Posts Tagged ‘prosecutor’

The Spokesman-Review reported this morning that attorney David Stevens was challenging his boss Steve Tucker for the elected position of Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney.

Attorney David Stevens

Attorney David Stevens came out swinging, and was quoted as characterizing his boss as “an absent administrator” and saying that he has seen a “total lack of leadership.”   The reporter for the Spokesman-Review, Jonathan Brunt, asked Steve Tucker if David Stevens could be let go, and Tucker reportedly said “all options are on the table.”

It will be interesting to see the fireworks in this campaign.  Attorney David Stevens has run for about a zillion elected positions in the past.  You have probably heard his name before.  Here is the tally if you haven’t been keeping track: In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully against Democrat Alex Wood for, who won the 3rd District legislative race.  Part of his campaign was to oppose gay marriage.  See source.  In 2006, he ran for District Court Judge in Spokane against Harvey Dunham and lost.  In 2008, he ran unsuccessfully against Linda Tompkins for Spokane Superior Court Judge, arguing that the bench needed more former prosecuting attorneys.

David Stevens is a 1999 law grad from UW.  Although he has lost all his races in the past, he has always been able to garner a fair amount of endorsements.  It doesn’t seem that he has a web page yet for his latest race.  In 2008, when the Spokane County Bar Association attempted to conduct a poll of lawyers on the potential judicial candidates, David Stevens refused to participate.

I blogged about David Stevens last December on the subject of his questionable decision to send a man to prison for 2 1/2 years for stealing a can of sardines from Rite-Aid.  See post.  I am a former prosecutor and there is something to be said for being tough on crime, but I really wonder about the wisdom of Stevens’ decision to use a prison bed on a sardine thief.  There are just too many other violent criminals that ought to be in there.

What do you think?  Is David Stevens the right man for the job?  Will any defense lawyers run for prosecutor this year?  Was Stevens right to tie up a jail bed for 29 months for the guys who stole sardines?

Let’s face it, courts are busy places, sometimes chaotic, and usually short-staffed.   Defendants, victims, witnesses, and jurors all wait for their cases to be heard.  And the situation usually isn’t improved when a prosecuting attorney flat out refuses to work with a certain judge.  This was the case with Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Hagarty as announced last week in the Yakima-Herald. Jim Hagarty wrote in a letter that Judge Ralph Thompson’s decisions created a question of whether the state would receive “a fair opportunity when litigating cases in his courtroom.”   Jim Hagarty announced that he was asking to have this judge prohibited from hearing any case in which the prosecutor’s office was a party.  Under court rules, this practice is called an “affidavit of prejudice”, and can only be done to a single judge before he or she has made a decision in the case.  Now the question is raised: Since the voters elected Judge Ralph Thompson to hear cases, is it really proper for the elected prosecutor to reject the will of the voters?  Is it fair for Jim Hagarty have Judge Thompson’s work load shifted over to the other already busy judges?  Seattle University law professor John Strait, an expert in legal ethics, addressed the issue.  He indicated that he thought such actions [such as the step Jim Hagarty took] inappropriately deprives voters of a judge they elected to serve them.   He explained “I think that raises separation of powers issues. I don’t think the prosecution should get to trump the elected judiciary’s function in that manner….”

The article in the Yakima-Herald paraphrases the problem that Jim Hagarty had with Judge Ralph Thompson’s decisions.  I expected that the issues would be some pretty significant disagreements, and instead the disputes seem pretty petty.  The number one reason for Hagarty’s decision was an incident last January where the judge found a driver not to have committed a traffic infraction.  The Trooper complained to the prosecutor that the decision left him “dumbfounded.”   The second reason was that Judge Ralph Thompson would not agree to a request for a continuance of a case.  Prosecuting Attorney Jim Hagarty was just appointed to the position in January.  Maybe when his deputies complained to him, he should have told them to develop a thicker skin about such things.  Additionally, it seems as though the prosecutors should have considered filing an appeal or a writ of review.  Jim Hagarty complains that the judge has a lack of legal knowledge. It does seem that the bulk of the Judge Thompson’s experience is in civil work.  However, if this is the case the proper recourse is for the prosecutors to educate the court on the law through the drafting of legal memoranda and citing to legal precedent.  Too often prosecutors, and defense lawyers for that matter, fall in the rut of relying on canned briefs for routine matters, and are unwilling to hit the law books to research a new issue.

