The Center’s Chief Catalyst, Breean Beggs, finds promise in the City’s move to establish a new Municipal Court.
By Breean Beggs
The City of Spokane announced last week that it would adopt the Center’s call for Municipal Court judges to be elected exclusively by City voters. The City had resisted allowing city voters to control its courts since 1993 despite several state statutes requiring these elections.
The Center joined the conversation in 2006 at the request of local criminal defense attorneys, who
expressed fear of retaliation if they sought judicial compliance with the law. The Center filed an appeal on behalf of two misdemeanor defendants, but attempted to privately negotiate a settlement with the City that would have brought the City into compliance without jeopardizing past convictions.
The City insisted on going to hearing and the Division III Court of Appeals found that the City’s system of using county elected judges deprived the trial court of any jurisdiction for City cases. The case is now headed to the state’s Supreme Court, where the City argues that thousands of convictions for the last decade are at risk.
The City’s creation of a new Municipal Court will likely improve the criminal justice system in addition to bringing it into legal compliance. As one city official put it, “Urban problems require an urban justice system.” The use of city elected judges will make it easier to implement innovative programs that address the root causes of urban misdemeanor crimes rather than relying heavily on the traditional rural strategy of jail time. The Center has been instrumental in improving the City of Spokane’s Municipal Court going forward and is still working to resolve the past failures to comply with the law.
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