SPOKANE, Wash.– A Spokane County Sheriff’s Lieutenant and Detective testified Wednesday that they muted their body camera audio while speaking with former Sergeant Clay Hilton on the night he was accused of assaulting Kevin Hinton in August 2023.
Hilton faces a charge of second-degree assault in connection with the accused violent encounter with Hinton.
Lt. Jason Hunt, who took the initial incident report, told the court his body camera and its audio remained on while he spoke with Hinton, who was on the ground under arrest. His body camera footage presented in court reflects that. When Lt. Hunt started to speak to Hilton, he switched off the audio.
When asked in court why he muted the audio, Hunt said, “It’s a common practice to mute audio when speaking with deputies on scene.”
Hunt also disclosed a personal connection to the defendant, telling the court he and Hilton are friends and have visited each other’s homes.
Detective Rebecca Lederle, who also took the stand Wednesday, acknowledged she made the same choice — muting her body camera audio when she spoke with Hilton at the scene.
“Policy allowed us to mute our cameras for a probable cause discussion,” Lederle testified.
Sergeant James Wang also testified Wednesday, recounting the statement Hilton gave him at the scene for his standard report. He say’s Hilton told him that he checked out a suspicious vehicle, asked Hinton for identification, but Hinton did not provide it, and claimed there was “a knife within reach” of the suspect. Sgt. Wang also told the court he forgot to turn on his own body camera that night.
Prosecutors are expected to call their final group of witnesses Wednesday. Once the prosecution rests, the case will shift to the defense team.
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