Claim filed against county for murder

A Vancouver woman has filed a $200,000 claim against Wahkiakum County for the slaying of her son by a Cowlitz County man.

The victim, 26-year-old Jeremy McLean, had been shot four times in the head. He was found in the Columbia River at Willow Grove near Longview on December 31, 2008.

McLean had been a confidential informant working for the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Narcotics Task Force (NTF). His testimony helped send William Reagan to jail on trafficking charges in 2008.

While on pre-trial release, Reagan got an aquaintance to lure McLean to a trailer where he ambushed McLean, shooting him four times in the head.

Reagan and two other people were subsequently arrested on charges stemming from the murder. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Now McLean's mother, Shelly McLean, has filed a claim for damages against Wahkiakum and Cowlitz counties and the cities of Kelso and Longview, sponsors of the drug task force.

"Reagan's murder of McLean was a direct result of Cowlitz Offender Services' utter failure to adequately supervise William Reagan's parole," the complaint states, "and the NTF's creation of a danger to Jeremy McLean by conscripting him into service as a confidential informant, directing him to gather evidence of criminal misconduct against William Reagan, and then breaching their constitutional duty under the due process clause to protect an individual through affirmative acts.

"The NTF officers then enhanced the danger to McLean by misrepresenting to him the risks of his confidential informant work and the specific danger posed by the threats of William Regan."

Wahkiakum County commissioners met in executive session January 3 with Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow to discuss the claim as a potential legal matter; they took no action after that meeting.