Judge Denies Behring

Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring can battle for release from his Kingdome lease without any fear that local courts will be biased, a King County judge decided Thursday.

“There is simply no basis for the claim that any judge would be biased based upon press coverage of the case or surrounding disputes,” Bates wrote in denying Behring’s fifth attempt to move the case east of the Cascades.

Seahawks attorney Bill Temko said he may appeal.

“We think the proper decision would be to have the case tried some place other than the county’s own courts,” he said.

The trial is scheduled to begin May 28.

County attorney Art Harrigan said he was pleased.

“I’m happy we can try the case where the building is, the documents are, and the witnesses are,” Harrigan said.

Temko argued the intense media coverage of Behring’s attempts to take the team to Southern California have given him a nasty reputation far worse in Seattle than in Ellensburg.

“I don’t think you get the trash on sports talk radio shows in Ellensburg that you do here,” Temko said.

And as long as the case is in Seattle, local politicians will have a vested interest in turning the case into a media spectacle, he said.

But Bates noted the Seahawks’ draw is regional, with fans in Kittitas County, Alaska and Idaho.