It will be interesting to see how the other judges cope with the increased workload.  I just read in the Yakima-Herald last month that Yakima County had the highest homicide rate in over 20 years.  See article.  It seems like the courts will be pretty busy.   You have to wonder why with his hands full with homicide cases, that Jim Hagarty would get involved in some snit his deputies are having with judges in traffic court.  Jim Hagarty is not the first prosecutor to attempt to prohibit a Judge from hearing criminal cases.  In 1984, Spokane County Prosecutor Donald Brockett grew frustrated with the adverse pre-trial rulings of Judge William Luscher in a murder case.  When Judge Luscher ultimately acquitted the defendant, Don Brockett resorted to the same steps Hagarty did.  Brockett eventually backed down after a newspaper editorial questioned the practice.

King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng never filed such affidavits of prejudice reasoning that it was the will of the voters to put or to keep the judge into office, and it would be wrong to override the will of the electorate.  I understand that the Attorney General’s office has the same view.  Maleng’s successor Dan Satterberg has a different view and has challenged Judges Peter Nault, and Victoria Seitz.  Additionally, the prosecutors for the City of Bellevue similarly challenged Judge Frank LaSalata for ruling against them and not imposing the fees they requested.  For an in depth discussion on this issue in King County, see an article by attorney Kennet Phillipson posted here.  Closer to home, Okanogan Prosecuting Attorney Karl Sloan has raised eyebrows with the frequency with which he has filed affidavits of prejudice against Judge Jack Burchard.  Judge Burchard is the only elected superior court judge in Okanogan County.  I have notice in my practice there that this issue has slowed down the criminal courts somewhat as there is sometimes a delay in waiting for an out-of-town judge to hear cases. It remains to be seen if this practice of Karl Sloan’s is a temporary thing or if it will continue.  If it continues, it will be interesting to see how the voters react to their elected judge being barred from many of the cases in Okanogan County.

I read in last Sunday’s Spokesman-Review of the steps many pharmacies were taking to stop oxycontin robberies.  Then three days later, I read about another Spokane oxycontin robbery.  For those of you haven’t followed the news, the precise problem is addicts going into  pharmacies with a weapon demanding oxycontin pills.  Sometimes, a robber merely pretends to have a weapon or simply writes a threatening note.  According to news reports, Washington State leads the nation in oxycontin robberies.  See story.  A typical oxycontin robbery job goes something as described in this police wanted photograph.  

I am sure this is not fun for the store employees.  Prior to oxycontin coming on the market, I don’t really remember ever hearing too often about pharmacy robberies.  There just is something about oxycontin pills that drives the addicts crazy in a way that morphine or percocet does not do.  The Walgreens in Spokane made national news last week when they announced the problem of oxycontin robberies was so bad in Washington that they were placing special time-delay safes in all stores.  The safes take several minutes to open – the idea being that a robber is not going to stick around for ten minutes or so.  I wonder about this idea.  What pharmacy clerk really wants to break the news to a drug-crazed armed robber that they have to wait ten minutes?  If I were a clerk I would rather just have a bottle handy  right there by the counter I could toss in a hurry.   Drug-crazed robbers are dangerous, and Seattle robbery Detective Mike Magan explained: “I’ve always said the person who commits pharmacy robberies for oxycontin is the most dangerous person you’ll come up against…”.  (See story).   To combat oxycontin robberies, the Seattle police department provided a tracking device to a pharmacy to put in with the oxycontin  should a robbery occur.   (See story.)  The man they caught was suspected of committing 16 pharmacy robberies.

In response to such robberies, the elected prosecutor from King County, Dan Satterberg, is pushing the state legislature to increase the penalties for these oxycontin robberies.   The Washington Retailers Association is also supporting this.  I won’t argue against such ideas, but I would encourage our legislatures to remember how we got into this mess in the first place.

