A MOTION making an appointment to fill a judicial vacancy in the east division, northeast electoral district, judge position number seven of the King County district court.
I'm calling you and you're from everyone who's joined us wishing to offer a comment. All right, then. No further requests for public comment and will close public comment. That takes us to item five on today's agenda will meet which is making an appointment to fill a judicial vacancy in the Northeast District of the East Division of the King County District Court, a process governed by King County Code for the appointments in front of us. Today, the Council advertised the vacancy and accepted accepted applications until August 9th of this year. We received four applications from five eligible candidates during the application period. Since there were five eligible applications, a subcommittee process was used to narrow the finalists to be interviewed by the Committee of the Whole Councilmembers. Dombroski fielded. She and I held interviews with all five candidates in December. I'm sorry, on October 13th and 15th to narrow the field to the two candidates who are with us today. At this time, I would ask for motion to select Peter Quinn and Renita Rampersad as the finalists to be interviewed by the committee consistent with King County Code. Two point 70.20. So elegy. And the motion is before us. See? No discussion. All those in favor please signify by saying i. I. Those opposed nay. The ayes have it. Motion is adopted. Before we proceed, proceed, I'd like to provide members of the attendees with an overview of how this process will work. Members should have received the application materials by email on Monday. These materials were sent around again this morning, and we will begin today's proceedings with a brief staff report on the proposed motion from Erika Newman of Council staff. And after the staff report, the committee will interview each candidate one at a time. During the interview, the candidate not being interviewed will be placed in the zoom waiting room as to not get advance, not to get in advance on the interview questions or on the other candidates responses. Once each candidate has been interviewed, there is if there is an interest among the council members. The committee will go into executive session to evaluate the qualifications of the candidates. We will then rejoin the Zoom meeting and take up the legislation itself. Are there any questions on how this will work from either members or the candidates? Before we get started. Hearing none. Ms.. Newman, the line is yours. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Erica Nolan, Council Central Staff. The Items. For Proposed Motion 2021 zero 335 begin on page seven of your package. The applicant packet does include a judicial ratings, which start on page 13. As you mentioned, the district court is the county's court of limited jurisdiction and has a responsibility for misdemeanor misdemeanor criminal offenses in the county's unincorporated, unincorporated areas. The court handles approximately 250,000 filings annually throughout the north, south, east and west divisions. The proposed motion is to fill position number seven and the Northeast Electoral District, which is which is within the East Division and was made vacant by the retirement of Judge Donna Tucker. Under state law, the King County Council, as the county legislative authority, is directed to fill district court vacancies by appointment. As you mentioned, there are two eligible candidates that were selected from the subcommittee process to be interviewed today, and the selected candidate will fill the remainder of Judge Tucker's term, which ends in January of 2023. In its current form, proposed motion 2020 10335 has a blank for the name of the selected person being appointed. A verbal amendment will be needed to insert the name. Mr. Chair, that concludes my remarks. Thank you, Miss Newman. Other for the questions of staff. I guess not further. Other questions of South. Harry? None. I expect each interview to take roughly 20 minutes and will ask each candidate to provide an opening and closing remarks, each to be limited to 2 minutes. That will be timed. Soon you'll hear a timer go off for 2 minutes and members should have received a prepared set of suggested interview questions by email yesterday, which were then we sent before the committee meeting in accordance with past practice. I ask for volunteer members to volunteer to read the prepared interview questions and candidates are asked to limit responses to 2 minutes before the meeting. We randomly assigned the order of interviews. Will begin with Mr. Peterson, followed by Ms.. Rampersad. Are there any questions before we advance to the first interview? Hearing none. I'll ask the clerk to place Ms.. Rampersad in the zoom waiting room. And as a reminder to members and staff, please let the clerks admit people from the waiting room and avoid the temptation to click that admin button. Madam Clerk, if you can confirm when that's done. Rampersad is in the waiting room this year. Great. Thank you, Mr. Peterman. Morning. Good morning and welcome to the committee the whole this morning. I want to thank you for your interest in the judicial position and welcome you to the whole committee. I invite you to begin with your open remarks and ask that you women them to 2 minutes. Thank you. Good morning, all. My name is Peter Preq1. I was born in New York City. I grew up in Massachusetts. I went to law school in New Orleans. And 33 years ago, I chose to make my home in the Pacific Northwest. I live in Kirtland with my wife, who is an Eastside native. We have just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. My daughter came home to live with us during COVID and she has recently returned to Boston, where she graduated from college in 2020. I'm an attorney with the scrap division of the Department of Public Defense. I have spent the last 30 plus years in the District Municipal and superior courts advocating for others who are often facing the challenges