Tacoma and Pierce County,
The Courthouse He Served
Direct line: (239) 571-1840 · GregoryGilbertson@proton.me
Attorney and law-firm inquiries only
Use of force · Police practices · False arrest · State & Federal Courts
Professor Gilbertson has served the Pierce County Superior Court directly: two years as a Guardian ad Litem and Parenting Investigator for the court in Tacoma. As an expert, his Tacoma file holds civil rights claims against Pierce County, the City of Tacoma, Lakewood and Orting, in federal court and in the state courts.
Three experts. Over 110 years.
Professor Gregory Gilbertson (Ret.), FBI Special Agent Christopher Holland (Ret.), and Sheriff Robert Snaza consult with attorneys nationwide regarding police practices and procedures, use of force, false arrest, police misconduct, criminal, and self-defense casework.
CEO & OwnerThirty-eight years in four uniforms: street cop, soldier, professor, investigator. More than 220 matters in 42 states and D.C. since 2014.
Full biography
ConsultantMore than thirty-five years in public safety: Sheriff of Lewis County, Washington, since his election in 2015, and six years as a commissioner of the state board that sets peace-officer training standards.
Full profile
ConsultantForty years of investigative casework, from patrolman in St. Louis County to the FBI in Chicago, and on to task forces in Afghanistan and Liberia. His work on the Idaho student murders is examined in Broken Plea, the New York Times bestseller by Christopher Whitcomb.
Full profileThe Hon. Richard A. Jones United States District Judge“Mr. Gilbertson’s qualifications demonstrate extensive experience in policing. His expansive work as a police officer in Georgia, with assignments as a SWAT team officer, juvenile court investigator, school resource officer, stakeout squad officer, senior patrolman, and patrolman; then a career as a tenured college professor and university lecturer teaching criminal justice courses to degree-seeking students at colleges and universities, and as a licensed private investigator conducting felony pretrial investigations for attorneys in Washington State in dozens of criminal cases, makes him unique in the field of police expert witnesses. The Court finds that, based on his experience, Mr. Gilbertson’s testimony can be expected to have a reliable basis in knowledge and experience of police practices.”
Two years investigating for the Pierce County Superior Court.
The practice file places 15 matters in Pierce County, 10 in federal court and five in the state courts. Four of them are published below with the outcome on the record.
Alongside those matters sits a different kind of tie to the county. Professor Gilbertson served two years as a Guardian ad Litem and Parenting Investigator for the Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma. In that role he investigated for the court and filed detailed reports of his findings with its judges.
A Tacoma lawyer retaining him now is retaining someone who has already written findings for Pierce County judges: a report that says what was examined, what it showed, and where each conclusion came from. The rest of that history is in the biography.
The published Pierce County selection.
Monet Carter-Mixon, Estate of Manuel Ellis and Marcia Carter v. City of Tacoma, Christopher Burbank, Mathew Collins, Masyih Ford, Timothy Rankine, Pierce County, et al., Case No 3:2021-cv-05692, Excessive Force.
Joyce v. Pierce County, No. 3:2019-cv-06119, W.D. WA., filed Nov. 22, 2019, 42. U.S.C. 1983 Excessive Use of Force.
Pickens v. City of Orting, No. 3:15CV05529, W.D. Wash. Nov. 10, 2016, Wrongful Termination, 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Young Choi v. City of Lakewood, David Butts, and Brian Luttrull, Cause No. 3:21-cv-5119, Excessive Force & Civil Rights Violations.
Pierce County claims in the Western District of Washington.
The federal side of the Tacoma file is civil rights litigation, most of it cited to the Western District of Washington, and its claims name the county, the City of Tacoma, Lakewood and Orting. They run from excessive force and wrongful death to false arrest and police misconduct, and an employment claim under Section 1983 sits among them.
A claim of that kind is decided on paper and video the agency generated itself. The analysis reads the body-worn and dash camera footage, the dispatch record that fixed what the officers had been told, the use of force and incident reports, the internal review that followed, and the training and discipline files of each officer, and it measures the conduct against the agency's written policy and against generally accepted police practice. For force, Graham v. Connor sets the vantage point: the moment the force was used, without hindsight. That method is set out in full on the page for excessive force casework, and the arrest questions on the page for false arrest and search casework.
County and city agencies, each on its own policy.
The Pierce County captions name the county itself alongside city governments, and the distinction matters in discovery. Each agency writes its own policy and trains its own officers, so the question is always what this agency required of this officer on that date, read beside the national body of standards behind generally accepted practice. Medical and scientific questions are left to qualified experts in those disciplines, on the record. Legal conclusions remain counsel's; the expert addresses police practices.
The rest of the state's record, published results included, is on the Washington casework page.
Retaining from Tacoma.
Retaining from Tacoma runs exactly as retaining from anywhere else, and the Washington page sets out the engagement in full. In short: it opens with a conflict check, a first inquiry holds the case type and posture, the court and case number, the deadlines and the parties, and nothing privileged travels with it.
After retention the record travels on physical media by mail or courier, depositions are taken by Zoom or a similar platform, and trial testimony runs on the published travel terms. The fee schedule is on the For Counsel page, and the Library note on what to send with a first inquiry covers the first step.
Counsel ask about Pierce County.
What did Professor Gilbertson do for the Pierce County Superior Court?
Has he worked cases against Pierce County and the City of Tacoma?
Does the Tacoma file include state court matters?
Discuss a Tacoma matter.
Attorney and law-firm inquiries only. Conflicts are checked before anything substantive, and you will hear about a conflict immediately.
Inquiry sent.
You will hear back directly. If the matter is urgent, call (239) 571-1840.
Conflicts are checked before any substantive discussion. Please do not send privileged material with a first inquiry; after retention the record is exchanged on physical media. Gregory consults for attorneys and their staff only, and does not provide legal advice or attorney referrals to individuals.