Witnesses Say Judge Was Reading Paperbacks Newspaper’s Attorney Asks That Libel Suit Be Dismissed, Says Witness Affidavits Support News Reports About Judge Wilson

Armed with sworn statements from witnesses who saw District Court Judge Donna Wilson reading paperbacks during trials, a Spokesman-Review attorney is asking that her $1.5 million libel suit against the newspaper be thrown out.

One of 16 affidavits filed this week in Spokane County Superior Court is from a lawyer who said Wilson warned him not to tell anyone he saw her reading a book during his client’s drunken driving trial.

“‘If anyone asks, you didn’t see anything,”’ David Rubens recalled Wilson telling him in 1993.

Four other affidavits are from two jurors, a lawyer and a witness who were in Wilson’s courtroom for trials and said they saw the judge reading a book on the bench.

Wilson claims The Spokesman-Review made up the book-reading story, which libeled her, invaded her privacy and subjected her to public ridicule.

Her attorney, William Powell, said he plans to present “eight to 10” witnesses who also were present during the two trials and who dispute the newspaper’s facts.

“They have quite a different version of what went on,” Powell said Thursday.

The statements submitted this week support the accuracy of articles written about Wilson by reporter William Miller in 1993 and 1994, said Duane Swinton, the newspaper’s attorney.

“We stand behind the truth of what was printed,” Swinton said Thursday. “There’s no indication the newspaper acted with the knowledge of falsity of anything that was printed.”

Claiming her action was frivolous, the newspaper has filed a countersuit against Wilson seeking payment for attorneys’ fees.

After the allegations surfaced against Wilson in 1993, Rubens said he told the judge he saw her reading a thick paperback during trial and suggested she “just admit the fact that she made a mistake.”

Wilson, according to the affidavit, responded to Rubens by saying, “‘Dave, you did not see me reading a paperback book.’

“I was surprised at this remark on her part and told the judge, ‘But Donna, I saw you reading a paperback book on the bench during the trial,”’ Rubens said in the sworn affidavit. “Once again, however this time slower and with a more forceful emphasis, Judge Wilson’s remark to me was ‘You did not see me reading a paperback book.”’

The judge’s attorney said Wilson denies ever warning or threatening Rubens about the case in any manner.

“She has a different version of how that conversation went,” Powell said.

He said he is also prepared to prove Rubens, who uses a wheelchair, could not have seen the judge reading anything.

“We can demonstrate, scientifically, that he could not have seen what (Wilson) was doing on the bench,” Powell said.

In Rubens’ affidavit, he said Wilson’s courtroom was arranged with counsel tables “very close” to Wilson’s seat.

“The assistant city prosecutor and I had a very clear view of Judge Wilson’s activities on the bench,” he said in his statement.

Rubens refused Thursday to comment further on the book-reading incident, saying only, “my affidavit speaks for itself.”

In light of new statements from witnesses, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct could reopen its investigation of Wilson. The 11-member panel dismissed allegations of misconduct against the judge in October 1993 due to “insufficient evidence.”

Neither Rubens nor jurors who said they saw Wilson reading on the bench were interviewed during that investigation.

Commission director David Akana refused to answer questions about the investigation, such as how long it took or how many people were interviewed. He said, however, that new information on any closed complaint could give the commission reason to reopen the investigation.

“It’s not hard to reopen a complaint” Akana said. “Some people don’t always tell us things (the first time).”

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