KGMI News
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A Whatcom County prosecutor has filed an ethics complaint against former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna over his comments on a Bellingham child rape case.
McKenna is one of the attorneys representing Bellingham businessman Tyler Ryan, who’s accused of raping his kids’ 13-year-old babysitter in 2015.
Eric Richey, Whatcom County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, in court documents accuses McKenna of pulling a “media stunt” and launching a “campaign to prejudice Whatcom County’s jury pool.”
The former candidate for Washington State Governor told KGMI on Saturday that Ryan is innocent and will be exonerated.
McKenna also said Ryan took a polygraph test on the advice of his attorneys and passed.
In court documents, Richey says McKenna failed to mention that Ryan had previously failed a polygraph test at the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office after deputies arrested him last week.
Richey declined to comment on the case or the complaint.
A hearing on the ethics complaint is scheduled for Thursday, July 27.
The complaint says McKenna’s comments could force the case to be handled outside of Whatcom County.
“As the former Washington State Attorney General, Mr. McKenna should know better than to make the extrajudicial statements,” Richey wrote in court documents.
Ryan’s other attorney, David Allen, declined to comment on the ethics complaint against McKenna.