of poverty, discrimination, mental health issues and substance. Dependance. I have been shaped by my exposure to the experiences, lived by others from diverse walks of life. They have provided me valuable lessons that I hope to bring to the District Court bench. Several judges had suggested that I'd become a judge. First, I was flattered that people I respect would think that highly of them. Then I sought out judges to better understand the job. I completed the King County District Court Tem training program, and I had the opportunity to serve as a pro tem judge in several municipal courts to gain exposure and to truly grasp the importance of the role. I continued to gain experience representing people in court. I took time to contemplate whether I was ready to fulfill this role. And only when I believed I had acquired the necessary breadth and depth of experience did I start the process of applying for appointment. Even though I had been approached by several Superior Court judges encouraging me to seek appointment as a judge in the Superior Court, I know that my true calling is to serve in the District Court. I have been representing clients in person and griping since the court reopened in July of 2020. I have faced the realities of Colvin that is, that have come to our courthouses. I have adapted to these realities, and I have ideas on how we can move forward to address the backlog of cases in our courts. I want to be part of the solution. I'm proud of the letters of recommendation for endorsements I've provided as they speak to my abilities that I wish to bring to the bench. I am prepared to dedicate myself to service as a district court judge in service of the law and the people of King County. Thank you. Thank you so much. Council members and entertain a volunteer to ask the first question. I will volunteer for councilmembers. Hello. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here today and for your interest. May you please describe or expand on your efforts to implement anti-racist and equity and social justice practices in the legal system? Well, throughout my career in representing people of marginalized groups, I have had to not only deal with the reality of my clients, but I have also had to at times confront it in the courtroom with witnesses who were operating from a place of bias or prejudice, and also in educating potential jurors in the courtroom to concepts of implicit bias. We are lucky that our courts are evolving in helping to educate jurors as to those issues. But as a defense attorney representing people from marginalized groups, I have had to push those issues forward. It is not always a comfortable situation. To have to confront issues of racism and bias as it impacts not only witnesses, participants, and unfortunately, sometimes people in the courtroom, court staff, judges, but helping the public to understand how their life experiences may differ from those who I'm representing and try to help them. Understand issues of implicit bias and their own place in that in that spectrum. So those are some of the things that that I've tried to do in my practice. Thank you so much. I can know again if you're with the chair. Another volunteer. Mr. Chair, I'd be glad to ask the next question. Thank you, Councilmember Carlos. Sure. Thank you. And again, welcome to our council meeting. How do you approach judicial matters with which you are unfamiliar? And when that happens, what resources do you tend to seek? Well, I think the the first place that as a judge, if you are confronting an issue that you're not familiar with, you have to obviously start with the law. Then you have to rely upon briefing from the litigants to help illuminate issues that you are not familiar with there. In my materials, I actually reference an experience that I had with a new judge on the bench who was faced with some issues that he had never had to deal with before. And he shared with counsel that he intended to. Turn to other, more experienced judges to gain insight as to how to move forward. And I was particularly impressed by this because it, I thought, reflected humility, but also a desire to get the answer right and to seek out other colleagues. And in this case, the judge. Told Council ahead of time, Hey, this is what I plan to do. Those are the steps that I hope I will take if I'm lucky enough to serve. But one of the things that's also important is because of my 30 plus years of experience in litigating very, very complex issues I have been exposed to. Some of the issues that will be hopefully placed in front of me. And I think having that experience will help to guide me going forward as to how to address situations for which I haven't been called on to award for. Thank you. Thank you. Colleagues. Third question. Come to my duty. Thank you. Good to see you again. Thank you. Please describe a challenging ethical dilemma that you've encountered in your experience. And tell us a. Little bit about how you approached to resolve that situation. It's actually something that occurred to me, actually earlier in my career. I had relocated from Massachusetts to Washington, and when I had obtained a job working in a firm that did civil litigation, I was called upon to perform an act that I deemed to be unethical. And I had just started dating the woman who has now been my wife for 30 years. And when I came home, I called her up and said, I need to talk to you. That she worked in a law firm and continues to work for a law firm. And I said, you know, this is what this partner is asking me to do. And at that time, it had been a very big challenge to find a job in Seattle. And they had been searching for about a year before I obtained that position. And I said to her, I'm I'm in a very difficult place. I think this is unethical. And I think I need to go in tomorrow and resign. And she said, well, you had one of two choices. You either go in and resign or you get yourself a new girlfriend because I'm not going to be a part of someone who is going to be unethical. First of all, that's what I did. I went in the