Friday, July 08, 2011

Clatsop District Attorney Josh Marquis Serves Notice To City Of Astoria That All DUII's Go To Circuit Court

Well, of course I can editorialize the event but, here are the facts in the most recent correspondence on the issue as submitted, in response to a "Public Information Request" by GRP to Clatsop County District Attorney's Office.


Here's "The Law" - ORS 8.660
Attending court and prosecuting offenses
(1) The district attorney shall attend the terms of all courts having jurisdiction of public offenses within the district attorney’s county, and, except as otherwise provided in this section, conduct, on behalf of the state, all prosecutions for such offenses therein.
(2) A district attorney shall not conduct prosecutions under this section when:
(a) A city attorney is prosecuting a violation under ORS chapter 153; or
(b) The district attorney is prohibited from appearing in a violation proceeding under the provisions of ORS
153.076 (Conduct of trial). [Amended by 1975 c.451 §170; 1981 c.626 §1; 1981 c.692 §6a; 1999 c.1051 §116]
























































32 comments:

Bill Goodman said...

I for one hopes this goes to court and the Oregon Bar for a decision. Marquis had the opportunity to take DUII cases months if not years ago and failed to do so. Instead, he attacked the City Council and cohersed Debby Boone into submitting a Bill to change the law to the Legislature (which died in the Senate). All this waste of time and taxpayer dollars would have been unnecessary if he had simply used the power he said he had. Then, Marquis pulls up a letter from his friend, whose election he supported, AG Kroger. Kroger is, of course, the Attorney General noted for having to fire his staff for unethical behavior and apologize for bad decisions, like the investigation of the Governor's girlfriend. The letter, which is simply a non binding opinion, says AG Kroger thinks Marquis has the authority he wants. Now, our elected Distrtct Attorney Josh Marquis wants the City of Astoria, whose leaders he has intentionally and thoroughly pissed off, to graciously send him the cases he wants. Does he realize that if they really got pissed off and sent him all the cases they could, he would be innundated and have to ask the County Commission for more staff, costing us all more money.
Is this guy really all there? Why is he doing this? Looking at the way he runs his office, it can't be an ethical issue. The only connection I can see is with Steve Forrester's campaign to ruin Steve Roman, Kris Kaino and Willis Van Dusen. Could Marquis actually be playing in that game? Hopefully not, but the question remains, why is he doing this?
Since he is spending public money for all his time and effort, he should explain his reasons. He will not, by the way, answer this question on his web site, Ask the DA. He won't even print the question.

RiverBear said...

Thanks District Attorney Josh Marquis for keeping up the fight with the City of Astoria (Daily Astorian, 7/6/11, Fight for DUII cases heats up).

The Astoria City Council (especially Russ Warr) continues to make itself look ignorant and foolish fighting Marquis on this issue. That Mayor Van Dusen is “confused” is not a surprise. Of course carpetbagging Police Chief Curzon is “comfortable” with not being allowed to communicate directly with Marquis on this issue …. Curzon is a city employee who doesn’t want to jeopardize his job.

City Attorney Henninsgaard’s comments on this issue, and his embarrassing testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on HB 3025, demonstrate that appointing him as city attorney was more about his being a good-old-boy than a good city attorney.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yeah. Let's let Marquis take over all the municipal courts like he wants. That way, he would be the king of county justice and could pick and choose which of his friends he would favor should they find themselves in criminal justice difficulties. And, yes, obviously Henninglgard is a dupe. He only earned a law degree, has avoided sanctions from the Bar and earned his position. And, of course, if he is as good old boy as River Bear suggests, his wife, a Circuit Court Judge named Paula Brownhill must also be in cahoots with the Astoria Council. No, River Bear, you are wrong on this. Marquis is the devil here, now the elected representatives of the citizens of Astoria. But, since you seem to know so much, why does Marquis want all the municipal court cases anyway? It would be good to clear that up.

LE in Clatsop said...

Yes, why WOULD Marquis want ANY Muni court cases? And he's just seeking the DUIIs.

You mentioned all the right names...all best friends - Roman, Blaor, Willis, and Kaini, so we know why THEY are holding on so hard. What exactly does Marquis get except a lot of grief? No more money, staff and just sheer hatred like "he's the devil."

Look at the DA's website or check the DAILY A. He's given multiple detailed reasons for EXACTLY why he's doing this and we've never heard from the City Fathers a coherent reason why not.