How about the pharmaceutical company Purdue-Pharma that invented and mass-marketed oxycontin?  The company agreed that it committed a felony when it marketed oxycontin and hid how unsafe it was.  The company faced 600 million in fines after it plead guilty, but how come the executives never went to jail?  (See news reports).  According to a story in the New York Times, “…Purdue Pharma contended that OxyContin, because of its time-release formulation, posed a lower threat of abuse and addiction to patients than do traditional, shorter-acting painkillers like Percocet or Vicodin.”   Lower threat then Vicodin?  This false claim by Purdue Pharma was the center of their aggressive marketing campaign.  Just a few years after the drug’s introduction in 1996, annual sales reached $1 billion.  According to the above mentioned article, “Purdue Pharma heavily promoted OxyContin to doctors like general practitioners, who had often had little training in the treatment of serious pain or in recognizing signs of drug abuse in patients.”  The story continues: “…both experienced drug abusers and novices, including teenagers, soon discovered that chewing an OxyContin tablet or crushing one and then snorting the powder or injecting it with a needle produced a high as powerful as heroin. By 2000, parts of the United States, particularly rural areas, began to see skyrocketing rates of addiction and crime related to use of the drug.”  Although drug companies often can’t predict the consequences of their products, Purdue Pharma had to admit that they deliberately concealed the harmful effects of its drug.

Although the company had to pay $600 million in fines, the profits from the sale of oxycontin were about four times that much.   Purdue Pharma had a lot of money to hire lawyers, and when they were being investigated they hired Rudy Guilliani to try to use his influence to get the DEA to back off.  Guilliani accepted several million dollars for this service.  See story.  Guilliani went to see the local Virginia prosecutor that was going after Purdue Pharma, and the local prosecutor ultimately agreed that the three executives would not have to do jail time.  See story.  So while I am not really happy that drug addled nitwits are robbing our state’s pharmacies, I am troubled by the unfairness of a system that allowed the executives who created this mess to get off without any jail time.  The judge who handled the sentencing of the executives felt the same way.  He explained that the the lack of jail time for the executives was the “most difficult” part of accepting the plea deal.  Protesters outside the court house were angry that the executives were getting off so lightly.  Many protesters had lost loved ones to accidental overdoses of the drug.

This poster was held by a woman protesting the light sentences for the executives. Her 17-year-old daughter died of an overdose of just one pill of this supposedly "safer" pill.

You can see why the family members of people hurt by oxycontin would be upset by the court system.

What responsibility does Purdue Pharma have as to all the oxycontin pharmacy robberies in this State?  Not much apparently.  According to the Spokesman-Review last week, the company that has made 2.8 billion on this drug was offering just a measly $1,000 reward for the latest robbery.

You really have to wonder about the way drug companies market these prescriptions.   The latest problem is the practice of drug companies writing articles about how great their latest drugs are and then finding a doctor to submit the article to a publication.  The article then makes no mention of the fact that the article was not really written by the particular physician.  With oxycontin, Purdue Pharma would market oxycontin by getting in good with doctors with free trips.  Purdue Pharma would pay for the transportation and hotel costs for hundreds of doctors to attend weekend seminars in spots like Florida to discuss pain management.  Doctors were then recruited and paid to speak to other doctors at some of the 7,000 ”pain management” seminars that Purdue sponsored around the country.  The seminars  taught the importance of aggressively treating pain with the powerful drugs made by Purdue Pharma.

I find it highly annoying that all the discussion of these oxycontin robberies ignores how we got into this oxycontin disaster to begin with.  As seen in the wanted poster above, going after a drug addict in a hat and hooded sweatshirt is pretty easy.  They look guilty, and you can score political points by being “tough on crime”.    All of the police detectives, prosecutors, politicians, defense lawyers, legislators, probation officers and judges of Washington State coping with this problem are really just janitors cleaning up a mess left by powerful forces of money and power and influence back East.

Kino Michael Gomez is accused of first degree murder for shooting Tom Pfaeffle at a motel in Twisp, Washington on July 17th, 2009.   Judging by news reports the prosecutor and the defense lawyer agree on the following facts:   Gomez checked into room 7 of the motel.  Pfaeffle checked into room 8.  The two men did not know each other.   Later in the evening at 10 p.m., Pfaeffle mistakenly tried to entered room 7.  In response, Gomez shot Pfaeffle who died shortly thereafter.  The major disputed fact is how far did Pfaeffle go in trying to enter Gomez’s motel room.  Was the door open or shut?

According to the July 22nd, 2009 Omak-Chronicle, the  Prosecutor stated “the evidence shows the door was not open.”  The Seattle Times in a July 21st story quoted police as stating that Pfaeffle was shot “when he apparently put his room key into the wrong door Friday night. He was hit in the chest by a bullet fired through the closed door.”  In another story Twisp Police Chief Rick Balam was quoted as saying “There’s absolutely no question the door was closed when the shots were fired.”

