Small-Town Prosecutor Steps Into National Spotlight

Outside of tiny Boundary County, Denise Woodbury was unknown when she stepped into the prosecutor’s office seven months ago.

Today she’s making national news, slapping an elite FBI agent with manslaughter charges for his role in the Ruby Ridge standoff.

Woodbury, 47, served as Boundary County’s deputy prosecutor for 8-1/2 years.

She has mostly civil trial experience, but has tried one murder case - two months ago. Woodbury persuaded a jury to convict Wayne Thurman, 19, for shooting a 15-year-old boy. She is seeking the death penalty for Thurman, who is awaiting sentencing.

The Republican prosecutor, who makes $35,487 a year, is one of only two practicing attorneys who live in Bonners Ferry. The other is former prosecutor Randall Day, whom she defeated by 75 votes in the May 1996 primary.

Day was Woodbury’s boss and led the county’s Ruby Ridge investigation until his defeat.

Ruby Ridge was an election issue. Day handled the case since 1992 and wanted to wrap it up. Woodbury was not privy to any details that Day had uncovered but promised to take a hard look at the case when she assumed office.

“It wouldn’t just be dropped,” she said before the election.

Woodbury was a private attorney for 11 years and is a graduate of Gonzaga Law School. She is married, has four grown children and is a former chair of the county’s Republican Central Committee.

She is taking on the Ruby Ridge case with help from her only deputy prosecutor, Todd Reed.

Reed, who lives in Sandpoint, has been with Boundary County only seven months. He is a former deputy prosecutor in neighboring Bonner County.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo