Man acquitted in toddler’s death sues King County
Published 3:52 pm Wednesday, March 18, 2026
An Auburn man who was acquitted of murder after he was accused of killing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old child is suing King County and others involved, alleging constitutional violations and violations of state law.
On March 13, D’Andre Glaspy, 33, of Auburn, sued King County in federal court after being charged with second-degree murder in 2017 in the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old child, Moses Ausley, in SeaTac. Glaspy was ultimately acquitted on March 17, 2023, after spending five years in jail.
In addition to suing King County, Glaspy has filed suit against six King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) employees, two King County Medical Examiner’s Office (KCMEO) employees and the city of SeaTac.
According to the lawsuit’s complaint, in late November 2017, Moses Ausley was sick and was taken to the hospital with a rash, and was found to have a serious viral infection. Then, on Dec. 2, 2017, the child continued to show evidence of being sick from the infection, and while Glaspy was getting Moses ready for a bath, he stopped breathing. Glaspy then called 911 and performed CPR on the boy until medical personnel arrived, but Moses died due to a viral infection, the complaint states.
The lawsuit’s complaint alleges that from the beginning, the Sheriff’s Office treated Glaspy as a homicide suspect, used abusive interrogation tactics and mischaracterized mournful statements as a confession of guilt. The complaint alleges that the medical examiner’s office then distorted the truth with its wrongful interpretation of Moses’s medical condition as evidence of abuse. Additionally, the complaint alleges that the Sheriff’s Office and medical examiner, during their investigation of the death, had racial bias and dishonest reporting.
“During the time between arrest and acquittal, the defendants knew they had targeted plaintiff due to racial bias against Black men — and tropes about Black men engaging in intimate partner violence and child abuse — to conclude and assert that plaintiff committed a homicide when he had not,” the complaint states.
The complaint states that the investigation was done with a reckless disregard for the truth and aimed at falsely generating a notion that Moses died due to child abuse that Glaspy inflicted. The complaint alleges that King County knew investigators had fabricated evidence but failed to disclose dishonest acts to either prosecutors or Glaspy’s attorneys.
The complaint asks a federal jury to rule on damages related to 12 counts of violations of Glaspy’s civil rights under state law and the U.S. Constitution, including denial of equal protection, malicious prosecution and civil conspiracy.
