Minjares Makes Case for Prosecuting Attorney Race

Above: Local attorney Victor Minjares is running for Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney on the issues of reform, respect, and justice.

Change Needed in Local Law and Justice Department Culture, says Minjares

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

“There are serious issues with the criminal justice system in Thurston County,” local attorney Victor Minjares said in a recent interview with Little Hollywood.

While some know the criminal justice system only through television shows like Perry Mason or Law and Order, others know it all too well in real life.

Reflective of the national examination on implicit bias, socio-economic and racial injustice and other systemic issues beleaguering the law and justice community, Minjares is running for Thurston County prosecuting attorney on a campaign of reform.

Minjares says he wants to change the culture within the office that hasn't seen a change in decades.

The position of prosecuting attorney and the issues associated with it may not be on voters’ radar because current prosecuting attorney Jon Tunheim, who is running for his third term, has never had a challenger. Each term is four years.

Before Tunheim, Ed Holm had been prosecutor for three terms, from 1999 to 2010. After Holm was sued by three female deputy prosecutors in his office for sexual harassment and won their case, he chose not to run for reelection. 

Tunheim, who was chief criminal deputy prosecutor at the time, ran for the position and won, and won reelection in 2014.

According to his biography, Tunheim first joined the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office as a legal intern in 1988 and has won many awards for his community service.

Minjares and Tunheim are running as Democrats. The position pays an annual salary of $169,187. Fifty percent of the salary is paid by the county and fifty percent is paid by the State of Washington. 

Making His Case

Minjares has 30 years of experience handling criminal, civil, appellate, and administrative cases in state and federal courts. He moved to Olympia in 2006 from Los Angeles, California and is a graduate of Pomona College and Stanford Law School. 

A civil attorney in private practice, he now represents nonprofit organizations, individuals, and small businesses in Washington and California courts.

From 2008 – 2014, Minjares served Thurston County District Court as a Judge Pro Tem, presiding over misdemeanors, civil cases brought by pro se litigants, infractions, restraint petitions, and criminal calendars.

During much of that same time, Minjares was an assistant attorney general in the Torts Division of the Washington State Attorney General's Office, responsible for defending state agencies in civil damage lawsuits in federal and state court.

His resume is long and his experience is deep and varied. Early in his career in Los Angeles, Minjares was a criminal prosecutor for 15 years, sending criminals to prison for murders, robberies, home invasions, and other serious felonies.

He lives in Thurston County with his wife and children. He is active in the community and has served on several boards. 

The Role of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office

Little Hollywood asked Minjares about the responsibilities of the office, the issues he sees, court diversion programs and alternatives to incarceration, the case of Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin, the two young African American men who were shot by a white Olympia police officer in 2015, and a recent independent study of the county’s court system.

“There’s a lot of things wrong with the prosecutor attorney office – a lot of waste, a lack of supervision, a lack of respect for the office itself and the power it holds. I want to bring in reform, bring back respect, both for the office and for the public, for the courts.

“I want to bring a general sense of justice to the job, justice above all else, even if that means walking in and dismissing because you got it wrong, fixing a case because you accidently convicted the wrong person, or charging someone who is very popular because they did a serious crime….”

Asked for specifics, Minjares said he wants to create a conviction integrity unit with outside experts to review evidence and sentences and determine whether or not errors were made. 

“When I talk to criminal defense attorneys and individuals, they tell me stories of their interactions and that it is not the policy to immediately turn over evidence showing when someone is innocent. They make defense attorneys fight for it and in fact, there’s a lot of litigation about that in our courts. The obligation of a prosecutor is not to withhold information. If he finds that a witness has changed their story, or finds a new witness that shows that the defendant is innocent, the obligation is to contact the other side and say, ‘Hey, you might want to talk to this witness.’”

“Here (in Thurston County), they let them know right before the trial, which causes a continuance of a case, and that is a violation of speedy trial rights of the defendant,” he said.

“If I’m prosecutor, the evidence will get turned over right away. Then we can argue in court whether it is relevant or admissible – the defense is going to get the information at the earliest opportunity.