next day and I quit. And I can say. Later on, I found out that that attorney was ultimately disbarred. But it also told me about the quality of the person that I was dating at the time. You know, as far as potential financial reward was not even a consideration, it was you have to do the right thing. And as I've heard from many people, you know, ethics are the things you do in the dark with no one else is watching. Well, Jane, I'm glad. That worked out for you, by the way. Did it? Did. The next question is the volume of cases facing a district court judge is significant. How do you approach managing multiple high priority matters in front of you at the same time? It's I mean, one of the things that the experience of working as a public defense attorney is you always have more cases than you have time. And so you, by necessity, learn to address. Matters in a swift. Crisis. In my experience, when I was pretending on a regular basis in SeaTac Municipal Court, I had a regular calendar that was on the calendar where they grouped a lot of interpreter cases. And as any judge will tell you, handling interpreter matters takes a lot of time and effort. And in that case, the calendar was chock full of multiple different languages and lots of people in the courtroom. And you have to work through the process of. Recognizing the matters that have to be addressed. First, you have to prioritize. You have to continually work through matters. You have to be diligent. You have to be attentive. But you also have to be decisive. In the district court, judges are not given the latitude to step back and say, Well, I'm going to step back and take this under consideration. We have to make decisions and we have to keep moving. It's not that due process is sacrificed, but if we don't act decisively. Other people's access to justice gets denied because their cases can get hurt. And so we have to always have that balance of expediency with attention to the issues that are properly before the court. And sometimes it means that we can't give each case the amount of time that we would in a vacuum. And that's just the reality. We don't have all of the available of bailable resources with all the competing needs. Thank you. Thank you. Colleagues. Then I will volunteer again. What about the district court interests you the most? Well. I think the reason that I feel drawn to serve in the district court is that you have. Participants. Who have the ability with support and direction to move forward and have successful lives, that if we can help individuals who are challenged in many myriad of ways to address some of those underlying issues. What is a bump in the road does not become a life path that if we can. Assist in that we can make a difference in lives. I'm I'm often. Reminded of the. Lessons I learned when my daughter was in a montessori school. And that is the idea that there are limits and boundaries and there are consequences. And that by imposing consequences on. Times when you go beyond the bounds, it does not have to be vindictive or punitive, but it can be corrective that we can help to try to. Direct people in a more pro-social, appropriate manner. We always have to remember the. Access to access to justice and due process requirements of the court. But we also have to keep in mind that the courthouse should not just be a punitive place, but that there are concepts of restorative justice that we also have to keep in mind as we move forward. Thank you. Thank you. Last question from the draft list council members. Question six. So. Jerry, I'm happy to go. Thank you. Go ahead. What do you see as the most significant challenge facing the district court and how do you think it should be addressed? Well, the obvious issue we're dealing with right now is how to how do we respond to the realities that COVID has thrust upon us? I think some of the important things that we need to do immediately is to first fully utilize all our existing facilities. For instance, in Redman, we have a fourth courtroom that is currently not being used. I think we have a second court room in Issaquah that could be used for additional criminal trials that we're going to have . We have a backlog of cases that we're going to have to work through. I think those are two things we need to focus on immediately. We also have to find ways to extend the use of video for certain preliminary hearings. I think it's a way to allow participation when we can't have full courtrooms. I think the county, the courts should also partner with other county facilities to help provide access to people with limited technology. In my work defending people from marginalized groups, one of the critical things that that I have. Had to deal with with a certain level of frustration, is that my client, who doesn't have access to the same level of technology that other people might have, are often put in the box. They're not presented in the same way as someone who has access to quality technology. I think the county courts could potentially partner with libraries, community centers, possibly even firehouses or other courthouses to provide places where individuals can access technology so that they can appear with the same quality of technology as more affluent people do. I think we also need to consider transition to a standing trial calendar to reduce the downtime and the heat and to try to increase efficiency in the way trials are currently conducted. Possibly even consolidating locations of jury trials to make more effective use of our jury pools. Extend or expand the use of programs in court. Commissioners for certain kinds of hearings allow for continued use of video for contested infraction mitigation hearings. I'm also developing a pool of experienced civil attorneys to act as potential commissioners in civil and small claims matters. And this would have a dual benefit not only help work through our civil backlog, but also giving attorneys who have a desire to potentially serve as superior court judges but want to focus on civil practice and not having demands of criminal practice in district court, a way to gain that necessary experience. So those are just some things I think we need to focus on right now to help us move forward and address the, you know, the COVID backlog. That is what we have now and what's going to be coming in the near future. Thank you. Thank you so much. Are there follow up questions from colleagues before we ask for Mr. Pittman's closing remarks? You know, Mr. Quinn, your closing remarks. Thank you. I have represented individuals with complex legal issues and personal issues in difficult cases for 30 plus years. Through them, I have deep knowledge and experience and also insight into the challenges faced by those who appear in our courts. I have served as a pro tem judge. I understand what the job entails. I know the difficult decisions that a judge is required to make on a daily basis. I am prepared, I am ready, and I am able to make those decisions. