Former deputy D.A. claims she resigned from Benton County because of Holcomb

Presiding Circuit Court Judge Locke Williams said Friday he was saddened and disappointed at Scott Heiser's decision to resign as Benton County district attorney.

Heiser announced his resignation in a letter to Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Thursday. He cited on-going conflicts with Circuit Court Judge Janet Holcomb as the reason for his resignation.

Heiser, who is also president of the Oregon District Attorneys Association, was re-elected in May to his third term of office in Benton County. Holcomb was re-elected in 2004 to her second six-year term.

"In my 4.5 years of working side by side with Judge Holcomb," Williams said in an e-mail to the Gazette-Times, "I have viewed her as a jurist who exercises sound judgment and as a person who brings high ethical standards to the bench."

Williams said that because Heiser has announced his intention of filing a complaint against Holcomb with the Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability, it is inappropriate for her to respond publicly. Holcomb's office said she would comply with Williams' wishes.

Heiser also said all new cases filed by his office would include affidavits to disqualify Holcomb because of bias.

Williams said this could cause problems for the court.

"(It) may significantly impair the ability of our court to deliver timely disposition of all case types," Williams said.

He also made it clear that in signing the orders to disqualify Holcomb he was not expressing agreement with the motions, but rather reflected his decision not to use court resources to challenge each one. As of Friday, Williams had signed orders disqualifying Holcomb from 16 cases.

"(Holcomb) demands that lawyers be prepared," Williams said, "and that they earn and maintain the trust that the public vests in them."

But two former Benton County deputy district attorn eys disagreed with Williams' assessment of Holcomb.

Liane Richardson, who has worked as a deputy district attorney in Marion, Linn and Benton counties, and who now is assistant dean of students at the University of Oregon Law School, said Holcomb was one of the main reasons she resigned from Benton County.

"The very first day I met her," Richardson said, "she made it clear to me that she didn't like the DA's office and she didn't like Scott (Heiser.)"

Richardson said she was not aware of why Holcomb had this animosity, but she soon felt it directed toward her in Holcomb's rulings and in her courtroom demeanor.

"I had several cases where she was clearly disdainful of myself and the other deputy DA's," Richardson said. She mentioned expressions such as Holcomb's eye-rolling and impatient sighs.

"I had many families of victims who wanted to know why she didn't like us," Richardson said.

She added that she'd had excellent experiences with the other two judges at the time, Robert Gardner and Henry Dickerson.

Richardson also had trouble getting Holcomb to rule on pretrial motions. Unlike the defense, prosecutors can't appeal judges' rulings after the trial. If the prosecutor disagrees with a ruling before the trial, he can appeal to a higher court. But Holcomb delays her rulings, often until the trial is under way, robbing prosecutors of the possibility of appeal, according to Richardson.

Michael Wynhausen, deputy district attorney in Linn County, who worked in Benton County for six years, agreed. He cited a case of sexual assault, State of Oregon vs. Trautwein, that was originally assigned to Holcomb. Wynhausen said he asked for an opportunity to argue for the admission of evidence of the defendant's prior criminal activities. Usually such evidence is not admissible except under specific conditions. Wynhausen believed those conditions could be met in this case.

But Holcomb would not even hear argument on the issue.

"She said, 'I'm not going to allow it,'" Wynhausen said.

Holcomb was removed from the case as the result of a motion filed by the district attorney's office. The case was reassigned to Williams, who did hear legal arguments about the defendant's prior crimes and ruled that the evidence was admissible. The defendant was convicted on numerous charges.

Wynhausen emphasized the difference in the way the two judges handled the same matter.

"These things have been happening for years," Wynhausen said. The Trautwein case was just one example.

He added that it is citizens who are affected if guilty defendants go free because of questionable rulings by a trial judge.

"If a judge is confident in their legal analysis," he said, "they would welcome the ruling of an appeals court."

The issue of whether Holcomb's judgments are sound or not may remain a question in some peoples' minds for some time to come.

Susan Isaacs, executive director of the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability, said it can take more than a year for a complaint to get to a hearing before the Supreme Court, if it does actually get that far.

"The commission meets six times a year," Isaacs said, "so it can take two months before a complaint even comes before the commission."

The commission assesses if the complaint falls within its authority and if there is enough information to support the complaint before it orders a preliminary investigation. If it is then determined there is enough evidence to proceed, another investigation begins.

None of that process is public. The complaint becomes public if and when the commission recommends that the Supreme Court consider it, and the court agrees.

ON THE NET: To read the full text of Judge Williams' e-mail letter to the Gazette-Times, see www.gazette

times.com

Gwyneth Gibby covers police and courts for the Gazette-Times. She can be reached at 758-9548 or at gwyneth.gibby@lee.net.