“One, it’s the right thing to do. Two, it’s more efficient. You know what the case is worth early on and decide how to plead…or decide whether it needs to go to trial….To wait until the last minute is unethical and inefficient.”

Minjares said that when people sit around waiting for their case to come up, they may lose their job and increase the strain on the social service system.

Minjares says it costs $42,000 a year to house someone in the county jail and even more in the state system. 

“Some people need to go to prison...but when you do that…when you send someone away to prison or jail, you’re increasing the costs on the county through a myriad of factors that don’t show up on the balance sheet…but they are there and they are real,” he said.

“Did you know most of the people who are sitting in Thurston County jail right are not guilty of any crime? They are awaiting trial. I’d like to examine better methods of releasing people on their own recognizance, or setting a low bail when it's warranted, for relatively minor offenses...like low-level misdemeanors or drug offenses. People should not be sitting in jail simply because they cannot afford $1,000 to make a $10,000 bond, for example.”

Thurston County Statistics

The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has a civil division and a criminal division.

The civil division of the prosecuting attorney's office serves as the attorney for Thurston County, providing legal advice and representation to the county elected officials, departments, and independent boards and commissions.

The criminal division receives referrals from law enforcement agencies to review for possible criminal charges.

According to the Prosecuting Attorney’s website, the office leads a team of 32 lawyers and 37 support staff.

In 2016, 1,606 felony cases were filed (325 were felony domestic violence cases and 145 felony sexual assault and/or child abuse cases), 2,017 misdemeanor cases (445 were misdemeanor domestic violence cases), 502 juvenile cases, 167 defendants received services in the drug court program, 16 defendants in DUI court, 48 defendants enrolled in mental health court and 22 defendants in veteran court.

The office also processes over 1,800 child support cases each year while also serving as a law firm for all Thurston County Government offices.

Minjares was asked to comment on those numbers and whether they are reflective of a community the size and demographics of Thurston County. He says the statistics don’t tell the whole story.

“Of those 32 attorneys, around six are civil attorneys, the rest criminal. Thirty two lawyers is not a large office… (but) there’s no supervision by the prosecutor. It should be part of the job. The prosecutor goes to meetings and has no idea of what’s going on in his own office. It’s really a free for all. Our crime rate is steady in the county but the sentences are going up. The maximum sentence is not the solution to all problems, which it seems to be in that office.”

Minjares was asked why the jail is overflowing if crime is steady and why the sentences are going up.

“Well, if I’m an individual prosecutor left to my own devices, to me, to be successful is to get a maximum sentence for the charge. However, you can’t let prosecutors seek that in every case. You have to supervise them so you don’t overflow the jails, bankrupt the county and bankrupt the state.”

“I want to open up the black box that is the Prosecuting Attorney’s office. They do not really give statistics that don’t make them look like they’re doing a good job. I want to use our sunshine policies in this state and apply them to the prosecutor’s office so the public can see for themselves what is happening. Raw numbers like this that they are putting out don’t tell you if they are being fairly prosecuted, or if prosecutors are sanctioned for breaking the rules,” he said.

System, Jail Alternatives

Seventy five percent of the county’s budget goes to law and justice and that includes the courts, the jail system, the sheriff’s office, public counsel, and probation services.

Thurston County has several court diversion programs, including a drug court, a mental health court, and a veteran court.

“It’s expensive to run a courtroom - about $9,000 a day. I’m in favor of (these diversion) courts and what they are trying to accomplish, but they are expensive. We need to rely more on diversion before they enter the criminal justice system.”

Minjares described a successful law enforcement assisted diversion (LEAD) program that began in Seattle.

“It’s intended to keep low level offenders out of the system before they are booked and enter the whole hamster wheel of the system. It’s a pre-booking diversion program. They tried to start the program here in Thurston County but after six to eight months, they have had just one person enter the program. It’s up to the prosecutor’s office to agree that it’s used or not. Look at what it’s costing our system to not use that program. The prosecutor’s office has failed on that one,” he said.

Studies of Thurston County Courts

Minjares was asked about the Thurston County District Court report conducted last year by staff of the Center for Court Innovation and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ).

