Verner seeks delay on court setup

In an abrupt reversal, Mayor Mary Verner is asking the Spokane City Council to withdraw the city’s petition to county commissioners to establish a new municipal court system that would allow city voters to elect city judges.

The petition, approved by the City Council on Dec. 27 during a special meeting, was prompted by a November 2007 ruling by the Washington Court of Appeals in Spokane that invalidated the currently constituted municipal court’s authority because its judges were chosen countywide and not solely by city voters.

The appellate ruling overturned the DUI convictions of Henry E. Smith and Lawrence J. Rothwell, two Spokane men represented by the Center for Justice – and threatened to overturn many more convictions. The city has appealed the ruling to the Washington Supreme Court, which may not decide for nearly a year.

The city’s about-face comes less than a week after outgoing City Attorney Jim Craven told The Spokesman-Review the municipal court reorganization would proceed if county commissioners approved it.

The commissioners had scheduled a hearing on the new municipal court for Thursday evening. The issue already had been heard by a District Court commissioning panel, which recently approved the election of municipal court judges.

In a letter Tuesday to Spokane County Commission Chairwoman Bonnie Mager, Verner asked for postponement of the hearing while she convenes a group of “key stakeholders.”

“I believe a methodical consensus-building process will help us deliver the best criminal justice system possible,” Verner said in her letter.

In its 2008 session early this year, the Legislature changed the law governing municipal courts, and although a revision to Spokane’s current system could be grandfathered in under the new law, Verner said she wants to start over.

The legislation “opens up new opportunities for the city to explore its goal of delivering the most efficient and effective criminal justice services possible,” Verner said in her letter.

In an interview Friday, Verner said she wants to establish a type of independent municipal court knows as “3.50 court” after the enabling legislation – not a “3.46 court,” the state law that establishes a municipal department within the county’s District Court system. The commissioners were about to consider a revised 3.46 court.

Verner said an “efficient and effective” court system is more important to her than whether judges are elected solely within city limits.

“I believe it is important for the citizens of the city of Spokane to have a specific say in the judges. That is a factor. To me it is a less important factor than having a system that works very efficiently and provides the best service to our citizens,” she said.

The 3.50 court was also a goal of late Spokane Mayor Jim West, who ran into flak from some District Court judges and county commissioners. West sued the county, now-retired Presiding District Court Judge Mike Padden and the District Court and won the right to establish an independent court when the Supreme Court ruled in the city’s favor.

The “stakeholders” Verner will invite to reconsider the issue include city employees and labor representatives, county officials and District Court judges. They would report to Verner by July with recommendations, according to a city press release.