A MOTION making an appointment to fill a judicial vacancy in the southeast division of King County district court.
At our special meeting on March 29th, the committee selected five final candidates for two vacancies in the Southeast Division. We will be interviewing those candidates this morning. Welcome to you all. Thank you for being here today. And I thank you all for participating in this process. It's been it's taken a while. And we appreciate your patience. But we want it's a very important decision. We will make sure we get it right after the interviews. I expect that we will go into executive session to discuss the candidates qualifications and then after that, we will come back into open session. And if we are ready, then we will take action on the motions. So we'll begin with a brief staff report and then go right into the interviews and I will turn to our committee staff. Leah Zoghbi for the staff report. Welcome. Laughs Good morning, council members I'm Leah Crackles I'll be counsel staff and the materials for this item begin on page nine of your packet. There are currently two vacant judicial vacancies in the Southeast Division of the King County District Court. Under state law, the King County Council is directed to fill district court vacancies by appointment. The King County Code provides. A merit selection process for filling such vacancies, which includes advertising existing or anticipated vacancies rating interested applicants by the King County Bar Association and any other bar association with an established Judicial Candidate. Evaluation Procedure Review of all the candidates and interviews of the final candidates by the Council's Committee of the whole and then final appointment by the King County Council. The nominees are the appointees. Will serve until a successor is elected this November, and they will be eligible for to run for election. On page 23 of your packet, you will find a table that summarizes the candidates bar association ratings. And at the beginning. Of or beginning on page 29. Of your packet, there's a table prepared by council staff that compares the candidates, according to some of the criteria found within the judicial questionnaires that. They've each filled out for the Bar. Association process. In addition, you've each received a binder with a more comprehensive information about the qualifications of each candidate. And that concludes my staff report. All right, thank you. So the process we're going to follow today is we're going to interview one candidate at a time to maintain fairness. I'll ask the candidates who are not yet have not yet been interviewed to wait in the council conference room outside the dais here with the audio off until it's their turn to be interviewed during each interview, we're going to give each candidate an opportunity to make an opening statement of up to 2 minutes. Then we're going to ask a series of questions with up to 3 minutes. To answer each question, we've allotted approximately 20 minutes for each candidate, and I'm going to try to give everyone a closing statement of up to 2 minutes. But we're going to have to watch the clock and see how much time we really have for closing statements. I'm going to ask you to be a little flexible, if you would. If you have anything to say, my suggestion would be get it out before the closing statement in case we run long. Thank you for that. Questions will be the same for all candidates, though we will. There may be a limited number of follow up questions from members on the committee. So there's a set of warning lights here to help people keep within limits. The countdown timer will show the time remaining. When 30 seconds are left, the yellow light will go on, and when the time is up, the red light will go on. So candidates should not feel obligated to use the full time that is allowed, but of course that is the amount of time you have. So you may use it if you choose. When a candidate's interview is over, you're welcome to remain in the council. Will Chambers at that point and we'll carry on and have staff bring in the next candidate until we're done. So we're going to do this in alphabetical order. I would like to ask if you would escort all of the candidates to the conference room now live, and we're going to see if we can't get a few more members down here before we start with the first candidate so that everybody has a chance to be heard by as many people as possible. Thank you. We're going to be at recess for just a few minutes. We are prepared to get started with our interview of candidates for District Court in the Southeast District. Our staff is now going to bring in Ms.. Edmiston, our first candidate. And again, just for those who are joining, we are going we have five candidates. We are going in alphabetical order. There will be an opening statement of up to 2 minutes. We have a series of five questions which we have assigned to councilmembers who graciously volunteered to ask questions. And we are all those folks are here. Welcome, Ms.. Edmiston. And then just continuing on each candidate, council members will have up to 3 minutes to answer. Each of the questions will be using the time are here in front of me and then they will be offered an opportunity to give up to a two minute closing statement , although I have asked them to be flexible with that because we are starting a little late and we want to get through everybody and have time to deliberate today as well. All right, Miss Edmiston, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Would you please go ahead and make your opening statement of up to 2 minutes? I will. Thank you all for taking the time to interview me this morning. I'm very grateful for the opportunity. As you know, from my materials. I'm Bobby Edmiston. I'm here today seeking appointment to the Southeast Division of the King County District Court. My diversity of experience has given me the knowledge and perspective to be a good judge in the district