Legal/Judicial
Experience: Division 3 Court of Appeals Judge (March 2014 - present);
Yakima County Superior Court Judge (January 2011 - February 2014); Yakima
County Superior Court Pro Tem Judge (July 2004 - December 2010).
Other Professional
Experience: Trial and appellate attorney for 20 years. Yakima County Bar Association president (2002
- 2003).
Education: Whitman College (1982 - 1986); Willamette College of Law
(1986 - 1989).
Community Service: Downtown Yakima Rotary; Yakima Bible Study Fellowship (adult
and children's leader); Citizens for Safe Yakima Valley Communities; Juvenile
Court Community Accountability Board; Yakima County Volunteer Attorney Services;
Selah Kiwanis (past president); Central Washington Multiple Sclerosis Society;
Selah Goodwill Industries.
Statement: I ask for your vote to retain my position on Division 3 of
the Court of Appeals. Division 3
considers appeals from all county Superior Courts east of the Cascades. Because there are only five Division 3
judges, the work load for each judge is substantial. To perform this work, an appellate judge
needs to have great familiarity with appellate law and the substantive areas of
criminal, civil, divorce, and juvenile law.
I am currently Chief Judge of Division 3, and am in my fourth
year on the court. My experience as an
appellate judge, in addition to my years of experience as a trial judge, enable
me to issue accurate and timely decisions.
When I was a trial attorney, I represented people and small
businesses. My job was to tell them what
the law, as written, says, and to resolve their cases in a fair and timely
manner.
I bring the same approach to my job as an
appellate judge. My job is to tell
others what the law, as written, says, and to decide their cases in a fair and timely
manner.