughter had been riding motorcycles in fields near the Meek's house.

After a return trip to the house Mr. Lewis decided he would like to ride Ms. Meek's motorcycle. A short time later he crashed on uneven terrain. Ms. Meek and other witnesses saw the accident and ran to his aid. Shortly after that it was determined that Mr. Lewis had sustained fairly serious injuries. Ms. Lewis was called to the scene and, along with the neighbor drove Mr. Lewis to the hospital. It is important to note at this point that Ms. Meek observed Trevor Lewis drink a single beer approximately an hour before the motorcycle accident occurred. Ms. Meek attended to a number of responsibilities and arrived at the hospital about thirty minutes later to check on Mr. Lewis. Once at the hospital, Ms. Meek only stayed for about five minutes while she retrieved the Lewis' children. Ms. Meek departed with the children and attended to a number of other chores and responsibilities.

About an hour and a half later Ms. Meek again came to the hospital to check on Mr. Lewis. When Ms. Meek arrived at the hospital, she found that Officer Jim Stephens from the California Highway Patrol had recently arrived to investigate the possibility of Mr. Lewis driving under the influence while riding the motorcycle. Ms. Meek entered the hospital and met Officer Stephens and Ms. Lewis in the Emergency Room in a cubicle area where Mr. Lewis was being treated. At the time Mr. Lewis had been wheeled away on a hospital bed for x-rays and other tests. Ms. Lewis and Ms. Meek spoke with Officer Stephens for thirty to forty minutes before Mr. Lewis was wheeled back into the Emergency Room. During this time Officer Stephens asked a number of questions about the motorcycle involved and the names and addresses of the parties. He asked about the location of the accident. Ms. Meek advised Officer Stephens that the accident was very close to the boarder between the City of Red Bluff and the County of Tehama. If the accident did in fact occurred in the City of Red Bluff it was a City responsibility. If the accident occurred in the County, CHP Officer Stephens would be responsible for the report. Ms. Meek offered to take Officer Stephens out to the scene so that an accurate determination could be made about whose jurisdiction the accident actually occurred in. Officer Stephens declined the request. For the next thirty minutes Ms. Lewis, Ms. Meek and Officer Stephens talked about a wide variety of subjects including what they described as local police shop talk. During this period Officer Stephens took no notes, took no tape recordings, and did not appear to be doing any type of investigation. After about thirty minutes of conversation Mr. Lewis was wheeled back into the Emergency Room and was followed by the Emergency Room doctor. The Emergency Room doctor advised Ms. Lewis, in the presence of Officer Stephens and Ms. Meek about the nature of Mr. Lewis' injuries. The doctor also said AMr. Lewis' biggest problem is that his blood alcohol level is nearly twice the legal limit. Ms. Meek immediately responded with a joke by saying Athat sounds more like two beers and two shots to me. Ms. Meek's statement was a joke in reference to their earlier conversations where they all agreed it was their experience that many DUI suspects only had two beers. All the parties, including Officer Stephens laughed at Ms. Meek's comments. At this point Officer Stephens told Mr. Lewis directly that he was not going to be taking a report. Officer Stephens then left.

Over the next few days Ms. Meek and Ms. Lewis began hearing rumors within their departments they were going to be investigated for giving false information to Officer Stephens while at the hospital. About two weeks later, Officer Stephens wrote a report which led to the criminal charges against Ms. Meek and Ms. Lewis. In this report Officer Stephens said that Ms. Lewis told him in the Emergency Room that her husband Trevor Lewis had drank after the accident. Officer Stephens also wrote that Ms. Meek said Trevor Lewis had two beers and two shots after the accident. In writing his report, Officer Stephens did no follow up investigation and made no attempts to contact either Ms. Meek or Ms. Lewis regarding their conversations two weeks before at the hospital.

Several weeks later, the District Attorney filed misdemeanor charges against Ms. Lewis and Ms. Meek for violation of Vehicle Code ' 31 alleging that Ms. Meek and Ms. Lewis had given false information to Officer Stephens to try to convince him that Mr. Lewis' alcohol consumption occurred after the accident. Both the Red Bluff Police Department and the Tehama County Sheriff's Department initiated extensive investigations which included numerous witness interviews including former Tehama County Sheriff Sergeant Mike Swithenbank and friend of the parties who said that while at the hospital he overheard Ms. Lewis and Ms. Meek talking about a plan to say that Mr. Lewis consumed his alcohol after the accident.

At trial, the prosecution called Mr. Swithenbank as its first witness. On direct examination Mr. Swithenbank testified that he had overheard a conversation in the hospital where Ms.Lewis said to Ms. Meek that they should say that Mr. Lewis drank after the accident. The problem for Mr. Swithenbank is that he had given no less than five previous statements all of which were different from his trial testimony. On cross examination Mr. Swithenbank was forced to acknowledge his five prior inconsistent statements. By the end of his cross examination Mr. Swithenbank was forced to admit that he had no memory of any statement by Ms. Meek or Ms. Lewis while at the hospital. The prosecution later called CHP Stephens to testify. Officer Stephens had also given a number of prior statements that included inconsistencies with his trial testimony. While Officer Stephens maintained his testimony that both Ms. Lewis and Ms. Meek made statements that Trevor Lewis drank after the accident a number of details of his testimony were inconsistent with prior statements. Officer Stephens was also forced to admit that he took no meaningful notes during his conversation at the hospital nor did he do any type of follow up interviews or investigation to accurately determine exactly what Ms. Meek and Ms. Lewis had said at the hospital. Officer Stephens wrote his report entirely off of memory several days after April 14, 2005, and he acknowledged that the hospital Emergency Room was busy and full of distractions. Finally, Officer Stephens acknowledged that he would have never even written a report in the first place except he was ordered to do so by his lieutenant after the Red Bluff Police Department and the Tehama County Sheriff's Department pressured the CHP to do so.

Kelly Meek while very happy with the jury's verdict, felt the whole case should have never happened in the first place. AI will continue to fight this battle to gain reinstatement. It is said to see certain law
enforcement officials in our area use this case to further their own political goals. Colleen Lewis had similar feelings. While I am grateful a year of hell is finally over, the one injustice I still need to see rectified is the wrongful termination of Officer Meek. I was fortunate to have an unbiased fact finder and believe Officer Meek should have that same right, and look forward to her reinstatement. Kelly Meek's termination of employment is presently under review.

Paul Q. Goyette, Esq.
Goyette & Associates, Inc.

Paul Q. Goyette is the managing partner of Goyette & Associates, Inc., which specializes in the representation of public safety employees and their associations in numerous types of legal matters, throughout northern and central California.