Most people I talked to seemed to form a strong opinion as to the guilt of Kino Michael Gomez based on reading these law enforcement statements in the media.  Most people asked: “What kind of maniac would shoot through a closed door, just because someone unsuccessfully jiggled the door handle?”   The people posting comments on the internet also formed an opinion as to Gomez’s guilt based on the comments of the police that the suspect shot through a closed door.

“Assuming the man that fired the shots had a ‘legal’ right to own a gun, he has no excuse to fire random shots through a hotel door… at ANYONE.”  See Link.

“Why did he fire THRU the door-after he barred the door. It isnt like someone broke in- Who the fck fires thru a door because they think they are being robbed?”  See Link.

“A man paranoid enough to shoot through a closed door of a motel was probably up to no good to begin with.”  See Link.

“I realize people make mistakes, but this is inexcuseable. YOU DON’T FIRE A GUN THROUGH A CLOSED DOOR.”   See Link.

So does the evidence really show that Kino Michael Gomez shot through a closed door?   The Methow Valley News sent a reporter to the scene to to take photographs of the door which are posted online here and here.

Hmmmmmm.  It is not exactly as Twisp Police Chief Rick Balam described it.  He after all stated “There’s absolutely no question the door was closed when the shots were fired.”   Based on my experience prosecuting and defending homicide cases, the photographic evidence is more consistent with Kino Michael Gomez’s statement to the police.   Kino Michael Gomez was interviewed by Officer Ty Sheehan of the Twisp Police Department, and Gomez stated that “he had been concerned about the lack of a deadbolt on the door and had wedged a chair against the doorknob.”   Gomez told the police ” he awoke to the sound of someone trying to get into the room and had seen the door open and ‘a full silhouette’ of someone in his room.”  See story in Methow Valley News.   Gomez stated that he responded “like it was automatic,” shooting toward the door.

After I looked at the photographs, it appeared that the bullet hit the door frame, and based on the angle of the bullet, the door must have been half way open.

The good reporting of the Methow Valley News has raised a lot of questions in this case.  Good for them for doing their own reporting rather than simply repeating what the police said. The defense attorney Michael Haas is doing a thorough job of raising the right questions too, and has apparently sent his own investigators out to the scene of the shooting.  They had to act quickly because the motel was attempting to repair everything a.s.a.p.

Under Washington law, a person can use deadly force in self-defense if they believe they were in reasonable fear.   If a person claims that they used force against a perceived intruder, it would certainly be relevant how far the perceived intrusion went.  Dave Workman, author of Washington State Gun Rights and Responsibilities, wrote an opinion piece on this case just after the incident.  See Link.  Like most of us at first, he understood the incident to involve shooting through a door that was closed.  I wonder if he has further insights based on Mr. Gomez’s version of events and the photographs and other recent developments.

It will be interesting to see how this case unfolds in the weeks to come.  I don’t envy the defense lawyer or the prosecutor in this case.  I have never met the defense lawyer on this case, but I know the prosecutor a little.   The best prosecutors on cases like this are tough, but also keep an open mind as to new developing facts that could change their mind.   I believes that describes this prosecutor.

What does every one else think about this case?  Can Kino Michael Gomez get a fair trial in Okanogan County?  Has anyone else noticed the racial overtones about some of the internet news comments out there?   I discussed in a blog post last month about friends and family of Amanda Knox who posted a internet site to support the defense of Amanda.  Should Kino Michael Gomez’s family also consider a similar campaign?   I also wrote in a blog post last month about the bearing of arms in public places.  What are the societal costs of an armed populace?

The Stevens County Commissioners are currently thinking over who they want to appoint to replace Pam Payne as District Court Judge.  As of 12 noon today a decision had not been announced.  Pam Payne announced her decision to leave the bench last month.  When a Superior Court Judge resigns midway through a term, it is the Governor who makes the appointment.  But with District Court, the decision belongs to the County Commissioners.  Once the County Commissioners appoint someone, that judge faces an election of the voters.  Traditionally, County Commissioners often consider some input from the other judges who preside and often times other government officials and local lawyers write to offer their opinions.  The commissioners then interview prospective candidates.   As well as intelligence, experience, and fairness, the temperament of an attorney is typically considered.  There have been several attorneys whose names have been mentioned as interested in the position.