To assess the court’s strengths and weaknesses regarding access to justice, NCJFCJ staff conducted a three day tour of the Thurston County Courthouse and anonymously observed the court process and procedures.

In the report, several recommendations for improvement were made. The report is available at http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/distcrt/docs/TCDC_Report.pdf

Minjares also referred to The National Center for State Courts (NCIC) report about Thurston County Superior Court. A link to that report, “NCSC Felony Caseflow and Calendaring Study of Thurston County Superior Court” is at: http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/superior/documents/ncsc-report-20170601.pdf

Minjares said the report’s findings were enlightening and overdue.

Above: Center for Court Innovation and NCJFCJ staff observed the courthouse complex signage. They reported that the signage was unclear and difficult to follow, “which made it even more frustrating to navigate an already confusing courthouse layout,” did not make clear what kinds of cases were heard in those courtrooms, and did not use multiple languages. “This is even more problematic since there is another court campus in another part of the county that hears family and juvenile matters which may further confuse litigants,” says the report.

Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin Case

Little Hollywood asked Minjares about specific cases such as the one in which charges were brought against Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin, two young African American men who were shot by a white Olympia police officer in 2015. 

“I can’t comment on the specifics of the case unless I have all the evidence in front of me, which I don’t, however, I will say I was rather surprised at the charging decisions made after that shooting. I would like to know a lot more about that to know what justified that level of, what seems like, retribution against those two individuals.

“I am not someone who believes that people who commit crimes should be let off but then again, there is justice involved in how to weigh certain factors in any situation,” he said.

“That investigation by the prosecutor took a long time and where are the recommendations regarding possible police policy changes that might lessen the chances of a similar confrontation in the future?” he asked.

“….The prosecuting attorney is supposed to be for the people of Thurston County. Part of the job of the prosecuting attorney’s office is to make sure the system works better. Dodging that responsibility has been a very pervasive failure….”

True reform methods are often below the radar for a lot of people who are not intimately involved in the issue, and while the need for a new courthouse is a given, it isn’t going to solve a problem with the culture, he says.

Little Hollywood asked Minjares if he has a real life role model for prosecuting attorney and law and justice reform.

Minjares mentioned his former Stanford classmate, Larry Krasner, who is now district attorney of Philadelphia.

“He ran on a campaign of reform and while I’d tailor it to Thurston County, he and others seeking to bring real justice to the prosecuting and district attorney offices across the country is really something to watch,” he said.

Above: Victor Minjares greets attendees at his campaign kick-off party on Wednesday.

About 60 enthusiastic people attended his campaign kick-off party at the historic Jacob Smith House in Lacey on Wednesday night.

Olympia city councilmembers Renata Rollins and Lisa Parshley spoke in support of his candidacy, as did Keoki Kauanoe, chair of the Washington State Progressive Caucus, and Steffani Powell, a local immigration attorney.

Powell described the qualities of a good prosecutor and the growing power of the prosecutor position across the country. 

Most prosecuting attorneys in the United States are Caucasian.

“….Their power is immense. They get to decide who to charge and the type and number of charges leveled against an individual….Many prosecutors run unopposed across the country and have strong party ties....When there is unchecked power, problems often follow. Prosecutors are the most powerful officials in the American criminal justice system,” said Powell.

Editor’s Note, May 6: Little Hollywood made a few clean-up edits to the original story, such as correcting the spelling of local immigration attorney Steffani Powell’s name and clarifying that the LEAD program is a pre-booking diversion program, not a “pre-diversion program.”

In the interview, Minjares also referred to The National Center for State Courts (NCIC) report about Thurston County Superior Court. That paragraph was dropped off in editing. 

For more links and information about Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim, his findings about the police officer involved shooting of Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin in 2015, the community response, and Olympia police and community relations, go to Little Hollywood at www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type keywords into the search button.

Public Art Installed on WSECU Parking Garage

Above: Workers install public artwork on the Washington State Employees Credit Union parking garage on 10th and Jefferson in downtown Olympia this week. The work is by internationally known artist Christian Moeller.

