Sweetser Will Assist ‘Mistreated’ Prosecutor To Open Personal Injury Practice

Thu., Dec. 24, 1998

By Dan Hansen danh@spokesman.com

How does an attorney top 14 years as a prosecutor and nearly 300 criminal trials, including two that put murderers on death row?

By helping win justice for people treated unfairly at work, injured in car accidents or scalded by coffee.

Spokane County Prosecutor Jim Sweetser, whose term expires next week, plans to open his own practice as a personal injury lawyer.

Sweetser said he also may take on some criminal defense cases.

“I’ve always had a goal of being a personal injury attorney, helping people who are mistreated,” said Sweetser, who sees a parallel between that brand of lawyering and being a prosecutor.

“I’m going to be still fighting for victims,” he said.

Sweetser was a deputy prosecutor for 10 years. In 1993, he helped win a death sentence for Blake Pirtle, who was accused of slashing the throats of two Burger King employees.

Sweetser was elected county prosecutor in 1994, and last year put Dwayne Woods on death row for the murders of two Valley women.

He also prosecuted Kevin Boot, who was convicted of murdering Felicia Reece, and former sheriff’s deputy Tom DiBartolo, who was convicted of killing his wife.

During his 1994 campaign, Sweetser said he wanted to “set the direction for law enforcement for the next 10 years.” But he quickly alienated employees by opposing a proposed collective bargaining agreement with deputy prosecutors. Sweetser, a Democrat, lost re-election in November to Republican Steve Tucker.

Sweetser said he is looking forward to being in private practice. He doesn’t plan to join a firm, but will share an office with six other attorneys.

Sweetser said one of his heroes is flamboyant defense attorney Gerry Spence, who represented Randy Weaver, among other high-profile defendants.

Spence “picks the cases he’s very interested in and makes sure that justice is done,” Sweetser said.

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