Former Westport mayor and ex-State Patrol trooper Doug Merino has filed two new court appeals seeking to overturn his 2008 conviction on insurance fraud conspiracy in a complex case that involved a dead State Patrol officer and that man’s son.
Merino in November 2010 lost an appeal to the state Court of Appeals and then served a 30-day jail term and 30 days home monitoring on the conviction in Thurston County, where he lives now. Last week, he filed what is called a personal restraint petition asking the appeals court to consider new evidence in the case.
The court has accepted the new petition and briefs are scheduled to be filed in the case by March 26, said Lorrie Thompson, communications officer for the Administrative Office of the Courts. Merino on Friday also formally filed a request for a new trial in Thurston County Superior Court.
The case involved what prosecutors said was a scheme with ex-State Trooper James Varner to commit insurance fraud involving a non-running and unrestored 1949 Chevrolet “Woody” station wagon once owned by Merino.
Merino, who had experience restoring old cars, says James Varner came to him needing money. Merino admits that he gave his friend the title to the “Woody,” and advised him to try to borrow money on the car. Merino says he himself did that in the past and repaid the loan in full.
The Varners took out an insurance policy on the car as if it had been restored, and then reported it stolen in an attempt to collect $60,000, according to the court allegations.
James Varner later was found dead of a gunshot wound in a parked car west of Packwood on Feb. 1, 2006, a day after being questioned by a fraud investigator.
Authorities later said that with the help of his son, Kenneth Ray Varner, Varner had committed suicide but staged it to look like something else in order to collect on life insurance policies in connection with the death. Charges against the younger Varner were dropped last year and he pleaded guilty to a separate theft charge.
Merino has maintained that the Varners also conspired to commit insurance fraud on the antique car, but that he wasn’t part of the scheme.
Merino was convicted by a Thurston County Superior Court jury of attempted first-degree theft and conspiracy.
At his sentencing, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Wheeler argued there was “ample evidence that Mr. Merino was involved in a theft conspiracy in this case” because he originally signed over the title to the car.
Kenneth Varner pleaded guilty to first-degree theft in the case but avoided sentencing for several years because he fled to Mexico while his father’s death was being investigated in Lewis County. He since was brought back from Mexico to face charges in Lewis County and sentencing in Thurston County, and is now in prison serving a one-year term that ends in May.
Merino said he hopes to obtain a statement from Varner in his ongoing appeal but fears he will be unable to do so once Varner is released from prison.
Merino’s new petition includes a recent statement Kenneth Varner allegedly gave to a Lewis County Sheriff’s detective who asked him about an alleged car fraud meeting that supposedly involved Merino and Varner’s uncle, Mike Varner. Kenneth Varner told the detective that his uncle had lied and “there was no meeting that ever took place,” according to the petition.
“The entire conspiracy case against (Merino) was set up the by the testimony of Mike Varner, who claimed that Kenneth Varner participated in a conversation about a plan to commit insurance fraud,” the petition states. “At the time of (Merino’s) trial, Kenneth Varner was not available as a witness, as he had fled to Mexico.”
Merino, who is represented by Montesano attorney Scott A. Campbell in the petition, said he also wants to question Kenneth Varner about contact he had with the Thurston County prosecutor’s office while he was in Mexico and how Merino’s name ended up on a car document he said he never gave either of the Varners.
In addition, Merino’s petition includes photos of James Varner with other off-duty State Patrol troopers at a car show where it was alleged at trial that a photo of a restored Woody was taken and then used in the insurance fraud. During the trial, the prosecution alleged Merino’s image could have been in one of the photos but he has denied he was ever there and believes the additional photos prove that.
Wheeler acknowledged he had been notified of the new challenge to the conviction, but questioned what personal restraint Merino could prove. He noted that personal restraint petitions are normally filed by defendants who are in jail or prison.
“He’s done his time and there is no restraint left,” Wheeler said.
He referred questions about the county’s response to another Thurston County deputy prosecutor, Carol LaVerne, who said she will likely ask for a continuance of the March 26 deadline for initial briefs to be filed because of a heavy caseload.
Merino said he believes he can show that the felony conviction is effectively restraining him from seeking new employment, as well as from being able to receive disability compensation for an on-duty accident or his State Patrol retirement. Mostly, he said, he wants to clear his name.
“You are fighting that stigma for the rest of your life and that’s what I want removed,” he said.
Regarding his second appeal attempt in Thurston County Superior Court, Merino said he will have a hearing before the judge in his case, Christine Pomeroy, on Feb. 24 in an attempt to compel Ken Varner to be questioned under oath about the fraud and the previous testimony used to convict Merino.
Merino, who now lives in Olympia, also was ordered to pay court fees and fines plus about $10,000 restitution to Farmers Insurance to cover the cost of its investigation as part of the conviction. He served one term as the mayor of Westport from 1992-95.
