I'm Mike Fitzsimmons with commentary on 920 - KXLY

The Steven's County Prosecutor's office announced this week that Spokane firefighterTodd Chism will not be charged possession of child pornography. Since January 29th - when Chism was arrested - until last Tuesday, Chism and his family remained under a dark cloud of suspicion and defamation, even though Washington State Patrol investigators knew for most of those 92 days that not one shred of evidence of child pornography linked to Chism ever existed. Authorities have admitted that they could not identify where the child porn purchased with Chism's credit card was downloaded, or who downloaded it, but they left the public with the impression that it was Todd Chism until the very last minute.

The Washington State Patrol calls this sad episode "an unfortunate chain of events." It is unfortunate, but in my judgment, there was more than one opportunity in the last three months for WSP investigators to remove the cloak of darkness that enshrouded the Chism family, and they chose not to. The officer in charge of the task force conducting the investigation was removed and reassigned due to concerns about his performance. I think we're entitled to know why. I think we're also entitled to know how a judge on the other side of the state found probable cause to issue a search warrant, when a local judge found none. Did the State patrol go forum shopping for a judge that would support a witch hunt?

Child pornography cases are hard to investigate. They are seldom black and white. Since that is usually the situation, law enforcement must be more than suspicious before moving against a person, especially where there is cause to believe that the suspect may, (as in this case), actually be an innocent crime victim, and not a perpetrator. It was not necessary, especially without evidence, to arrest Todd Chism in connection with this investigation. He posed no flight risk, and nothing suggested that he was a threat to anyone. The longer the case unfolded, the less likely it appeared that he had committed a crime.

Some say Chism should sue the Washington State Patrol and the media for defaming Todd Chism and his family. That's up to them of course, but in the absence of showing malice or culpable negligence, a lawsuit would not likely succeed against either. What must come of this is procedures and safeguards that prevent others from enduring what the Chisms lived through. All citizens should insist upon that.

With commentary on 920 - KXLY, I'm Mike Fitzsimmons