The District Court judge hears small claims, small suits, name changes, and presides of misdemeanors such as DUI, minor assaults, etc.   Pam Payne always seemed to be pretty well thought of by prosecutors and defense attorneys alike.  I practiced law in front of her regularly my first year of private practice in 2003.  I always found her to be very fair.   Pam Payne, while she was a Stevens County Judge, often times would come to Ferry County once per month to preside.

How young is too young to run for election?  This subject came up in an earlier blog post that discussed potential sheriff candidates.    A reader shared that he thought that one local Sheriff’s deputy, were he to run for sheriff, would be way too young.  See comment.  That surprised me a little bit.  I always assumed that a person in their mid-thirties was in pretty solid territory age-wise to run for a job for a local elected official.  I may be a little biased because when I was elected prosecuting attorney in 1998, I was only 28 years old. I have to admit, I felt a little iffy about stepping into the political ring at that age. But at the time I was aware that our state representative, Cathy McMorris, was only 29.   Cathy McMorris was elected to the State Legislature when she was only 24.   Cathy McMorris (now known as Cathy McMorris Rodgers) went on to become the State legislature’s minority leader, and later was elected to US congress at age 35.

The subject of  a suitable age of an elected official has arisen recently in the political campaign for prosecuting attorney in Grant County.   Earlier this year a deputy prosecutor by the name of Angus Lee was appointed to step in to replace John Knodell who was elected judge.   Angus Lee was appointed by the commissioners.   Angus Lee is 32 years old, and is a 2004 graduate of law school.  When I was elected prosecuting attorney at 28, the issue that was the hardest for me was managing people and running an office.   I think the trial work can pretty much be handled by any prosecutor with a few years under his or her belt.   In Grant County, Angus Lee has a pretty big office to run, and lately his office has had a lot of turnover, as other prosecutors get used to their new boss.    I don’t know Angus Lee too well because I have only had one case with him.

I read in the Spokesman Review last week that an 18-year-old high school senior by the name of Greg Ridgley was running for city council in Spokane.  Now an 18-year-old on city council would be pretty interesting, don’t you think?   Greg Ridgley’s campaign seems pretty low key right now.   When I looked him up online, he didn’t have a web page up.    I had court in Spokane this morning and I looked all over for his campaign signs but I didn’t see any.  Ridgley has a facebook page that discussed his campaign and his recent trip to Australia as a youth ambassador.  My suggestion to him would be to promote his campaign as much as possible on the internet.  The use of the internet in politics is a very hot topic in the media.  See for example the debate of Jennifer Gregerson’s use of Twitter.  See article.  It seems that if Greg Ridgley found a way to use the internet for his campaign in a novel way, he would garner more attention.  Greg Ridgley is going to be a senior at Gonzaga Prep and is running as a Republican.  The funniest thing about Greg Ridgley’s campaign is the interesting comments that people have made about his campaign on the internet.   None of the comments have been disparaging.  One Spokane resident posted a comment that Greg Ridgley “has to have more sense then the rest of them and he has not had much of a chance to be corrupted.” Another wrote of Ridgley “Pure honesty and interest to help the community. No good old boys to owe. Fresh. Clean. Passionate. Way to go. The rest of his peers who can vote will be doing it”.  See comments.

What would people think about an 18-year-old senior running for city council in Republic, or Colville or Okanogan?  It seems like people would be more receptive to an 18-year-old on a city council, rather than in a position of mayor where more power is placed in a single position.   An 18-year-old running for sheriff would seem to pose a problem.   Under State law, a person has to be 21 to carry a hand gun.

As for me, I would not have a problem voting for a person in their 30′s for sheriff.  What do you all think?

Amanda Knox, a University of Washington student, is currently standing trial for Murder in Perugia, a city in central Italy.  Amanda Knox, like many college students, opted to spend her junior year overseas.  She shared an apartment with four young women, including Meredith Kercher, a British student.