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you so much again for your interest in serving on the court and sharing your thoughts and perspectives with us today. We're richer for it. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. If you will please admit, Mr. Speaker, into the waiting room and invite back. Misrepresented. And this teacher, Mr. People, is now enjoying them. And Mrs. Rampersad. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome. I again want to welcome you. Well, first, to begin by thanking you for your interest in serving on the district court bench and serving the people of King County. And I welcome you to the committee of the hall this morning and invite you to begin with your opening remarks and ask you to limit those to 2 minutes. Thank you. Good morning to the council members and thank you for having me back again today. Intellectual integrity, commitment to justice. An unparalleled breadth of experience. These are the traits of an exceptionally well-qualified judge. These are the traits I would bring to the King County District Court bench. Since graduating from Georgetown Law 12 years ago, I have worked at every level of court in Washington state, from municipal court to the Supreme Court. I've also held every role in the criminal justice system, beginning as a law clerk to then Chief Justice Madsen on the state Supreme Court as a public defender in municipal district and superior courts in both traditional and therapeutic courts. As a prosecutor trying cases before a jury in King County District Court and as a judge pro tempore. I've also worked abroad as an attorney and immersed myself in other cultures in Kenya, Tanzania and China. That's relevant because there I gained valuable, invaluable understanding of the different kinds of constituents who call King County home. And in the two years since I appeared before you last. In response to feedback I received, then I stepped away from my full time work and appellate caseload at a law firm I founded this past spring. I founded the law firm previously, but I stepped away from that work this past spring to be able to pro-tem full time. And I now appear regularly in eight different municipal courts in the region, and I have seen how each court has handled the pandemic backlog. I've presided over hearings remotely in person and in hybrid hearings, and utilized a variety of case management computer systems. Because of this breadth of experience, I have the judgment, perspective and skills to handle cases in District Court fairly efficiently and with fidelity to applicable law. As a result, I've been endorsed by over 20 judges at every level of court, including by a majority of justices on the Washington State Supreme Court, all of whom know I am the right choice for this position. Thank you. And I look forward to the counsels questions. Thank you. Gentlemen. Thank you so much for being here. Question number one Please describe your efforts to implement anti-racist and equity and social justice principles or practices in the legal system. Yeah. Thank you. My entire career has really been about promoting social justice and equity. I've been a public defender. I have done work in civil legal aid. I've done work in human rights abroad and working with refugees in a UN camp and also urban refugees in Tanzania. So it's a little hard to narrow down something to say to you all. But some examples of the systemic work I've done in Washington State are first, I founded and run a mentorship program for underrepresented law students, and that includes disabled students, women and other minority groups. I founded that about three years ago, and it's now grown to 125 participants this year. We hold multiple events here, and it's a collaboration of more than ten bar associations, including the Washington State Bar Association. So that's the work I'm very proud of because I think it's important to facilitate others having a voice in our legal profession , and that's how we can ensure social justice and equity long term. I also serve on the Washington State Bar Association's Equity and Inclusion Workgroup, and I've worked with the Bar's Diversity Committee on that mentorship program and other issues. One case that I am particularly proud of as a public defender that I handled an appeal began when a woman called police to say that a man was breaking down her door trying to get into her apartment. And based on that call, the police created a suspect description of unidentified male. My client, who is a young Latino teenage boy, was with his friend, a young black boy. They were two blocks away from where the call initiated. They were in a different building, in the same apartment complex, and the police stopped and arrested them. Ultimately, the police learned that the woman had actually just heard pounding and never saw anyone and assumed that it was someone trying to break in and assumed it was a male and so on. Appeal I argued to the court, Unidentified male isn't really a suspect description in any meaningful sense, and that my client was stopped purely because of who he was and what he looked like. He was on the street being Latino, and I called it out for what it was. It was profiling, and the Court of Appeals agreed and reversed that conviction. As a judge, I would be in the position and there's a pro tem judge. I'm in the position to make those decisions instead of challenging, challenging them two years after the fact, after someone's been dragged through the process. So that is how I would hope to continue that work from the bench. Thank you, Councilmember Caldwell's. