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Law Day 2022: Toward a more perfect union

29 April 2022 is Law Day and the theme is Toward a more perfect union: the constitution in the times of change. The Clallam Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers (CJCPBL) will host the a celebration event with Judge Creatura, Federal Magistrate for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The hybrid event will be held at noon, by Zoom and in person at Kokopelli’s restaurant.

(Please note, Kokopelli’s owner was one of the people who sued the county to eliminate the former mask mandate. The Clallam and Jefferson County Health Officer, Dr. Berry, advises people to continue wearing masks indoors. The omicron B2 variant is aggressively spreading in the UK since all pandemic measures were terminated in February 2022. US officials are expecting a new wave of the pandemic in the coming weeks.)

Judge Creatura’s presentation is titled Justice behind bars.

CJCPBL will be honoring lawyers in Clallam and Jefferson counties for exceptional pro bono service over the past year.

For registration, donations and sponsorships please contact telephone (360) 504-2422 or [email protected]  

Rialto beach storm breakers, Clallam County

Mask mandate in courtrooms lifted, still recommended

Masks are no longer required in the Clallam County Courthouse, nor in the courtrooms. Zoom appearances in many cases are still allowed, but not in all cases. Check with your lawyer, the court clerk, or courthouse facilitator if you want to appear by Zoom. The same Zoom login numbers remain in effect.

It’s respectful of others to continue wearing masks

COVID-19 is still active, and the B2 variant is raging in the United Kingdom, Europe, Korea, and China. Many Clallam County citizens remain highly vulnerable to the virus. Vaccinated people can be infectious and not know it. Even if triple/quadruple vaccinated, the vaccine may not stop the virus from living in nasal tissues. The current daily infection and also death rates are about the same or higher than the original peak in 2020, meaning there are still many, many people who are infected and passing it around.

The country with the highest amount of daily deaths is still….. the United States. The second worst is Russia and then Brazil. A few months ago experts were horrified to realize the U.S. might reach 800,000 COVID deaths. We will surpass one million COVID deaths in the next few days, and the numbers will keep rising.

The Clallam County Health Officer recommends people continue to take all precautions, including wearing masks in public.

CCB.com com urges our judges and lawyers to set a good example and continue to wear masks in court.

Quileute Tribe is seeking bids for public defender services

The Quileute Tribe (Tribe), a federally recognized Indian Tribe located in La Push, Washington, requests bids to provide Public Defender services appointed by the court as needed, is responsible for representing tribal members and other Native Americans coming under the jurisdiction of the tribal court charged with violations of the criminal code in cases before the court.

The Public Defender also represents individuals in dependency/ICW matters, Parents and/ or Guardians in dependency proceedings in Quileute Family Court. These duties are preformed from initiation of the case through exhaustion of all appeals. Court is held three times a month, the first, second, and fourth Tuesday of each month. Additional court proceedings do take place outside of our 3 court docket days per month. Court proceedings may be virtual.

For more information, contact [email protected].

Clallam County civil rights lawyer settles lawsuit

Clallam County civil rights lawyer William Payne and his clients have settled their lawsuit to end the vaccination mandate for restaurant goers. Clallam County had imposed back in September, 2021, a requirement that anyone dining inside a restaurant was required to have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Clallam County has agreed to end the vaccine requirement by March 11, 2022, if certain health conditions are present.

Mr. Payne, a Sequim lawyer, was representing six restaurants, Kokopelli Grill / Coyote BBQ Pub in Port Angeles, the Blackberry Cafe in Joyce, and The Oasis Bar and Grill, Blondie’s Plate, Sunshine Cafe, and Jose’s Famous Salsa and Salsa House Restaurant all in Sequim.

The restaurant owners claimed the health orders, designed to protect people’s health from the pandemic virus, violated their economic liberty.

According to the Peninsula Daily News, the case rate and ICU occupancy rate were very high at the time of the settlement, due to the omicron variant. The ICU occupancy rate was 90-100% full and the case rate is over 1,600 per 100,000. The settlement requires the case rate to less than 200 per 100,000 and the ICU occupancy rate to be less than 90%. The County expected these target rates to be met by March 11, so health officials felt they were able to give the restaurant owners a target date for their planning purposes. The restaurant owners agreed to dismiss their lawsuit, and to pay their own attorney fees, although there was no disclosure about how much, if any, attorney fees had been incurred.

COVID-19: Jury trials suspended in February and/or March 2022

UPDATED: Criminal jury trials are now suspended an additional month, through March 13, 2022. Civil jury trials are still suspended through March 31, 2022. See Emergency Order January 28, 2022.

By Emergency Order January 14, 2022, jury trials have been suspended again because of the raging pandemic. Criminal jury trials are suspended through February 14, 2022. Civil jury trials are suspended through March 31, 2022. Divorce and bench trials are not suspended, and will proceed as scheduled in person or remotely.