court. I have a wealth of criminal practice experience, having represented clients in both felony and misdemeanor cases. I also have a wide variety of civil practice experience, including my current practice area representing parents and children, independency matters, representing parents accused of being in contempt of court related to child support, and representing refugee and immigrant clients in public benefits cases, as well as victims of domestic violence in the family, law and protection order contexts. But what I want to emphasize for you all about that experience is that I know the King County District Court and specifically the South Division. I've spent approximately 70% of my career working in the King County District Court in the Southwest and South divisions. In addition to the diversity of experience I already shared, I also have the appropriate temperament to be a good judge and a fundamental belief in the respect and the dignity of all who come before me. Attributes that come with me daily in my practice, representing my clients and working with my professional colleagues. And that will transition with me to the bench where I will ensure that all who appear before me, whether the accused, law enforcement, victims, witnesses or aggrieved parties, will be treated with respect and have their dignity maintained. Thank you. Thank you very much. The first question will be asked by Council member Cole Wells. Thank you about chair and I miss anything other than what you've already told us. What do you believe is most important about your background for this position? And, and why do you really want to be a district court judge? I read something interesting this morning that I'd like to share with you all as as a start to answering this question. I was reading an article about racial disparity within the court system. And it starts off with a quote that I will paraphrase where they indicate that our laws are the promise to our citizens and others before us. Our justice system is how we keep that promise. And that that quote really spoke to me in my current role as a public defender. And it speaks to why I want to sit behind the bench as a judge in district court. I think that it is very. Important for a judge to recognize not only the legal issues that face the court, but also the social issues, the issues of and access to justice that we see, the issues of racial disparity within those who are charged, those who populate our jails as well, those who are released pretrial and who are not. I think that that recognition and a commitment my personal commitment to. Being introspective and very honest with myself in terms of what I bring, what I bring with me, what baggage, for lack of a better term or what. What cultural issues? Come with me. Is something that's important. And I. I get concerned that that can be overlooked by judges. And looking at that. Speaking to the issues of, for example, pretrial release, which is one of the issues that I noted, where I'm concerned about disparities. We have a wonderful court rule. And I think that I as a judge will be a person who can. Act upon the mandate of that court rule. Maintaining that promise, tying back to the quote that I paraphrase of a quote that I shared with you all at the beginning. Maintain that promise to our citizens to uphold that court rule that presumes release. Absent risk of violence is within the community or absent. Risk of substantial risk of failure to appear. And I think that that requires a level of courage to maintain. A fidelity to the text of that rule. That is something that I have developed over the course of my career as a public defender, being courageous enough to argue new and novel legal issues even when they're unpopular. Recently sinking an emergency contempt finding against the Department of Social and Health Services when the question of whether emergency contempt actually exists is a legitimate question. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember McDermott. Would you like to ask the next question, please? Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm one oppose a hypothetical situation and ask how you would respond to it. A defendant in your courtroom is displaying mental health or behavioral issues in being disruptive. How would you maintain control of your courtroom while also respecting the rights of the defendant? So this is a scenario that I've seen in my practice and I've seen it handled well, and I've seen it handled in a way that escalated the situation. As I indicated in my opening statement, something that's very important to me is maintaining the dignity and demonstrating a respect for all who appear in my courtroom. In that situation, I think that to a certain level, if the court proceedings can be maintained in an orderly fashion, despite the individual's behaviors, that we simply proceed forward and not necessarily potentially embarrass that individual. But if we reach a point where the court proceedings cannot be maintained, I feel quite strongly that the best thing that a judge can do is speak directly and frankly to that individual about what the expectations are in the courtroom about that they will have the have an opportunity to speak directly to the court, whether through counsel or directly, and that the expectation is that they have an absolute right to remain in the courtroom. But if they cannot, they're also welcome to wait outside in the hallway, and that court staff would be happy to go, let them know when their hearing has been called. I think that that also, however, brings up issues related to therapeutic courts as well. And it would be my responsibility as the judge to make sure that if there are symptoms that appear to be relatively obvious mental health symptoms that I share with that individual, that there are options other than. The conventional court, for that matter, is in King County district, for example, a mental health court. And I would like to advise