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

What are they? Bottle caps? Marshmallows? 

And what is that design? Hubcaps? Film reels? For some, it’s hard to tell. But back up and look at it from another angle, and you may see something different.

Whatever you see, the parking garage owned by the Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU) in downtown Olympia has received an artistic makeover.

Located across the street from the Olympia post office on 10th and Jefferson, the six story building has been “naked” for several years.

Tempered glass panels which originally surrounded the brick building to better obscure the sight of vehicles in the garage were removed after one spontaneously exploded on a hot day in August, 2013. For safety reasons, all the panels were removed.

After an investigation, it was determined that there were impurities in the glass making process.

Staff admitted in a 2013 Little Hollywood story that the garage was pretty ugly without the panels, and the city expected the credit union to get the building back to a state of being more visually appealing.

At long last, after a public process involving credit union members, staff, and neighbors, international artist Christian Moeller was chosen as the finalist to create the new exterior design.

Moeller is a professor and department chair of Design Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles.

According to his biography, Moeller is an artist “working with contemporary media technologies to produce innovative and intense physical events, realized from handheld objects to architectural scale installations. Over the past two decades, his body of work represented one of the original and most complex investigations of what is possible to be revealed by the intersections of cinema, computation, music and physical space.”

Above: Looking northeast, the Washington State Employee Credit Union (WSECU) parking garage as seen from the roof of the WSECU building on Union Avenue in downtown Olympia. The artwork by Christian Moeller is titled, “Buttons.”

The artwork is 42 feet tall and covers the WSECU parking structure over a surface of approximately 24,000 square feet. The “canvas” of the artwork is made of galvanized chain-link fence and mounted with the help of vertical tension cables in 12’ wide panels.

A total of 235,000 white “pixels” or disks made of injection-molded vinyl are attached to the fence. Their contrast with the darker background of holes not filled by a disk form large images.

The artwork came in large, numbered panels in rolls wrapped in plastic. Workers were seen this week mounting the rolls from the top of the garage and securing them in place.

Moeller explored and mulled over a variety of thematic concepts around the credit union’s values of community, family, and connections, explained Ann Flannigan, vice president of public relations for the Washington State Employees Credit Union. 

Flannigan provided Little Hollywood a tour of the facility on Wednesday.

“His work, titled “Buttons,” is inspired by the idea of a grandmother’s old button box, a treasure chest of disks, all with different patterns and shapes. 

“Buttons evoke connectivity, fastening, holding, and the joining of two pieces of fabric. For us, that fabric is community....I’m hopeful it will be an iconic part of the Olympia landscape. Even though it’s our garage, it belongs to the community. We wanted to make it interesting to look at and enjoy,” said Flannigan.

Above: A close up of the artwork titled, “Buttons,” by Christian Moeller at the Washington State Employees Credit Union parking garage in downtown Olympia.

Editor’s Note, May 3: Asked to clarify the information gap between the 2013 Little Hollywood story that described a different proposed art design, Ann Flannigan, vice president of public relations for WSECU, responded:  

“Our Board of Directors considered several approaches for recladding the garage during the past few years.  The “art panels” concept was going to be married with replacement tempered glass panels. Ultimately, the Board asked for additional options from our developer for their consideration, and we were presented with Moeller’s approach, which they ultimately endorsed.

“Then new artwork didn’t go through a full design review process because city staff were of the opinion that it was substantially similar to the original design intent, which was our mandate.  WSECU received approval for this latest concept when presented to the city in 2016.” 

Also, artist Christian Moeller is a professor and department chair of Design Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles, not Berkeley, as originally reported. 

Little Hollywood appreciates the clarifications.

For more information about the design review process and building history, Little Hollywood wrote a story, “WSECU Proposes Garage Art Wall Installation,” on December 13, 2013, at http://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com/2013/12/wsecu-proposes-garage-art-wall.html

Electric Car Buying Made Easy

Above: Thad Curtz, center, organized a display of eight electric vehicle models, including his own Ford CMAX Energi plug-in hybrid, at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on April 14. His new nonprofit is called Electrify Thurston. 

