Judge issues new order after Franklin sheriff seizes 48 guns from jail officers

The Franklin County sheriff was ordered to return 48 guns to the county jail by 5 p.m. Thursday.

Walla Walla Superior Court Judge Brandon Johnson said the guns need to be returned to the jail’s gun storage cabinet where they were stored before being seized 10 days ago.

“The court is going to order that all the weapons be returned immediately,” Johnson said Thursday afternoon following a 90-minute hearing at the Franklin County Courthouse in Pasco.

“We can deal with paperwork on the back end. We can’t deal with a serious safety threat on the back end,” he ruled.

The chance the guns will be needed by corrections officers escorting prisoners to court or the hospital or in the case of a jail uprising made it more important for the jail officers to have them available, Johnson said.

The dispute over control of the guns and the need for a quick ruling came after Franklin County commissioners voted suddenly on April 23 to take over immediate control of the jail from Sheriff Jim Raymond.

The result was serious confusion over the legal authority over the weapons for jail officers and security at the courthouse.

On Thursday, Johnson allowed Sheriff Raymond to keep control over the small security gatehouse in front of the courthouse for at least another week.

County commissioners had hired a private firm, Tri-Cities Monitoring, to take charge of searching people entering the courthouse and county complex but the sheriff refused to allow them to start.

Judge Brandon Johnson from Walla Walla conducts Thursday’s court hearing in Franklin County Superior Court in Pasco. Bob Brawdy/bbrawdy@tricityherald.com Disputed court order

The only issue decided Thursday was over the guns that were originally assigned to corrections officers under the legal commission of Raymond. When the jail was taken from his authority, he argued that the officers were no longer his employees under his legal control and was concerned about the legal issues of having them in the hands of people who aren’t certified by him.

County prosecutors got a temporary court order signed by Judge Pro-Tem Jennifer Azure saying that Raymond needed to leave them be in the jail.

But Raymond disputed the validity of that order and took matters into his own hands and went into the jail and seized the weapons.

That lead the deputies and sheriff’s commanders unions to file for their own court order to bar the sheriff from ordering them to violate court orders. They were granted a temporary court order.

Prosecutors also asked for Raymond to be found in contempt of court.

The cases were then assigned to Johnson because of conflict of interest issues with local judges.

About 25 listen as Judge Brandon Johnson from Walla Walla speak at Thursday’s court hearing in Franklin County Superior Court in Pasco. Bob Brawdy/bbrawdy@tricityherald.com New attorney for sheriff

Until this week, Sheriff Raymond had no attorney representing him. His first attorney had a conflict of interest, and he declined to work with the second one assigned.

He’s now been assigned Bob Christie, a Seattle-based civil attorney with Baker Sterchi Cowden and Rice.

However, Christie was appointed days before Thursday’s hearing and told the judge he wasn’t prepared to argue on all the issues.

He wanted until Monday to come up with a plan to return just four of the guns to the jail.

“What I’ve undertaken to do and have been successful in doing in the short amount of time that I’ve been involved in this is to determine some things that would create a pathway to bringing a limited number of weapons back into a secure area outside of the jail,” Christie argued.

He argued there are still two weapons that were in the hands of the jail as well as sheriff’s commission cards that needed to be returned to the sheriff.

Sheriff Jim Raymond attends Thursday’s court hearing via a video link from his office. Bob Brawdy/bbrawdy@tricityherald.com

Christie said once those are in the hands of the sheriff, they could begin to work on a process to get some of the guns back to the jail.

He noted that under jail procedures guns are taken into the jail and are used only by officers escorting inmates outside the jail. As for a possible riot inside the facility, he noted there has never been an uprising.

“There are commissioned Franklin County sheriff’s deputies that are still fully commissioned with weapons engaged in the daytime hours to transfer prisoners in and out of the courtroom — fully armed, no issue there,” Christie contended. “This hue and cry of the need for some weapons for a possible emergency … is not a practicality.”

While the guns are county property, Christie argued they were issued by the authority of the sheriff, and since the jail isn’t a law enforcement agency anymore it doesn’t legally have right to issue guns.

The sheriff planned to issue a limited commission to the corrections officers, but that process will take time, he said.

Corrections officers’ safety

Franklin County Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Briggs argued that the weapons are necessary to protect the safety of the corrections officers at the jail. Each had been issued a gun.

“Every moment that the corrections officers do not have access to these firearms puts their lives in danger,” Briggs said. “That’s our primary concern.”

Franklin County Commissioner Clint Didier attends the court hearing Thursday in Franklin County Superior Court in Pasco. Bob Brawdy/bbrawdy@tricityherald.com

The corrections officers also need the weapons to ensure the safety of the community at large, he argued, saying the sheriff should be found in contempt for seizing them.

He noted that the sheriff knew that they needed these tools to do there job. Having the weapons was part of the jail’s policies.

With only one squad working Monday through Friday, they don’t have access to guns on nights or weekends.

“It’s a very dangerous situation, not to mention the exposure of liability to the county,” he argued. “I’m very concerned for the safety and security of the people that put their lives on the line working for the county every day.”

Johnson said the safety concerns outweighed Raymond’s worries about whether the corrections officers could legally have the guns.

Another hearing on the other issues is scheduled for May 15.