Witness in federal prosecutor's death in Seattle back in custody

SEATTLE -- An indicted woman from Everett, Washington, is back in custody after being accused of violating the conditions of her pretrial release related to charges stemming from a federal grand jury investigation into the 2001 fatal shooting of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson ordered Shawna Reid, 34, detained following an initial court appearance Monday, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday. An evidentiary hearing is scheduled for April 20.

U.S. Probation and Pretrial Service officials have accused Reid of using cocaine and other drugs and endangering her two children and a nephew, 6, while on pretrial release.

Reid is under investigation by the Lake Stevens Police Department on domestic violence charges involving her fiancé, officials said. Reid has denied the allegations, and pleaded not guilty to the indictment.

One of Reid’s defense attorneys, Michael Nance of Bainbridge Island, said he had no comment on the allegations.

Reid was originally indicted by a federal grand jury in August for allegedly lying and obstructing justice after prosecutors say she tried to deny statements under oath that the FBI said she had made during previous interviews, regarding her connection to a group of people, including a man suspected of being paid to kill Wales.

Wales, an 18-year veteran of the Seattle U.S. attorney’s office and president of the gun-control group Washington CeaseFire, was shot through a window as he worked in his basement the night of Oct. 11, 2001. The fatal shooting happened when authorities were focused on the terrorist attacks of a month earlier.

An FBI task force and a special prosecutor have been investigating the shooting and have focused on an airline pilot who Wales had unsuccessfully prosecuted in a fraud case. The Department of Justice has offered a $1.5 million reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

Investigators believe someone was hired to kill Wales and that a small group of individuals know the details. If he was killed as a result of his job, he would be the first federal prosecutor in the United States to die in the line of duty, The Times reported.

A federal trial is scheduled for June 29.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Hoff, a trial lawyer from the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section in Washington, D.C., said in an email that the government declined to comment.