Lawyers on both sides delivered their opening statements Thursday in Corey’s wrongful termination and defamation case against the county.

Corey contends she was fired in 2004 after she refused to be made a scapegoat for an unpopular personnel move in the office, a decision she claims Horne made but later disavowed when it raised a stink. She also says Horne denied her due process by firing her without good cause.

She further claims Horne defamed her by telling The News Tribune that her termination sparked an investigation into the whereabouts of money she’d collected for colleagues who were experiencing personal problems. That comment, which was published, made it impossible for her to find another job as a prosecutor, she contends.

The county counters that it was Corey who made the bad personnel decision and then lied about it to Horne and her colleagues to cover herself. Talking about the missing money did not defame Corey because an investigation was in fact under way, the county contends, and Horne has the right as a public official to discuss things going on in his office.

The county also contends that, because Corey was a member of Horne’s management team, he had a right to fire her “at will” and rightfully exercised that right after he began to doubt Corey’s veracity.

In a claim submitted to the county before she filed suit, Corey said she was seeking damages in the neighborhood of $1 million, but the suit appears to be more about feelings of betrayal on both sides than money.

Judging from pleadings filed in the case and Thursday’s opening statements, the trial promises to be contentious.

Former Idaho attorney general Larry Echohawk, whom Corey intends to call as an expert witness, submitted an affidavit last month outlining what his testimony will be.

In it, Echohawk, now a law professor in Utah, characterizes Horne’s actions in dismissing Corey as unprofessional, arrogant and disingenuous.

“In my opinion, he appears to have allowed her to become the scapegoat for a bad management decision rather than himself,” Echohawk wrote.

Corey’s defense team hinted to the jury Thursday that they plan to attack Horne’s ability to make tough decisions.

Horne swore out an affidavit of his own, which was submitted to the court file in June when the county unsuccessfully asked that the case be dismissed.

“Barbara’s blatant lying had totally shaken my confidence in her,” he wrote. “If she had tried to explain what she was doing and admitted that she had made a mistake and gone overboard in trying to ‘sell’ the transfer, I could have forgiven that. But her putting me in the position of being the liar and then denying it and calling her co-workers liars was something I could not tolerate.”

A case of role reversals

The trial is expected to take at least two weeks, and some of Pierce County’s top prosecutors are expected to find themselves in an unusual position – on the witness stand answering questions.

In his opening statement, Corey’s attorney, Tacoma personal injury specialist Jack Connelly, told the jury the case was about “abuse of power.”

Connelly said Horne fired Corey, then disparaged her in the press to protect himself from the controversy over the transfer of deputy prosecutor John Neeb from the sexual assault unit to the juvenile division, a move some in the office saw as a demotion for Neeb.

Neeb was president of the prosecutor’s guild at the time of the transfer, and the guild was in contract negotiations with the county. The decision later was rescinded.

Horne, who was up for re-election in two years, sacrificed his loyal and hardworking employee – Corey – to save face when the controversy landed on his doorstep, Connelly said.

“There were concerns about his ability to make a decision,” the attorney told jurors. “He was very, very, very concerned about his image in the press.”

So he trashed Corey’s image instead by telling a reporter an investigation into the missing money was under way, Connelly said.

Corey was never charged with a crime.

“It’s malicious, and it’s intended to hurt her,” he said. “It led to an incredibly defamatory article that ended her career. There was never another chance of her getting a job as a prosecutor.”

That realization devastated Corey, who worked as a prosecutor for 20 years and loved her job, Connelly said.

Connelly’s co-counsel, Tom Vertetis, called Corey’s longtime friend, Barbara Stinson, to the stand Thursday to bolster that claim.

Vertetis asked Stinson about Corey’s demeanor in the weeks and months after she was fired.

“It was like something was broken, or lost,” Stinson testified. “She was decimated.”

Credibility on the line

The county’s attorney, John Miller, told jurors during his opening statement that the evidence will show only one person lied or had anything to lie about – Corey.

“This case is simply about credibility,” Miller said.

He went on to praise Corey’s legal ability and work ethic – which some have called “legendary” – but said she was brought down by her own pride.

“She had a dark side,” Miller said. “She could never accept or admit that she was wrong.”

It was Corey who decided to move Neeb, Miller said, and she concocted stories to deflect blame from herself when that plan went awry.

“It’s not the transfer that’s the issue. It’s how it came about,” Miller said.

Miller’s co-counsel, Joanne Henry, elicited testimony from deputy prosecutor Ed Murphy on Thursday to back up that contention.

During cross-examination of the felony division chief, Henry asked Murphy if he ever learned who first suggested that Neeb be moved.

Murphy testified that it was his understanding that the move was “precipitated by Ms. Corey.”

Corey wants the jury to believe that “they’re all lying, and I’m telling the truth,” Miller said.

He told the jury Corey’s firing was unfortunate, but was “something that had to be done.”

“You can’t throw your boss under the bus like this,” said Miller, who intends to show several instances over the past few years where Corey’s accounts of what happened changed.

Horne attended Thursday’s court session. He sat at the defense table and wrote notes on a yellow legal pad throughout the proceedings.

Corey also was there. She sat in the first row of the gallery, watching her team of lawyers work.

Also in attendance was Mike Panagiotu, Pierce County’s risk manager.

“This is an important case for the county,” Panagiotu told a reporter during a morning break.

Efforts to mediate an out-of-court settlement weren’t successful, he added.

Testimony will resume Monday, and Horne himself may be called to the stand to explain his firing of Corey.

Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644

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