News of Chris Casad’s death came as a shock to many of us in
the Kitsap Sun’s newsroom.
Casad, the longest-serving member of the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office, was someone we could always count on to point us in the right direction when working on the courthouse beat. To echo sentiments in our Friday story, he was always kind, helpful and extremely knowledgeable.
Last Friday night, I had a conversation with fellow longtime deputy prosecutor Kevin Kelly. Kelly told me Casad took him under his wing when he started at the office two decades ago; the pair prosecuted murder suspects together and Casad helped him learn the ropes.
Casad also put in a lot of time in his community. Kelly said he could often be found “flipping pancakes and grilling hot dogs,” Kelly said.
As a lawyer, Casad worked best as an investigator and as the state’s lawyer, he said. While he had friends in the defense community — the above photo was taken with Bill Crawford (right), a long time public defender who retired last year — he preferred a side, Kelly said.
“He was a born prosecutor,” he told me.