Amanda with her family. (Used with permission of friendsofamanda.org)

Amanda Knox, was dating an Italian man, and when she returned from his home on November 2nd, 2007, she found no sign of her roommate Meredith.  Amanda tried to call Meridith’s cell phone but did not receive an answer.  Amanda noticed a few droplets of blood in the shower.  Getting concerned, Amanda called her boyfriend (Raffaele Sollecito) over.  Amanda, and her boyfriend noticed a broken window, and noticed that the door to Meredith’s room was locked.  They called the police.  The police arrived, forced open the door, and found Meredith Kercher dead with cuts to her throat under a duvet.  The police questioned Amanda and Raffaele, and the two gave consistent accounts of their whereabouts for the days prior.  Later, under pressure from police, Raffaele told the police that Amanda left his apartment for several hours.   Under pressure, Amanda described a dream to the police about overhearing Meredith’s screams while she tried to cover her ears with a pillow.   Amanda’s supporters take the position that the statements were made under duress and she told the police what they wanted to hear even though it was not true.  Amanda Knox was kept up all night, claims to have been hit, and was denied an attorney and professional translator.

Amanda in her home in Seattle prior to leaving for Italy. (Used with permission of friendsofamanda.org)

The police linked a man named Rudy Guede to the murder because his DNA was found in Meredith’s body and his bloody hand print was found on a pillow underneath the body.  The police eavesdropped on Rudy Guede’s phone calls and heard him say that Amanda had nothing to do with the killing.  Later, under pressure from police, he indicated that Amanda was present at the time, but denied that the two killed Meredith.  Rudy Guede admitted that he had relations with Meredith that stopped short of intercourse.  Based on the evidence, Rudy Guede was convicted of sexual assault and murder.  Rudy Guede changed his story to implicate Amanda and Raffaele in the killing in some sex game gone wrong.  Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are currently pending trial. The Italian police detectives have testified that they found DNA evidence of Amanda’s footprint in Meredith’s blood in the apartment, and traces of Amanda’s and Meredith’s intermingled blood in several locations there.  No murder weapon has been found, but the police said an eight-inch kitchen knife at Raffaele’s house bore traces of Meredith’s DNA near the tip and Amanda’s the handle. It should be no surprise that the knife would have Amanda’s DNA on the handle considering how much time she spent at her boyfriend’s house.  The DNA of Meredith, according to several outside experts, was of such small amounts, and was available only after numerous enhancements in the testing, that it could have belonged to numerous individuals.  Additionally, the knife did not match the bloody outline of a knife at the crime scene.  Experts have already testified that the knife in question could not have made at least two of the three cuts found on Meredith’s throat.

Ambiguous DNA evidence, and statements made to police under pressure,are often how wrongful convictions occur here in the U.S.  According to the Innocence Project, a variety of factors can contribute to a false confession during an  interrogation.  Many cases have included a combination of several of these causes. They include:

• duress
• coercion
• intoxication
• diminished capacity
• mental impairment
• ignorance of the law
• fear of violence
• the actual infliction of harm
• the threat of a harsh sentence
• misunderstanding the situation

Do you ever hear stories on the news where an inmate is determined to be innocent of a crime that occurred years ago due to the use of a DNA test?  When we look back on those cases, in 25% of those cases a person ended up confessing to a crime that they did not commit.

Many experts in the U.S. have questioned the fairness of the trial.  Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times columnist Timothy Egan wrote “The case against Knox has so many holes in it, and is so tied to the career of a powerful Italian prosecutor who is under indictment for professional misconduct, that any fair-minded jury would have thrown it out months ago.”  (See this opinion piece about Amanda Knox)

King County Superior Court Judge Mike Heavey is among the local people trying to help Amanda.   Heavey took the unusual step of writing to the Italian council that regulates judges to protest the leaks from the prosecutor, police and prison officials to the tabloid press.  According to a Seattle Times article he wrote “Amanda Knox is in grave danger of being convicted of the murder because of illegal and improper poisoning of public opinion and judicial opinion.”   He continued: “I respectfully submit that the prosecutor’s office, police and prison employees have made illegal and false statements … These false reports have wrongfully poisoned the well of public opinion against Amanda.”

Amanda Knox’s parents have spent all their retirement funds and their equity in their home paying for a team of defense lawyers, forensic experts, and investigators to help defend their daughter.  Amanda Knox testified in her own defense on June 13th, and a verdict should not be too far off.   The jury consists of two judges and six local citizens.  Unlike juries here in Washington, a conviction need not be unanimous.  Rather a simple majority may convict.

For more information, See www.friendsofamanda.org.

