Jun 7, 2013 3 min read

Federal prosecutors have filed a motion asking that the confidential informant who was integral in building the case against former East Washington police Chief Donald Solomon not be identified or required to testify at a hearing next week.

U.S. Attorney David Hickton filed the motion last month, which later was challenged by Solomon’s public defender, Marketa Sims, as she raised concerns that any compensation to the informant could have tainted the case against him.

Solomon pleaded guilty to three counts of extortion for accepting money to offer protection to drug dealers who were really undercover FBI agents.

However, Sims argued during his sentencing hearing May 16 that the compensation to the informant was never made public and could have affected Solomon’s decision to plead guilty in January.

U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti granted a delay in the sentencing so federal prosecutors could turn over details on the compensation package given to the informant. The informant also might be required to testify at the upcoming hearing Friday, which would be problematic for investigators since they are apparently still using him for other cases.

The government said the compensation included $31,200 in payments for various assignments over two years and a job with the FBI. Meanwhile, Solomon received $8,800 for standing guard during two faux drug exchanges.

“The irony of the informant having been bought for substantially more than Mr. Solomon was bought was not lost on those reporting on the events,” Sims wrote in her motion.

“Having fostered public interest in the case, the government now seeks to put the genie back in the bottle by squelching public release of the unflattering details of its purchase of an informant to purchase a police officer, and its subsequent hiring of that informant to work at the FBI.”

Prosecutors in their motion asked that if the confidential informant’s testimony is critical to the case that the judge allow another FBI agent appear in his place.

“There is no reason to suppose that any inducement received by the CI … diminished the reliability of the admissions elicited from Solomon: as evidenced by Solomon’s willingness to plead guilty unconditionally in the first place,” Hickton wrote in his motion to reconsider.

Flowers Conti is requiring the government to respond to the defense’s arguments by noon Monday. It’s not known when she will make a decision on the informant’s status.