District Court judge censured: Defendants not told of right to counsel

By Maureen O'Hagan
Seattle Times staff reporter

Judge Mary Ann Ottinger was appointed in 1992.

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A King County District Court judge was censured yesterday for a years-long practice of failing to tell defendants they had a right to counsel — including a lawyerless 19-year-old she sentenced to a year in jail as a minor in possession of alcohol.

The Commission on Judicial Conduct also reprimanded an Auburn Municipal Court judge for appearing to be biased against some defendants.

District Court Judge Mary Ann Ottinger, who was appointed in 1992, agreed to the censure, which requires her to undergo judicial training and counseling at her own expense.

Ottinger's lawyer, Anne Bremner, said her client has "always been a highly respected judge and has served with distinction for many years," putting two sons through college as a single mom.

But the censure order states that "the nature of the violations cannot be overstated" and notes the practice was "routine."

The case of Sara Totten was particularly egregious, lawyers say. Totten had no criminal record when she was charged in 1999 with possessing alcohol. The law required the judge to tell Totten about the consequences of a guilty plea and let her know she could have an attorney appointed, among other things. But Ottinger didn't tell her any of this, according to the censure, and instead allowed the teen to plead guilty without legal advice.

Initially, Ottinger issued a suspended sentence that required Totten to get an alcohol evaluation and stay out of trouble. But when Totten failed repeatedly to do so, and also failed to appear in court, Ottinger came down on her with a sentence of a year in jail.

All told, Totten spent more than two months in jail before defense lawyers heard about the case and persuaded a Superior Court judge to order her released. Prosecutors did not oppose the release.

"It's very extreme to have someone spend a year in jail on a minor-in-possession charge," said Anne Daly, director of the Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons, the public-defender firm that got her out of jail. "That's not what a year in jail is meant for."

Defense lawyers say Ottinger isn't the only judge who fails to tell defendants about their rights.
 
"It's very common for defendants to be convicted without lawyers," said Robert C. Boruchowitz, director of The Defender Association, who conducted a yearlong study of the problem. "They figure people will plead guilty and get it over with."

Christine Jackson, another public defender, said she'd heard of three local cases recently where defendants went to jail without getting a chance to talk to a lawyer. When public defenders heard about the cases, they intervened and got them released.

Ottinger's censure also rebukes her for secretly providing legal advice to the city of Issaquah, including ghost-writing correspondence and advising it to sue King County in a dispute over the reorganization of the District Court.

In a separate matter, Auburn Municipal Court Judge Patrick R. Burns was reprimanded for writing "NTG" on the bottom of hundreds of defendants' court paperwork. Lawyers widely believed the initials stood for "Nail This Guy," which would create the appearance that he was treating these defendants unfairly, the reprimand said.

Burns, however, said the initials just reminded him to "Note This Guy (or Gal)." Burns was required to take judicial ethics training.

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com