Courtrooms are open, but the judges strongly encourage remote appearances by Zoom or phone. Exhibit A to the Emergency Order is the same as previously, and gives direction for appearing remotely.

For criminal trials, it is imperative defendants follow the rules for obtaining a new trial date. Failure to do so may result in a warrant being issued or bail revoked.

Editor’s note: These delays in justice can be frustrating and sometimes even hurtful. The purpose is to protect peoples lives, our local economy and our local health care services and providers. Infection rates and deaths remain at all time highs. If you find yourself getting angry, a natural feeling, please take a moment to find some grace and consideration for everyone involved, including yourself.

Emergency Order January 14, 2022, with Exhibit A

Emergency-Order-1.14.22Download

The trial of Dennis Marvin Bauer

The triple murder trial of Dennis Marvin Bauer was a considerable and costly undertaking for Clallam County. It may be Clallam County’s largest criminal investigation, and is one of our county’s most complex criminal trials. The murders of Darrell Iverson, Jordan Iverson, and Tiffany May took place on December 26, 2018. He was charged with three counts of murder and multiple other charges on January 25, 2019. He denied all charges and after a trial he was found guilty of 16 counts by a jury of his peers on January 10, 2022.

Some of the remarkable case facts

1 Defendant
2 Days for the jurors to reach a verdict on all counts
2 Special motions to handle COVID-19 related issues (including a vaccine requirement for jurors)
3 Judges
3 Murderers
3 Murdered
7 Trial dates
7 Weeks of trial
8 Lawyers
9 Weeks from the start to the end of the trial
11 Orders to transport people in custody
12 Law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation
13 Months from the crime to the arrest
15 Weeks from the start of the trial to sentencing on 2-22-2022
16 Jurors on the panel (4 alternates in case someone got sick)
25 Months from the start of the case to sentencing
29 Days that Angela May, mother of victim Tiffany May, sat in the courtroom watching the trial
33 Pages in the juror’s verdict form
38 Months from the crime to the conviction
39 Pages in the list of trial exhibits
59 Pages of jury instructions read and given to the jurors
80 Witnesses
125 $/hr for defendant’s attorney (paid by county)
132 Jurors in the panel of potential jurors
150 $/hr for defendant’s private investigator (paid by county)
319 Pages in the Clerk’s trial notes (JAVS docket)
990+ Trial exhibits
1,000’s Of pages of police reports
20,000 Dollars paid by county to the defendant’s private investigator
200,000+ Dollars paid by county to defendant’s lawyer (estimated)
680,000+ Dollars spent by the Clallam County Sheriff’s department to investigate
1,000,000+ Dollars spent on investigating and prosecuting Marvin Dennis Bauer

Unknown

Tears shed
People negatively impacted
Clallam County departments involved in some way
Total number of hours devoted to the investigation, trial, and consolation of surviving victims
The total actual cost to Clallam County, the State of Washington, and society

Clallam County’s most murderous

  1. Matthew Timothy Wetherington, four murders
    1. On July 6, 2019, he beat his wife, Valerie Kambeitz, and her three children to death, and then set their mobile home on fire with their bodies inside. “Total annihilation of his family” said prosecutor Michele Devlin.
  2. Dennis Marvin Bauer, three murders
  3. Ryan Warren Ward, three murders
    1. (Bauer co-defendant. Co-defendant Kallie Ann LeTellier plead guilty to helping murder Tiffany May, one of the three murdered by Bauer and Ward)
  4. Darold Ray Stenson, two murders
    1. On March 25, 1993, he shot and killed his wife and business partner. The conviction in his first trial was overturned by the Washington State Supreme Court for mishandled evidence, but he was convicted in a second trial in November 2013. Just the legal fees for his lawyers in the second trial (only) were approximately $900,000.

If you have information to add, or see mistakes, please contact CCB.com. The information above is mostly from court documents, and some from the thorough coverage by Paul Gottlieb, Rob Ollikainen, and the rest of the team at the Peninsula Daily News.

PA Food Bank building fund campaign

The Port Angeles Food Bank is in the last part of their fund raising campaign to build a new Market building. The COVID pandemic forced PAFB into a new new facility in November 2020, for better storage facilities and drive by delivery. The Food Bank is working to purchase the building they are currently so they can put rent money to food money. They have already obtained $4 million of the needed $5 million needed from government agencies and foundations. They are seeking the remaining $1 million from donations from Clallam County businesses and individuals. You can donate to the campaign at this link:

https://secure.givelively.org/donate/port-angeles-food-bank/nourish-to-flourish-capital-campaign

Their new building is under construction and is expected to be complete and open in Spring 2022.

