Judge Race: And Then There Were Three
May 27th, 2008 by josh farley
Greg Wall’s campaign slogan for superior court judge is succinct: “Trial Experience Counts!”
With the addition of Kingston attorney Jeanette Dalton, three lawyers have now announced their intentions to take Leonard Costello’s seat on Kitsap County’s superior court bench. Odds are that Dalton and fellow candidate Bruce Danielson would also agree with Wall’s (pictured) slogan — between the three, there are seven decades of judicial experience.
There are sizable differences between the candidates concerning their areas of experience, however.
Wall can point to his career in the civil arena — especially
maritime law — in which he’s even argued a case before the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Dalton, meanwhile, has spent her career in the criminal arena, serving as a King County deputy prosecutor and more recently as a local defense attorney.
Danielson’s bar association profile lists mostly civil endeavors, but his campaign web site also mentions some criminal defense work.
As we near “filing week,” for candidates in this fall’s elections, the three are, as of now, looking at a three way race. The other seven judges on the bench have announced plans to run again, but so far no one has challenged them.
Let’s not forget that (outside the Washington State Supreme Court races) we’re going to have another judicial race to keep an eye on at the appeals level. That race sees Bainbridge-based attorney and incumbent Judge J. Robin Hunt against Tim Ford, a lawyer who works in the state attorney general’s office.
Washington has three divisions for appeals, which consist of three-judge panels. Kitsap is included in division no. 2.
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June 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
In March 2007 Jeanette Dalton fought to suppress the standardized field sobriety tests that officers use as a tool to detect a persons impairment in DUI cases. She represented 12 defendants in front of Judges Riehl, Paja, Phillips, and Holman for 3 days en banc, I’m sure at a great expense to the tax payers. You can find the courts ruling at http://www.waduicenter.com/toolbox/fst_ntsa_kitsap.php Jeanette Dalton has also stated in regard to the felony DUI law (5th DUI in 10 years being a felony) “It’s not fixing it,” Dalton said of the new law. “People that have severe problems with alcohol aren’t deterred by laws that would punish them. Nothing’s going to deter them from taking that drink except treatment,” Dalton said. Well, after 4 or 5 DUIs, treatment has been ordered and it has failed because those people would rather risk the lives of everyone else on the road and continue to drink and drive. I don’t believe that in cases of felony DUI, Vehicular Homicide or Assault, Jeantte Dalton would be an impartial judge from what I have seen. I’ll give my support to Bruce Danielson.