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome to our council. My question is, how do you approach judicial matters with which you are unfamiliar? And if that happens, what resources do you tend to seek out? Yes. Having worked in a lot of different courts and a lot of different levels. And that is definitely something that I've encountered. But I think everyone encounters and I have a multi-step process. The first issue is just identifying the issue and making sure that I realize, hey, this is an issue that implicates a particular law or a particular constitutional doctrine. I can't just make a decision subjectively or based on my opinion. It needs to be based on this particular legal framework that already exists. And that's something I have a database in my head of issues that can come up in courts of limited jurisdiction. Having worked in appeals for more than five years exclusively and handled a lot of different issues in District Court as well as a judge pro-tem and a public defender, I have a quite an extensive database, so I'm very confident in my ability to identify an issue. The second is it's always important to give the parties the opportunity to weigh in and make their arguments about that issue. So it's not just I identify the issue, I apply the law in my own head. This is something that needs to be presented. The parties I've identified, there's a request to close the courtroom, and this is the legal framework I'm going to be applying. And these are the factors I'm considering. Please make your arguments to try to give the parties the opportunity to present that. To me, it's also an opportunity for them to bring to my attention any change in the law, any new case that I'm not already aware of that is relevant to that issue because the law is always changing. There are always new cases coming down from the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, new legislation being passed, and it's impossible for one person to keep up with all of that. So that's another sort of safeguard. And although I think I may think I know the law give the parties an opportunity to to present new information to me. The other thing is, as a long time appellate attorney, I have exceptional research skills. So I can very quickly go into Westlaw, Lexis other other research databases and find that information on my own. And I often will do that while the parties are talking to me. I'll be looking up different laws by reading through different cases quickly. Another thing is to hit the pause button and have the courage to say, we don't have enough information right now for this decision to be made with due fidelity to applicable law. The parties and I are not sure we have all of the relevant law before us. We need to we need to hit the pause button. Let's set a hearing where we fully hear all of the arguments just related to this issue. And so I think it takes a certain amount of courage to say we realize that we don't know everything in this moment. I also it my list of endorsements is quite long. And most of those people are those judges are my mentors. And so I have a lot of people on speed dial who I can quickly call and say, hey, am I missing something? Is is this your understanding of the law? And, you know, is this the appropriate legal framework to apply? I would never ask them to make the decision for me. Of course, at the end of the day, if I'm a judge pro-tem or on the bench, I need to make that decision in the courtroom. But it can be very helpful to have a colleague or a mentor weigh in and say, no, you missed this other thing . Didn't you hear about this new case and I can go and look it up. So those are all the strategies that I deploy to address an issue that I'm not familiar with. If it comes up during the hearing and obviously if I have advanced notice, I can do all of that research on my own before the hearing ever starts and be prepared so that I can run the courtroom efficiently. Thank you very much. Oh, it's good to see you again and welcome. The third question is, please tell us about a time that you experienced a challenging ethical dilemma in your experience and how did you approach or resolve that situation? Oh. The most challenging ethical dilemma I ever faced was early in my career, I was working as a civil legal aid attorney, providing legal advice to refugees in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I worked for a very small nonprofit organization, and. Mostly we were documenting having people come in to do interviews, to hear their story so that they could explain to us and we could identify who had a valid asylum claim and who had was entitled to legal protection under the UN rules, who could potentially apply for asylum or some kind of legal status under the rules of Tanzania? So, so that's the work I was doing. And I interacted with a lot of people who were displaced from other countries, mostly from the Congo. One man in particular, I will never forget, I heard his story and did the interview. And at the end he at the end of the interview, he said, I can tell you're a person who really cares about other people. I can tell that you're a good person. I know that you're American and that you come from a place of resources. Would you take my son? And that was a very that was a very challenging moment for me. There was a moment where in my head I considered, oh, what if I did adopt this adorable two year old boy who I know has been homeless? His his father loves him, wants the best life for him, wants to take care of him and provide for him in any way that he possibly can. And I had a moment where I, I flashed in