SEATTLE, Washington - October 31, 2008 - The family of a baby-sitter who was once accused of killing a toddler in her care is suing the city and several Seattle police detectives, claiming they "trampled" her constitutional rights when they interrogated her for 19 hours and ignored her request for an attorney.

The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages claims police acted with "deliberate indifference and conscious shocking action" in their questioning of Ashley Howes, who was 13 in 2005 when she was questioned by police in the death of the child.

The lawsuit claims police interrogated the teenager for hours without advising her of her right to remain silent or allowing her access to her parents or a lawyer. It also alleges detectives continued questioning the girl after she said, "My mom and dad are getting a lawyer" and " My dad said I'm not supposed to talk to anybody unless him or a lawyer's ... present."

"It's shocking because it is a case in which four, maybe more, officers were involved in the 19-hour interrogation of a 13-year-old girl and apparently not one of them recognized that she has basic rights," said one of her attorneys, Lincoln Beauregard.

Named in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court are the city of Seattle and detectives Carl Chilo, Sharon Stevens, Paul Takemoto and Nathan Janes. The case is scheduled to go to trial in May.

Ted Buck, one of several attorneys representing the defendants, said, "none of the [girl's] civil rights were violated."

Buck said police initially questioned Howes as a witness and not a potential suspect in the toddler's death.

"Officers were conducting a good-faith investigation into a horrific crime," Buck said, "and they went to extraordinary lengths to protect [the teen's] rights."

It wasn't until Howes had been asked to show officers - in a videotaped interview that became the key evidence against her - how she had tried to soothe the crying toddler by shaking, or jostling, the child, that police labeled her a suspect, said Buck.

At that point, she was advised of her rights, taken into custody and booked into a juvenile facility.

Based on her statements to police, prosecutors charged Howes with second-degree murder in the death of 19-month-old Freya Garden at the toddler's home in West Seattle on January 16, 2005.

However, King County Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts later dismissed the case against Howes with prejudice after finding the teen's statements had been coerced by police, were "unlawfully tainted", and would not be admitted in court.

Ed. Note:  Let us all hope she wins her case, bankrupts the City of Seattle, and financially destroys the lives of the four Gestapo officers who criminally violated her God-given rights.