Washington State Sales Tax Exemption for Electric Vehicles Ends May 31

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

If you’re looking for a new vehicle and sick of paying high gas prices, maybe you’re thinking of purchasing an electric car. 

If you're nervous because you don’t know much about them, and don't know the difference between a Chevy Volt and a Chevy Bolt, you’re not alone.

The electric car industry, still recovering from the days of “Who Killed the Electric Car,” now has several options on the market and local help is now available without the pressure and stress of walking into a showroom. 

Electrify Thurston, a new local non-profit created by Thad Curtz and Paul Elwood of Olympia, is educating community members about electric vehicles and hopes to increase the relatively small number of them currently sold.

The group also promotes residential, workplace and multi-family charging infrastructure. Future work could include the promotion of charging infrastructure at transit centers and parking facilities.

Curtz, a retired professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, recently organized a display of eight locally owned battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids at the South Sound Climate Action Convention, held at the Lacey branch of South Puget Sound Community College on April 14.

The display showcased the new Nissan LEAF, a new Chevy Bolt, a Tesla Model S, a Chevy Volt, a Ford CMAX Energi, and a Fiat500e.

Convention goers had the opportunity to sit in the cars and speak with the actual owners, all of whom were thrilled about their experiences driving them. Owners liked the significantly lower costs of driving on electricity and their low greenhouse gas emissions. They also praised the cars’ quick acceleration and their low maintenance costs. The cars ranged in size from tiny to a full sized sedan.

Perhaps the most common worry potential consumers have about electric cars is the possibility of running out of juice.

Curtz says this is not a problem. 

“Roughly 80 percent of electric vehicle owners charge their cars at home overnight or at work, on a regular outlet or a 220 volt charger,” he says. “The plug-in hybrid models mean you can have the best of both worlds, using battery power for local trips supplemented by a gasoline-powered generator for longer trips.”

Lowering Thurston County Greenhouse Gas Emissions

For climate activist-minded consumers, electric vehicles are a no-brainer, and part of the answer to reducing Thurston County’s greenhouse gas emissions. 

“Unfortunately, they don't reduce emissions here as much as they would in Mason County or Seattle, where almost all the electricity comes from hydro,” warned Curtz. 

In late 2017, a greenhouse gas emissions analysis was conducted by the Clean Energy Transition and Stockholm Environmental Institute for the Thurston Regional Planning Council. The study suggested that Thurston County should work with other jurisdictions to advocate for the successful decarbonization of Washington’s electricity grid. 

Although Puget Sound Energy’s plan to begin pulling away from coal over the next eight years is a promising sign, for many, it is not soon enough.

“About 34 percent of PSE’s electricity currently comes from coal. People in Thurston County drive, on average, 9,000 miles each year. The most efficient current gasoline car, a Toyota Prius, has an Environmental Protection Agency rating of 52 mpg, and produces 4,189 pounds of CO2 a year on local power....

“A Jeep Wrangler, one of the least efficient passenger cars, has a rating of 18 mpg, and produces 11,280 pounds of CO2,” said Curtz, citing estimates from the vehicle cost calculator at the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuel Data Center website.

Curtz says that driving a Nissan LEAF on PSE power rather than a Honda Accord saves two metric tons of CO2 a year, and even driving a LEAF rather than a Prius saves nine metric tons over the life of the car. 

Prices for new battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles start at about $21,000, so if a new car is beyond your reach, the market for used electric vehicles which are returned to dealers after two and three year leases is booming.

There are many advantages and reasons to lease a car.

Above: Olympia city councilmember Clark Gilman shows off his Fiat 500e at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on Saturday.

Thurston County Electric Car Drivers 

As of January, 1,015 were registered in Thurston County, about 3.6 percent of those in the state. 

Curtz is aiming to improve this number by working with local auto dealers to get discount prices on specific makes and models. Successful group vehicle purchases have been negotiated with impressive discounts in Colorado and Utah in collaboration with local universities, hospitals and local jurisdictions.