my head, what if I did walk home today with my husband and say I had I adopted this child, I kind of, you know, imagined it all in my head. And then then my legal training kicked in and I thought, okay, what are the ethical implications of saying yes to this very profound request? This father, who loves his son, would be separated from him. We may have other clients who now come to the door saying, hey, I have my child, I have my baby, can you take them, too? And so I realized very quickly that this was not regardless of how I personally felt, that I had made a connection with this client, that he trusted me. But I wanted in my heart of hearts to say, yes, I knew it would be a terrible idea. And so I did what I knew was best, even though it was very painful to me personally. And I tried to help him through the legal relationship that we had as his attorney and in the best way that I could. But I knew that life was going to be very challenging for this child if I said no. But I hope that his father's love and caring for him would be enough. And to this day, I still remember that moment very distinctly, but I think it shows that I am willing and able to make difficult decisions when I know they're the right decision, even if I don't like them. And they're they're painful to me personally. Thank you very much. The volume of cases facing a district court judge is significant. How do you approach managing multiple high priority matters in front of you at the same time? Yes, I have that issue as a judge pro tem. A lot of the dockets I handle, there could be 60 people on the calendar. There could be matters that absolutely have to be addressed today. And so I do I do run the courtroom efficiently, first of all, by being prepared. I make sure I look up the cases. I look through the case files, I review the docket so I understand what happened last time. And I familiar familiarize myself with all of those things so that the parties don't have to spend a lot of time getting me up to speed on what's already happened, what's already been decided , what issues are before the court this morning? So prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare. Second of all, I will inform litigants, particularly proceeding litigants, who are there without an attorney. What is the legal framework I am utilizing today to make a decision because that helps focus them. They then understand what about their arguments is relevant and they can get quickly to the point. And also it helps people feel heard and people feel calmer when they're in the hearing because it's not, you know, some strange thing. They don't understand it. I know exactly what's happening. I know what I want to say. So I give other people the ability to be focused on their legal arguments. And I'm also quite good at de-escalating, which becomes very relevant for handling hearings efficiently. Now I've worked abroad where I was interviewing self-professed war criminals and terrorists in an environment where I could not call security to come to my aid if something were to happen. So I have developed very good de-escalation strategies with individuals who are stressed, who are angry and who are disruptive. And that can be very helpful in running a courtroom efficiently, because when those disruptions do happen, I can invest a little bit of time upfront in order to get everybody back on track and then save time so that we can't in the long run, so that we can handle more hearing for everyone, not create issues like that . So those are those are some things that I do and I familiarize myself with how to use them. That's been really critical so that I'm not tinkering with sound and audio and video and all those things, and then I can help others troubleshoot. Okay, go down to the bottom. Click on the three dots, click more or go up to your you know, sometimes that's really helpful because it helps litigants before the court. You don't have as much experience with using this technology to get to the point where we can we can handle their case and move forward quickly. Thank you. And unless somebody else jumps in. I also have the next question and that is, what about the district court interests you the most? Yes, the district court is an opportunity to disrupt a person's life if it is going off track. That to me is very appealing because I, I care about people and I care about the community. I see there's so much recidivism that goes on. If we don't address the if we don't address the issue, the underlying issue of friends and that's something that I notice and a distinction between my appellate work and my work in in courts of limited jurisdiction, is that not to say that it's, you know, too late for somebody, but oftentimes by the by the time a case comes to me as an appellate public defender, there's a long history and it's very challenging to redirect somebody. So I think handling cases in courts when they're jurisdiction, misdemeanors, where it might be someone's first appearance, that is very and that is is a very valuable opportunity. And I also really relish the opportunity to help the court move through this backlog that's been created by the pandemic, because I think that's an opportunity to create and expand, create new therapeutic courts, expand existing therapeutic courts. And that is something I'm really looking forward to working with colleagues on the bench to be able to address. Thank you. Council members. Hello. What do you see as the most significant challenge facing the district court and how do you think it should be addressed? Yeah, I just alluded to that a little bit in my last answer, but I think the biggest challenge facing court is definitely the backlog that's been created by the pandemic. There are a lot of cases languishing that haven't been addressed. This is particularly troublesome in the criminal case arena because individuals have a constitutional right to a speedy trial. And we've had to put the pause button on that and have good cause to delay. But, you know, at some point we need to make sure that people have the right to their