or ask defense counsel to please advise this individual about that court, about that therapeutic court, as well as making sure that I advise in clear, plain language from the bench as well, so that they're familiar with all options that might best serve that particular individual. Thank you. Okay. Councilmember Lambert, we get we finished quickly. Councilman Lambert's up next. Thank you. Thank you. So much. Okay. Good to see you again. My question is, in. Your role as this decision maker. Describe a time when. You knew you were wrong or figured. Out you're wrong. How did you realize that you made the mistake? How did you what made you change. Your mind and how did you correct yourself or. Reverse that mistake? I'm just going to go with the first example that jumps out. Early on in my felony practice, which was early in my career, it was about 18 months after I started my criminal defense practice that I transitioned into felony practice. I had a client that was particularly challenging in terms of communication, didn't have a cell phone, didn't have email, and we really did struggle between hearings to communicate oftentimes in court was our best opportunity. And so thinking that I was being self-motivated and prepared for an upcoming case setting hearing, I walked right on over to the prosecutor's office and and I asked them to make an offer. And I prioritized what I thought should be the priority or would be my client's priority, which was no jail time. Thank you. And quite proudly and quite naively, that afternoon at the case setting hearing, I announced to my client, Guess what? I got you a great offer to reduction to a misdemeanor and no jail. So proud. And my client said, Oh, that sounds good. There's no probation, right? I said, Oh, no, it comes with two years of probation. And my client was very upset and said I'd do a year in jail before I do a day of probation voluntarily. And at that point, I realized, oops, this is very much the wrong decision. And as the decision maker, it had been mine and my fault. And we ended up continuing the hearing over our prosecutors. Objection. Who had said, no, no. Ms.. And Mr. was in my office this morning and negotiated. They have an offer, they should be ready. And I had to accept the responsibility for my mistake because it was not anybody else's issue but mine. And so I stood before the court and explained that I had made the mistake and I was appropriately going to advise my client what his options were in terms of even the choice to retain me or continue to have me as counsel or seek a new attorney. And then I got also the distinct pleasure of going back to the prosecutor's office and and renegotiating, which was not personally enjoyable but needed to be done for my client. That informed me that experience, informed my practice for the seven and a half, eight years that have come after in terms of a client centered approach to the work that I do, in terms of acknowledging that every individual that I work with is an individual who has different needs, who has different interests, and who has different priorities from one another and from what I might anticipate, and that I need to meet them where they are and advocate for them there. I will bring that lesson with me to the bench in District Court acknowledging that what might be a positive proceeding for somebody where they feel that they have achieved justice or achieved a resolution is is good for them, might be different for the next person. Thank you. Thank you. Fourth question will be asked by Councilmember Gossett. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was listening with interest to your response to the first question that we presented to you, and you started off by talking about the issue of racial disproportionality in our criminal justice system and how you would deal with it. This is kind of an enhancement to that. That's not a specific question that we'd like for you to describe what you have done in your present, personal and professional life to address racial disproportional racial disproportionality. Particularly in our court system where it's been very controversial. Thank you for that question. In terms of addressing racial disproportionality, both on a personal and professional level, the fundamental one. One of the fundamental things that I have done is I have refused to believe that I fully understand the issue or that I know everything about the issue. I don't. What I have embraced is a continued desire to learn, to learn about the intersection of racial disproportionality and our court system, and about communities different from my own as well, both in terms of the richness of those communities and the obstacles that those communities and challenges that they face community wide and as individuals within that community. And so within my personal life, I have put myself in a position to have those conversations that can sometimes be very difficult or awkward about issues such as has privilege about overt aggressions, but also microaggressions. I've put myself in a pause and the categories micro assault and so on. I've made sure that I am not a silent observer when I see these issues before me, that when I see somebody's behavior behaving in a way that I think displays a bias or a micro-aggression of some sort, that I speak up and call them out on that not in an attacking manner, but I try to address the issue in a way that invites a conversation not only for the other, but so that I may learn and grow as well in a professional context. I have also addressed this issue by calling it out and putting a name on it. I think that a fallacy over the course of certainly my upbringing in my career that I've seen repeatedly is individuals believing that we are somehow in a post racism society, which is obviously not true, or that just because I don't believe that I am a racist, that everything is okay and that I am not behaving in a in a racist manner. And so we end up stifling or