At the end of last year, the City of Seattle negotiated with Nissan to offer city employees a group discount of $10,000 on the 2017 Nissan LEAF, which has a range of just over 100 miles on a single charge.

Olympia city councilmember Clark Gilman purchased his two year old Fiat500e in November, a lease return, for $10,000.

A long-time avid bicyclist and bus commuter, Gilman at times needs a car to get between his jobs, meetings and activities. His electric vehicle, he laughed, is “one step up from a golf cart,” and goes 50 – 60 miles in winter between charges. As the weather improves, he anticipates that number to rise, and run between 80 – 90 miles. He charges it one or two nights a week and says he’s good to go.

“It’s been a blast,” said Gilman.

Above: The interior of Ingrid Gulden's 2012 Tesla Model S vehicle at the South Sound Climate Action Convention. 

Ingrid Gulden also invited the public to sit in her 2012 Tesla Model S vehicle. Sixty of the nearly 600 electric cars registered in Thurston County in 2016 were Teslas. 

“We love it and drive it to San Francisco four times a year,” she said. For long trips, Tesla provides support for finding chargers as part of its dashboard navigation software. Cold weather and winds affect the mileage, but a Tesla gets about 250 miles on a charge, she said.

So, if you’re in the market for an electric vehicle, now may be the time. 

New plug-in car purchases and leases are currently exempt from Washington's sales tax, but that will end next month. To avoid paying the sales tax, and save a couple of thousand dollars, you have to take delivery of the car by May 31.

The federal rebate, up to $7,500, depending upon battery size, will also phase out for each company after they sell 200,000 electric cars in the U.S. Curtz says General Motors and Tesla are the first companies expected to reach that point late this year.

Above: Thad Curtz leads a discussion about electric vehicle options before the group headed out to take a look at several on display at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on April 14.

Editor's Note, April 21: Article was corrected shortly after it was originally posted to reflect that General Motors and Tesla will be the first companies expected to sell 200,000 electric cars in the U.S. later this year, not in 2019. 

Editor's Note, April 23: Article was reposted because it apparently did not get delivered via the RSS feed.

For more information, go to electrifythurston.org. Their website includes answers to frequently asked questions, provides up-to-date information about electric vehicles available from Western Washington auto dealers, online referrals to local dealers with electric vehicles, and can provide information on installing residential charging equipment.

Man Rescued in Capitol Lake

Above: A man who jumped into the choppy, cold waters of Capitol Lake was rescued by Olympia firefighters on Friday afternoon.

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

A man who jumped into the choppy, cold waters of Capitol Lake at Heritage Park was safely rescued by Olympia firefighters and police officers on Friday afternoon.

During the tense time before an official rescue was launched, police officers patrolled the border of Capitol Lake asking bystanders to not jump in the water to save him, saying the water was cold and the man may resist being rescued. Police officers suspected that he may be mentally ill or under the influence of drugs.

Bystanders expressed concern for the man. One man approached police officers to express his opinion that all the police cars, with lights flashing, may deter the man from swimming to shore on his own.

Above: Bystanders kept an eye on the man before a rescue was launched by Olympia firefighters, who reached him by boat.

The man jumped into the lake from the north shore of Heritage Park and swam to the middle of the lake when the fire department launched a motorboat from Marathon Park.The man consistently kept his head above water. 

When the three firefighters reached the man, they flung a rope out to him. The man grabbed onto the rope and hung onto the side of the boat as it moved at low speed toward the shore.

Above: Olympia police officers were ready to assist Olympia firefighters when they came ashore with the man.

Once reaching shore, police officers were prepared with yellow emergency blankets to cover the man, who only wore a torn black t-shirt. His right eye was injured. The man was rambling as firefighters brought him out of the water. 

He was put on a gurney and transported to the hospital.

Above: Firefighters and police officers assisted in the rescue of a man at Capitol Lake on Friday afternoon.

Editor’s Note: Little Hollywood arrived on the scene shortly after the man jumped into Capitol Lake and is choosing not to publish pictures of the man because he was in crisis. Instead, the focus of this photo essay is on the efforts of Olympia firefighters and police officers who assisted in the rescue effort.