As for "coercing" Boone to introduce a bill..you need to go to the legislature or just listen online. Marquis is one of very few county-wide elected officials - and for a long time. He asked a bill to be dropped and Boone did that without even being that enthusiastic (listen to the hearing on www.oregon.gov)
The first poster said Marquis could have done this in the beginning. That is true. Instead he was naive enough to think that trying to have a conversation rather than just throwing political weight around would be helpful.
But not with a City Council who made fools of themselves in Salem and again, go ahead and listen to what they said and how they were received.

Anonymous said...

"Henninsgaard [not]... only earned a law degree, has avoided sanctions from the Bar and earned his position."

This is a joke, right?

He's from Astoria royalty and coasts on the good karma his deservedly-beloved mother still generates. He was CRUSHED by more than 60% in an election where he showed up for every campaign forum and was then defeated by someone who then claimed she was fed up with the way DUIIs were handled.

Then he miraculously got the plum job of City Attorney (part-time).
The new gold standard is "hasn't been disciplined by the Bar yet?" Check out the lawyer rating service Martindale Hubell and see where Blair, Marquis, etc stack up based on a national lawyer ratings service:

http://www.martindale.com/Results.aspx?ft=1&frm=freesearch&afs=Kristopher%20Kainoce.

Jim said...

I looked at DA Marquis website and could only find his views on how screwed up the Legislature is and how wonderful the Attorney General is. Nothing about why he wants the DUII cases.

So, LE in Clatsop, could you relate why he wants the additional case load,and, of course the additional expense to the county taxpayers?

Also, if Astoria has to give the DA all the DUII cases, why should it not have Astoria cops charge everyone possible into state court, including all traffic violations? That would greatly reduce or even eliminate cases into municipal court while increasing the DAs case load by thousands of cases. After all, if Josh really thinks the municipal court is corrupt, why would he not want to take over all its cases to save the public?

LE in Clatsop said...

Read this: http://coastda.blogspot.com/2011/01/rule-of-law-in-astoria.html

Ask Marquis why we wants to take over the cases. DUII cases are more serious than disorderly conduct cases where the city fines someone $100 for urinating on the street.

There will be NO additional expense to county taxpayers and less expense to city taxpayers. The DA has made it clear he isn't asking for ANY more $$ to handle these DUII cases..as in none!

Bill Goodman said...

LE, you seem very well informed about DA Marquis intentions. Thanks for the reference to explain his reasons for wanting to take over municipal courts. It seems his problem is that the part time judge is also a defense attorney (he can't find this situation in any other municipal court? How far has he looked, I know of some), a DA intern wrote report that infers some cases were not well handled, (is the the report that reported some badly handled cases that were actually from the Sea Side police and went to Circuit Court) and people who have money get better justice (I thought you hired the best lawyer you could because of exactly that). Clearly, if DA Marquis gets what he wants, someone should track the cases to make sure what he says happens in the municipal court does not happen in circuit court.
In any case, we will certainly hope you are correct and when Astoria floods his office will all the cases they can charge under state law, which is most of them, he still doesn't ask for more money. Astoria really should do this since Marquis says the municipal court is corrupt, so that must apply to all its cases.
I have to wonder how the Circuit Court Judges feel about all of this. It will affect their case loads too, unless the DA plea bargains all the new cases.

Ornery Oley said...

"Does he realize that if they really got pissed off and sent him all the cases they could, he would be innundated and have to ask the County Commission for more staff, costing us all more money."

Whoa-Up there "Billy-Bob" Goodman according to the City of Astoria, transferring all of one year's DUII cases to the County/Circuit would average 50 cases a year total?" Innundated is what you call it?

Yeah, that's right B.B. you need to wonder a little bit more to make some sense out of your poppycock statistics, or are you just wishfully thinking?

Bill Goodman said...

Ornery,
Yes, only 50-100 DUII cases from Astoria would go to state court, but what about all the other ones. Currently, APD cites all misdemeanor cases and traffic violations into municipal court. But, it does not have to do this. It could cite all these cases, about 5,000 of them, into the state court. Would your buddy Josh be able to handle all these cases?
Perhaps, Billy Bob Orney, you should check on the facts before you shoot your load.
And, what do the Circuit Court Judges think about this potential increase in cases?
I look forward to your reply.

Ornery Oley said...

Here it is "Billy Bob Goodman","The Law" - ORS 8.660
Attending court and prosecuting offenses
(1) The district attorney shall attend the terms of all courts having jurisdiction of public offenses within the district attorney’s county, and, except as otherwise provided in this section, conduct, on behalf of the state, all prosecutions for such offenses therein."


