Lawyer who pushed for Spokane mayor’s recall in 2005 now sentenced to prison for child molestation

KENNEWICK – Richland attorney Jerry Davis was living two lives. That much, Benton County prosecutors and his defense attorney agree on.

He was a lawyer and review judge who volunteered his skills to the less fortunate.

He also had gained the respect of some in Spokane, where 15 years ago he helped argue for the validity of an effort to recall Mayor Jim West.

But privately, Davis arranged for the molestation of a young child and collected child pornography.

On Friday, the suspended attorney and convicted child abuser said in a rambling, tearful 15-minute statement in a Kennewick courtroom that he didn’t understand what was wrong with him, but was willing to work on fixing it.

“It doesn’t make sense even to me,” he said. “When I started with, ‘I’m sorry for this,’ that’s too light.”

After listening to Davis, Judge Bruce Spanner said he didn’t wish the attorney ill will but that two children in the case will suffer a lifetime of stress, distrust and self-esteem struggles.

“I don’t think 89 months is long enough,” Spanner said. “I hope they learn to forgive.”

He sentenced Davis to a minimum of seven years and five months in prison on one count of first-degree child molestation.

When Davis finishes serving the minimum, his case will be reviewed by a state Department of Corrections board to decide whether he can be released.

Davis already is serving a year and two months after he was caught with child pornography on his computer in Olympia. The Thurston County sentence will be served at the same time as his Benton County sentence.

Davis worked for a Richland family law firm and as a review judge for the state Department of Social and Health Services.

He oversaw hearings for administrative law cases involving Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services and other social services agencies that serve vulnerable clients. He was fired from that job in March 2018.

In 2005, Davis donated some $20,000 of legal work toward the effort to recall West, who had been accused of offering young men city jobs and appointments in exchange for sex. Davis also argued for the validity of the recall effort before the state Supreme Court.

The Washington State Bar Association lists Davis’ law license as suspended in January 2019.

Police began investigating Davis after he mentioned on a dating app that he drugged children with NyQuil before raping them, according to court records.

Investigators searched his Olympia home and discovered child pornography on his computer.

On Friday, Deputy Prosecutor Laurel Holland requested the top end of the state sentencing range, 89 months, for Davis.

She said the investigation showed he has “a very real attraction to children.”

His attorney, Megan Whitmire, asked for a shorter prison term. The sentencing range started at 67 months.

“He … sought therapy after the initial conviction,” Whitmire said. “He’s very anxious to get to the bottom of this. He knows that he has a long way to go.”

Another supporter, attorney Brant L. Stevens, drove from Spokane to speak at Davis’ sentencing.

He and Davis worked side-by-side serving people needing help and knew each other for 20 years. The attorney helped cancer patients create living wills and provided free advice for indigent people.

Stevens asked Spanner for leniency, saying seven years is a long time, and Davis would be 61 before he gets a chance to be free.

The court was sent other letters of support, but Holland argued they showed he lived two separate lives.

“The people that wrote those letters on his behalf very clearly have no idea of the level and the nature of the conduct that the defendant was engaging in,” she said.

Spokesman-Review reporter Chad Sokol contributed to this story.