Franklin County court cases canceled after judicial no-show

Franklin County's increasingly bitter court records dispute spilled into the courtroom Thursday when a Superior Court judge wouldn't take the bench on ethical grounds.

Benton-Franklin Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom missed two morning dockets after the seven-member panel of judges recused itself from cases presented by Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant.

The morning hearings, involving nearly 30 cases, were recorded as stricken, and officials are working to put them on future dockets and to notify the people involved.

"Everyone who was here today didn't get their day in court," said Franklin County Clerk Michael Killian, who is embroiled in a sprawling legal battle with the judges over court records in Franklin County.

The judges sued Killian in March to force him to comply with their order to maintain paper records as the state moves to the Odyssey electronic records system.

Killian moved to paperless records in January, triggering a standoff that has since expanded to include the county's elected prosecutor and the Washington State Supreme Court.

Sant's petition to the state's highest court led to Thursday's dramatic courtroom no-show by making him a party to a legal dispute with the judges.

W. Dale Kamerrer, the Olympia attorney representing the judges, said the judges were concerned that hearing cases presented by a legal adversary would be en ethics violation under the code of judicial conduct. Judges typically recuse themselves in such situations, he said.

But the standoff proved short-lived.

The judges sought advice from the state Judicial Conduct Commission, which informed them shortly after noon that they did not need to recuse themselves from Franklin County cases.

Sant said he was relieved by the move and appreciated that the judges were acting out of an abundance of caution.

A judge pro tem, Craig Stilwill, presided over the afternoon preliminary hearings docket, where accused criminal suspects made their first appearance since being arrested.

Ekstrom said he could not comment under the rules governing judges. Kamerrer acknowledged it is an unusual situation, but said the judges were motivated to act ethically.

Thursday's ethics drama is the latest, most visible public sign of worsening relations between the judges and county clerk.

The prosecutor was drawn into the conflict when the judges seemingly bypassed him to appoint their attorney as a deputy special prosecutor.

Sant had revoked Kamerrer's special deputy status after Killian agreed to provide paper copies of court records, believing it settled the dispute.

Sant asked the Washington State Supreme Court to review the appointment earlier this month.

The court has not yet decided if it will accept the case, but it temporarily halted Kammerer's special deputy status. The attorney said he is nevertheless the judges' retained counsel.

The judges called Sant's case "frivolous and improper" and said it is based on Killian's mishandling of the order in a new response filed this week.

The judges argue Killian improperly filed the administrative order and assigned it a case number. The case file refers to Kamerrer as the plaintiff and Sant as the defendant. That's incorrect, they said.

"These proceedings are as unlawful as the altered document itself," the judges said in their response.

Sant said he will file his response to the response by Monday.

The underlying records case against Killian is pending in Kittitas County Superior Court. It is tentatively set for trial on July 13.

This story was originally published June 21, 2018 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Franklin County court cases canceled after judicial no-show."