Everett judge won't hear case of lab monkey's death

EVERETT — A judge has ruled against an animal-rights group that sought to file a rarely used citizen's complaint against three former employees of an Everett animal-testing lab who sent a monkey through a cage washer, scalding the animal to death.

Everett District Court Judge Roger Fisher said Wednesday that a jury likely couldn't reach a guilty verdict in the case if it were to go to trial. Fisher refused to overrule Snohomish County prosecutors and the city attorney's office, which didn't find sufficient evidence to file charges in the case.

Invoking a rarely used law, Pasado's Safe Haven petitioned the court to bring a citizen's criminal prosecution of three former employees at Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories (SNBL). The Monroe animal-rights group was concerned that no charges had been filed nearly a year after the cynomolgus macaque monkey died.

But Fisher said he had no intention of "substituting my judgment" for the decisions made by Joan Cavagnaro, the county's chief criminal deputy prosecutor, and Everett City Attorney Mike Fisher (no relation).

Bellingham attorney Adam Karp, who is representing Pasado's Safe Haven, said employees at the lab failed to remove the monkey from its cage before the animal's cage was sent through a washer with scalding hot water on Nov. 1, 2007. Lab officials have said the animal's death was an accident.

Susan Michaels, founder of Pasado's Safe Haven, said Fisher's decision "is just disappointing."

"What we would have like to have seen is a decision that would have given the opportunity for a thorough investigation," Michaels said.

Karp said he may appeal Fisher's decision to Snohomish County Superior Court, in hopes that a judge there will agree that charges should be filed.

After Wednesday's hearing, Seattle attorney John Wolfe, who represents SNBL, said the company was pleased by Fisher's decision. He said the company "feels horrible" about the animal's death.

Fisher said that he was bothered by Karp's request, especially since the attorney has a separate case pending review by the state Supreme Court dealing with the constitutionality of citizens complaints.

"Mr. Karp is asking me is to wear two hats," Fisher said, referring to his role as a judge and the fact he was asked to step in and make a decision normally left to a prosecutor.

Explaining the citizen's complaint process, Cavagnaro said "a private citizen may petition a district court to allow them to file a complaint, which initiates a formal criminal procedure."

The judge, she said, has to be satisfied that probable cause exists to allow the complaint to go forward.

Once the complaint is filed, the prosecutor "has the authority and obligation to handle any criminal proceeding in the district," she added.

Lawyers in Snohomish and King counties say the process is so rarely used that they have heard of it being presented to a judge only twice in the past 30 years.