Gifts are tax deductible, can be made in small monthly payments over several years, can be cash, real estate, and through estate planning gifts (Wills, retirement account beneficiary designations)

Port Angeles Food Bank

More information about the Port Angeles Food Bank is available on that page as well. The breadth of services provided by the Food Bank is impressive:

  • Operating continuously since 1975
  • Serves 500 families a week
  • Provides 200,000 meals per month
  • Provides food to all other food pantries in Clallam County, 13 in total
  • Provides hundreds of bags of food each week to outreach organizations
  • Provides pet food, personal care and baby items, household goods, which are not covered by food stamps
  • Operates with 8 staff members, 3 Americorps volunteers, and 45 local volunteers.
  • Food Security: Stores excess Clallam County food, available for all (source of emergency food supply for all in case of local disaster)
  • Holds training and workshops to help lift people out of poverty

The Port Angeles Food Bank is an important part of our community. Please consider showing your support.

Omicron closes courthouse January 2022: SPECIAL Courtroom restrictions

BREAKING NEWS: The Clallam County Courthouse, except for some Court services, will be closed January 6 and 7, 2022. Jury deliberation in the Bauer triple murder trial will continue. The District Court in Port Angeles is operating under restricted conditions. This post will be updated as more information is available. Updated information is also available at http://clallam.net/.

On Thursday, January 6, 2022:

  1. The Bauer trial will remain in session.
  2. Emergency restraining orders and new arrests will be handled in Courtroom 1 at 1:00 p.m.   The court will not process other matters such as opening probates, finalizing divorces, etc.
  3. The ITA scheduled for January 6th will proceed.
  4. All juvenile matters are continued one week.
  5. All matters on the afternoon criminal status calendar are continued one week.   
  6. The matters on the Thursday morning criminal calendar will be continued on the record with the parties appearing by zoom.    Sentencings, 3.5 hearings, etc. will be rescheduled for a new date.

January 7, 2022

The Superior Court will continue operations, with limits, on Friday January 7, 2022. Settlement conferences will continue by phone appearance only.

Any emergency pleadings that must be processed by the court may be emailed to the court administrator.

This information was provided by Clallam County Superior Court Chief Judge Brent Basden.

Courtroom changes for Friday, January 7 2022 (only)

For this Friday (1/7) ONLY. Zoom links for the court rooms are available here.

Courtroom 1

9:00 – Criminal Calendar – Use Courtroom 2 Zoom
1:00 – Criminal Ex Parte – Use Courtroom 1 Zoom
1:30 – Criminal Calendar – Use Courtroom 1 Zoom  

Historic Courtroom

9:00 – Civil Calendar – Use Courtroom 1 Zoom
10:30 – DV Calendar – Use Courtroom 1 Zoom
1:30 – Civil Calendar – Use Courtroom 2 Zoom

Courtroom 3

9:00 – Family AM Calendar – Use Courtroom 3 Zoom
1:00/1:15 – Civil/Juvenile Ex Parte – Use Courtroom 3 Zoom
1:30 – Family DV Calendar – Use Courtroom 3 Zoom

Courtroom 2

Is being used by jurors in State v. Bauer (triple murder case)

Clallam in highest infection category for COVID-19 – Omicron wave just beginning

As of the beginning of January 2022, the CDC places Clallam County in the highest level of infection rate. All Washington State counties (except Garfield in Eastern Washington) are also rated in the highest level. Clallam County is currently experiencing it’s highest rates of COVID-19 infection ever.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=Washington&data-type=Risk&list_select_county=53007

At the same time, the Omicron variant is recognized as the most contagious variant, and is substantially more deadly than the original version of COVID-19. Hospitals and medical staff are being overwhelmed handling the extreme spike of infections in people of all ages, and the Omicron wave is just beginning.

Clallam County’s COVID-19 case rate jumps, likely due to omicron variant

New Zealand officials described how contagious Omicron is. Because New Zealand takes pandemic prevention measures seriously, and by using genetic testing, camera footage, and careful contact tracing, they were able to determine that one person in a quarantine facility was able to infect three others. Their policies prohibited people in quarantine from opening their doors, except to receive food or a COVID-19 test, and not two doors were allowed to be opened at the same time. Nevertheless, the infection happened simply when two quaratntine-hotel room doors were opened at the same time.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/health/new-zealand-covid-facility-transmission/index.html

The Clallam County vaccine requirement for indoor dining remains in place.

In British Columbia, infection rates are spiking. All in-person court appearances are cancelled. CBC radio reported today that the Omicron wave could be over in 6 weeks if everyone does the right thing, otherwise it is likely to last 3-4 months. They previously reported the Omicron variant could be caught from 33 feet (10 meters) away.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/covid-19-update-jan-3-1.6303041