Let’s face it, I live in a pretty small town.   To have Justice Korsmo drive up three hours from the court of appeals to judge our Mock Trial Competition is a pretty big deal.    I wondered how it would be to have an appellate judge sitting in a trial court, but Kevin Korsmo is a natural.   He is also pretty good working with kids, and the teachers agreed.

Justice Korsmo accepts his certificate of appreciation

Justice Korsmo presided over the battle between the senior classes of Republic High School and Curlew High School.   Each side had the chance to present the prosecution case, and the defense case in a hypothetical case of People v. Terry Bell.   Terry Bell was charged with arson and incitement, but was acquitted each time by a jury of grade schoolers.  I coached the Republic High School team, and our elected prosecutor Mike Sandona coached the Curlew High School team.

Mike Sandona works the crowd. These high school seniors will be eligible voters when he faces re-election next year.

Coaching a mock trial team is just about the only volunteer activity I do, and I have done it since 1997.    In a good year you can get the kids as competitively charged as they would be in a basketball game against their rival.   This year, both schools had their fair share of over-achievers, and I am always impressed at the number of local graduates who go off to top schools, many with scholarships.   But in addition sometimes the competition makes stars of kids who are not academically inclined.   In the end, what often prevails is a combative spirit.   I usually end up getting to know some of these mock trial champs pretty well.   Every so often there will be a kid who already wants to be a lawyer.   Occasionally there will be a kid of such precocity, that I will already imagine them kicking my butt in court in seven short years.

(Note: I will be posting some pictures of a couple of the student lawyers as soon as I can get their permission.)

It is not too often that you hear about public officials getting a 60 or 70 percent raise in a given year; but that is exactly what happened to many of Washington’s prosecutors last year.   The biggest beneficiaries were the elected prosecuting attorneys in Washington’s most rural counties. Many of the small town prosecutors toiled away for years making 45 or 50 thousand. Until July of 2008. In that hot summer month it wasn’t the heat that was making the small-town prosecutors of Washington swoon. It was the heady feeling of new found economic largess. That July in Garfield County, for example, the elected prosecuting attorney went from making 52 thousand per year to a 100,000. In a rural county closer to my home, the elected prosecutor went from 62 thousand to 106 thousand per year. The rationale of the pay raise was explained by the executive director of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. As covered by a blog of the News Tribune, McBride explained that small counties often have trouble finding people to run for prosecutor because it pays so little. And when they do find someone, they stay only one 4-year term and then go back to private practice so they can make more money. Well, McBride was right.  Prosecutors are now hoping to stay in office alright, but their new found glee was short-lived as they quickly realized they would have a target on their back in the next election of 2010.

Is it just me, or am I the only traveling lawyer who has gotten sick of all the speculation as to who is running for prosecutor in such counties as Ferry, Garfield, Okanogan, Stevens, Columbia, Asotin etc.?  It seems like small town defense lawyers, divorce lawyers, etc are already trying to recast themselves as potential candidates for prosecutor.  I am a former prosecuting attorney myself, and maybe that is why a defense lawyer recently approached me for advice on how they can work his image for a 2010 candidacy. Defense lawyers who have for years opposed the death penalty and have publicly supported the legalization of drugs are now working to garner a conservative, law-and-order vote.   Will these defense lawyers still have the same zing to their cross examinations of law enforcement officers?

It seems like incumbent prosecutors are also feeling the pressure from potential new arrivals escaping the economic downturn.  It is no secret that there have been considerable lay-offs at the larger public defense agencies in this state, as well as larger firms laying off newly hired associates. Some of these attorneys are filtering down to smaller counties. Transplants are discovering the liberal residency requirement for candidates in this state. Under State law, a candidate must only live in the county in question for 30 days before he declares his candidacy. Many of these small towns are quite a bit off the beaten path, and don’t see too many new lawyers in town. When I am on the road for court, or even here in town, I am regularly asked if I am planning to run for prosecutor.   How do you tell people “no” and have them accept that?  When I say “no, I am not running for prosecutor” it seems like people always study my face for a minute to see if I am being coy.   There are already three- and four-way races discussed.   The year 2010 should be interesting for those of us sitting on the sidelines.  What do you think?  How much will these pay raises change the 2010 prosecutorial election races?

(Steve Graham was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Ferry County in 1998 when he was 28. He did not run again.)