Judges Dispute Claim Warrant Took Too Long

Judges are ticked off at the Spokane Police Department, claiming they were wrongfully accused of contributing to a heroin dealer’s death.

Police are now backing off a written statement blaming judges for being hard to find when a search warrant was needed Sunday.

During a long wait, 41-year-old James Davis, who was being held by police in his home, became seriously ill and died, police maintained Monday.

But District Court judges responded angrily to the police statement, forcing the department to back-pedal.

The press release was inaccurate in suggesting that police had to wait a long time to locate a judge or obtain a warrant, police said Tuesday.

“There are always long waits getting search warrants,” Capt. Roger Bragdon said.

“This one didn’t take any more time than usual, and the wait wasn’t anybody’s fault.”

The actual wait was about 45 minutes, according to Court Commissioner Virginia Rockwood.

Rockwood, the on-call judge, said she was home all day Sunday except for an outing between 6:30 and 7:25 p.m.

“I was available all day,” she said.

When she left the house, she carried a pager that allows law enforcement agencies to get in touch in an emergency.

But Rockwood said police never called her pager when she was out. Detectives initially said they had tried her pager several times and couldn’t reach her.

When she returned home, Rockwood said she checked her answering machine and found a 6:42 p.m. message from a police detective requesting a warrant.

Rockwood said she returned the call at about 7:30 p.m. and was told Judge Richard White was in the process of issuing the warrant.

“We couldn’t get in touch with her, so we went to a different judge, one who lives closer,” Detective Greg Harshman said.

“She called us right as we were pulling into (Judge White’s) driveway.”

Presiding District Court Judge Daniel Maggs said the judicial system was unfairly criticized.

Maggs said he will demand an explanation from the police department.

“At no time was a judge not available,” Maggs said.

“The entire system was in place and working. There was no defect in our system.”