trial if that's how they want to proceed. So we've got this backlog. It's also meant that small claims court, other kinds of cases that are handled by the district court on a regular basis have been deprioritized and put on hold. And that's very frustrating, I think, to community members because that's what the court is there to do, there to dispense justice, there to resolve cases. And so there's a backlog that's just been growing and growing. So what can be done to address the backlog? First of all, we have to innovate and use technology. We're doing that to a certain extent, but we can do more. And the second thing I would say is we need to expand the existing therapeutic and community courts and potentially create new ones. So as far as innovating and using technology, you know, some hearings are we are being held partially remotely. So litigants will appear by Zoom, but we could do fully remote hearings. We could this would allow the court to have the judge and the clerk and everyone be fully remote. If we did that, we could run hearings in parallel. So bring retired judges and pro-tem judges to handle cases that don't require. Things to be happening in the courtroom and reserve the courtroom space for things like jury trials that do absolutely require at least some part of that is required to be physically in person. So we were able to do that. We could you know, we could always have evenings and weekends and running hearings that way to dig out of the backlog. But how wonderful is we can have hearings happening at the same time, say traffic court and fully remotely with one judge and then the courtroom being utilized for a jury trial at the same time. So those are all strategies that we could use or possibly have to use all of them in order to dig out of the backlog. And then as far as expanding and creating new therapeutic courts, the other way to handle a backlog is not to take cases out that are already in, but take cases on the back end so we can divert cases out of the traditional model and into the therapeutic courts. And that's been statistically shown to reduce recidivism and ultimately to save money. Also for the county, when people have their underlying issues addressed, so have their their substance abuse or mental health issues addressed so that they don't end up in a revolving door back in the courtroom over and over and over again. That will also address the backlog. And I just want to say one more thing, and that's about the Blake sex legislation. So simple, drug possession used to be a felony. It always went to Superior Court. The new legislation has changed it to a misdemeanor. That means there's a whole new category of cases that are going to be in the district court that have never been there before. And the district court needs to have a strategy for how to handle those cases when they start coming through. The other thing is that the legislation has required that before those cases can even be filed as a misdemeanor, individuals, defendants need to be given to opportunities at diversion. So that means we're going to have to run those cases through some program, some, you know, therapeutic court, which is why I think expanding existing mental health court or creating a new drug court in the district court would be a way to address the looming backlog of case or category of cases, and it's going to further contribute to the backlog. And helping to set up a court like that or a therapeutic court is something I'm uniquely qualified to do. I have training in and I have worked on in therapeutic courts and I also have a lot of expertize in founding, implementing and expanding new programs, working with multimillion dollar budgets across China, expanding and creating new programs that were then pilot projects that were then duplicated all across the continent of Africa. And also implementing my collaborative program with the minority mentorship program with the Bar Association. So creating programs, implementing them, expanding them, and collaborating to get that to happen is something that I have a lot of experience with. And I would love, love, love to work with colleagues on the district court, to have colleagues on the district court and to be able to work with them to address the backlog through therapeutic courts. Thank you. On this list of are prepared questions, colleagues, are there any follow up questions before we ask for closing remarks? CNN. I invite you to share your closing remarks. Thank you so much. These past two years, I have transitioned from my role as an appellate public defender to the role of judicial officer, and I had the opportunity to make some observations. First, as a judicial officer, my role and my duty is to be a passionate advocate for the rule of law and for due process. It is not a neutral or a passive role, but rather an active one. I have seen when judges safeguarded the integrity of this process and when things went off the rails, resulting in costly appeals. The second thing I have observed is that appellate courts correct errors of law. They do not correct errors of judgment. Because of my work at every level of court. On multiple continents. In every role in the criminal justice system, I have the experience and the judgment, including a deep understanding of the law and of people from all walks of life. That enables me to motivate changes in behavior. The third thing I've observed is that the District Court presents a unique opportunity to interrupt the trajectory of a person's life before it spirals out of control. As a public defender, I would often talk to clients who are in prison with years of escalating criminal history, now staring down a sentence that may last for decades. Along the way, they may have lost custody of their children, blown up their relationships, and left a trail of destruction in our community. That conversation is very different from the one I've had. Later that same day as a judge Pro-Tem talking to a defendant who was struggling with substance abuse in court for a first time misdemeanor. I've been able to look