County prosecutors deciding 1985 case | The Olympian

Clark County prosecutors are deciding whether to file new charges against a former Vancouver, Wash., police officer who withdrew a no-contest plea he entered in a 1980s sex abuse case.

The Court of Appeals ruled last year that Clyde Ray Spencer could withdraw the plea he entered in 1985, admitting then that he would be found guilty of molesting his children.

The Columbian newspaper reported that prosecutors missed a deadline to request another review by a panel of Washington Supreme Court justices. They now must decide whether to dismiss the case or file new charges.

Spencer spent nearly 20 years in prison before his sentence was commuted in 2004 by Gov. Gary Locke.

His adult son and daughter testified in 2008 that the abuse never took place and they were pressured by their mother and police investigators to accuse their father.