silencing ourselves and the discussion about the effect of race, class, cultural issues in our professional discourse. I have just recently stood before a court and shared the experience of my client, who is a young African-American man who was raised in the foster care system, who had his children at a very young age and has had and his life experience has been very different than that of the attorney general, the social worker from the department on the case and the judge that I am presenting to. And I believe that his experience and his background has borne on his behaviors that are now being questioned in the court by the Department of Social and Health Services. I'm in a dependency practice right now and really use the opportunity to say to the court, just because it is not similar to our experience, to the Department's experience , to the attorney general's experience, does not mean that my client's behavior was was wrong or should be judged and tried to use that as an opportunity to educate. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Fifth and final question will be asked by Councilmember Dombroski. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Bobby, for being here again. We some of us are there to interview you before, so your answers today are helpful beyond those. I have the fifth general question, and that is related to kind of court operations and budget issues. And it is this the county's general fund, which supports district court, has an ongoing structural crisis, that the court is regularly having to find ways to do more with less. What ideas do you have for how the court might operate more efficiently? I love that question. Thank you, because I have a very specific thought on the topic. Obviously, there are financial constraints in every area and certainly the court struggles with that issue. I think that one very concrete challenge that the court has has to do with appearance of specifically criminal defendants for hearings that we operate in a very , in my mind, outdated system where individuals come to court, for example, for an arraignment, a pretrial hearing or whatever type of hearing or readiness. And when their next hearing is scheduled, they're given a small, usually pink, sometimes white sheet of carbon paper that has their next hearing date on it. It's been my experience that my clients, my hundreds of clients over the course of my career in district court have so many obstacles that they face, whether it's homelessness, other poverty related issues. Housing instability. And. So many possible obstacles that keeping track of that little tiny piece of paper or transferring that date to their phone to their calendar is just not necessarily a reasonable expectation. And they miss hearings. And then we have the inefficiency and additional costs related to that inefficiency of issuing warrants, of booking on warrants, of return, on warrant hearings , on incarceration costs related to needlessly missed hearings, whereas. A modest capital investment in an automated system or utilization of court staff. If we didn't have an automated system to provide a courtesy call or a courtesy text message for folks, Hey, you have a hearing in 48 hours. The same thing that, for example, my doctor's office is able to do when I have an appointment. I think would dramatically increase the appearances of of litigants in specifically criminal but other proceedings as well if we utilize such a lesser system. And although it would be a modest cost up front would pay off, I would expect in dividends for the system as it was imposed because we would have more people appearing, fewer warrants, fewer return on warrant hearings with less need for public defenders, prosecutors, judges, jail guards, all of the staff and cost that comes with those hearings going in. I've seen in other jurisdictions where such a system has been used and that there has long term been a cost savings as well as a human savings in terms of people staying employed, maintaining their housing because they're not needlessly incarcerated. Thank you. Are there any follow up questions, councilmembers, before we move into the closing statement? All right. If you would, Ms.. Edmonson, please give us your closing statement. As I said, up to 2 minutes. But since we've gone a little long, maybe you could make it brief. I will do my best. Thank you. So much. Thank you all so much for the opportunity to speak and meet with you today. I believe that I am the right candidate for appointment to the King County District Court Southeast Division. My diversity of experience has given me both the perspective. And the experiential understanding to assess the complex, both social and legal issues that confront our district court on a day to day basis. My ten years experience as a public defender has given me the experience and skills to manage a high volume calendar. Having managed a high volume caseload, being familiar with how to read a docket quickly to identify legal issues, having experience clearly, quickly, concisely, in plain English, articulating those issues to the folks who are about to go before the court so that they may know what to expect. And being familiar with the electronic record systems that are used in the court, whether E, C, SDR, Jabs or J, I switch it on it to my out. I possess the courage, the intellectual integrity and fortitude and commitment to justice that is necessary and has prepared me to continue to confront the complex issues of racial disproportionality that are facing the Court today. Given all of this experience and these attributes, again, I believe that I am the right candidate for appointment to the King County District Court. And I thank you very much for your time today. Thank you so much. Really appreciate your time, your diligence. This is a very detailed process and you've provided us a lot to think about and we're ready for the next candidate at this point. Please. That will be Jason Petrus. Generally.