that person in the eye and say, It's not too late for you. You can still fix this. Every decision in my career has been driven by my dedication to public service. I lived in a tent on the border of a war zone and advocated for the rule of law under the surveillance of the Chinese government. I didn't do those things because they were safe or easy or comfortable. I did them because I saw an opportunity to serve where I could make a difference. And I see that same opportunity here to serve my home community. If I could finish my thought to save my sister and my home community on the east side as a King County District Court judge, thank you so much. Thank you very much. We appreciate the insights and experience that you shared with us. And again, truly appreciate your interest in serving the people of King County as a district court judge. Madam Court, would you please admit Mr. Bitcoin back to the Zoom call? And let me know when that's been done. I see Mr. Peake going back in the room as well. Colleagues, would you like a few minutes in executive session? You there? Several nodes. Thank you. Under rc w 4231 ten H. The committee is going into executive session to evaluate the qualifications of a candidate for appointment to elective office. The committee will be in executive session for approximately 15 minutes, ending ad let me say 13 minutes ending at 11:00, and the committee will be off the zoom call for this executive session, together with only those employees directly necessary for the discussion. And at the end of executive session, we will be we will return to this Zoom call. Thank you so much. We are in. We are recessed in. Committee will be an executive session. And. All. Nothing. Think they can. Know. Yeah. The Quorum. Thank you. Amazingly on time out of executive session without an extension of cost out of an executive session and out of recess. I believe I put us in recess as I was doing that. So I'll make sure to cross all my t's and dot all my eyes and. Would ask there was a motion proposed motion regarding proposed motion 2021 335. My member council members go with. The do pass recommendation. Councilmember Bell Belushi has moved adoption of Motion 2021 2035. Council member Belushi. Is it Amendment one? It would be an oral amendment to fill in the blank. And move an oral amendment to fill in the blank with the name of when you represent. We have a verbal amendment to insert the name of Ramprasad into the motion discussion. I could speak to it real briefly. Mr. Chair. Please. Thank you. This has been a really, really great panel of applicants for this job. And I fully expect that we will see both of you on the bench in the future and possibly in the not too distant future. So I want to start by saying that the selection of one is by no means anything other than we can only put one person in one seat at one time. And I want to say, and on behalf of the motion that we've made, we've had this ramprasad has applied in the past. She has been very impressive both times. I've heard from a number of my colleagues over the period of us getting to know her that we appreciate the breadth of her experience, her very clear ability to state values, and then how that will manifest in the in the court context and why it's important for judges to. Use. The job of the court to do justice. I find that very compelling every time I listen to her speak. And and frankly, it was very important to me that after the last interview, I know that several of us gave advice and said, please get some judicial experience. And she really did that. She closed up her own law firm and went to be a full time pro tem in order to get my experience to be ready for this opportunity. So I feel very confident that she will be an outstanding addition to the judge, to the district court bench. It's a difficult time. We need all the help in the district court and in the courts that we can get to move things along and to help us get out of the backlog and the challenges that face the court due to COVID. And I just I'm really delighted to to support her for this. I will say also to Mr. Paquin, please, please, please come back here or at the ballot when there is another opportunity, because we also think that you would make an excellent addition to the bench, and we'd be delighted to see you there as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the discussion on the verbal amendment. For myself personally, I would add and affirm what councilmember did. She just said The qualifications of both candidates are exemplary. Very much the kind of people we want serving the people of King County on the district court. And really value the interest and desire to serve the people in such a way. This is a public job interview and challenging in that way. But really good to get to know both candidates and and affirm the idea that Mr. people and we would love to see a future application or involvement in seeking to serve the people in this way in the future. Thank you for the discussion. The sea? None. All those in favor of the amendment please signify by saying I. I am opposed. Nay. The ayes have it. The the amendment is adopted. We have motion 2021 335 as amended before us. Seen no further discussion. I'd ask the clerk to please call the roll. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilmember Ritchie, I. Councilmember DEMBOSKY, I was a member down. Council Member for Wales and Council Member Lander I. Council member. But the girl. I. Councilmember Bonner. Right. Thought. Council members only. I. Mr. Chen. Hi. Mr. Chen. The vote is seven and I assume most council members. Dan Bernstein. Thank you by your vote. We have given a do pass recommendation to motion 2021 335 as amended, and we will expedite that to full council. And in Leicester's objection, we will put that on the consent agenda as well. Very well. It will be on the consent agenda this coming Tuesday in full council. Thank you. And that takes the Zone six proposed ordinance 2021 288, which would adopt the best charge for kids implementation plan for the years 2022 to 2027.