So, "What if"? What do you think the D.A.'s office would do but, better yet, why don't you....."Ask the D.A."?

Anonymous said...

No city municipal court in its right mind would ever give up handling non-criminal violations (speeding tickets. etc) THAT is where ALL the Muni courts make money and the DA is specifically forbidden from taking over those kind of cases by state law. There are four other Muni Courts in Clatsop County and they are all happy to handle the infractions but not the DUIIs, mostly because they make money off the infractions.
You need to check/source your numbers about how many actual cases the Muni Court handles each year. And it's not 50 to 100 DUIIs a year, its 50 a year. Circuit Court/the DA handles over 350 a year. These stats are all available from submission from both the City and the DA.
By all means ask the judges who are not married to the City Attorney for their opinions.

Bill Goodman said...

Well, guys, for the sake of county taxpapers, I hope you are right. However, just so you know, Astoria and every other city can cite all state law violations into state court if they want to. Even now, most all traffic tickets and misdemeanors that go into municipal court are cited under state law. The only reason they go into municipal court is because the city councils have made that their policy. There is no legal reason they cannot be sent to the DA for filing in state court. For Astoria, that is about 5,000 cases a year.
As far as the money is concerned, the cities that put cases through state courts get a percentage of the fines. I may be cheaper for Astoria to abandon its municipal court and take its percentage from the cases sent to state court.
Also, I "Asked the DA" and he would not even print my question let alone give an answer. In fact, it appears he will not print anyone's questions as the website shows no comments to either his writings or his Ask The DA thing.

Anonymous said...

Just to keep the facts straight, APDs crime reports show it handles about 3,000 cases a year, 130 of which are DUIIs. Almost all but 200 of these cases, which are felonies, are sent to the Astoria Municipal Court.

Patrick McGee said...

Reference the access to that APD data for the rest of us would you?

By the way, you do know that you can actually e-mail D.A. Marquis at the Clatsop County District Attorney's Office direct with your questions don't you? I betcha you even have his e-mail address handy don't you?

You could, I would imagine, call his office as well with any legitimate and valid questions and get an answer?

Of course, to get any kind of valid response, you would have to identify yourself.

Anonymous said...

Patrick, I got my data from handouts at an APD Citizen Police Academy a couple years ago. As for cases, if you don't want to take the time to attend the classes, just call APD and ask for the beginning and ending case numbers for last year. That will give you all but traffic tickets. The DUII stats are probably greater now than they were then and you may have to ask for them.

Why would the DA have an Ask the DA website if he will not print and answer questions?

Calling his office for statistics does not work, I have tried that and the clerk just said she didn't know and everyone else was busy.

Perhaps, as authorized county media, you could get the answer through your special sources and report it here?

Patrick McGee said...

Let's do this "Bill Goodman" and cut to the chase since you seem very reluctant to accept any answer whatsoever or present any documented, relevant data to the contrary. Clatsop County District Attorney, Josh Marquis has the authority to take those DUII cases, as tried in Astoria Municpal Court, away from The City of Astoria and prosecute them through his office and has chosen, at this point, to exercise that authority starting, September 1, 2011.

Is that correct?

Any valid reason he shouldn't?

Bill Goodman said...

Well, "Patrick McGee, I cannot agree with your presumption. If DA Marquis had the authority to take DUII cases, or any other cases, he should have claimed that right when he took office. Now, he is simply harassing the Chief of Police.
This situation must go to an appeals court, or the Supreme Court for a decision. No other solution is adequate to determine what the law you quoted actually means.
If DA Marquis wants to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars, and the Astoria City Council wants to spend thousands of taxpayer dollers to decide this issue, so be it. We need to remember that it was DA Marquis' issue to begin with.
As for any valid reason Marquis should not, never in Oregon has a DA ripped a case from a municipal court without any court decision to back him up, and decided to prosecute it in state court. DA Marquis is plowing new ground in Oregon.
He cannot prove the municipial court is or has ever been corrupt. None of the municipal court players have ever been convicted of a crimial act or a violation of the Oregon Bar standards.
He can, however, show that the Clatsop County District Attorney's Office has been corrupt (he would not have been appointed DA by Governor Roberts had elected DA Leonhardt not been convicted of felonies and misdemeanors. Additionally, the DA's Office gave the owner of a local newspaper a pass on some form of child abuse. He can also show that he gave a City Councilman a big pass on drug and prostution charges because of what?)
So, who do we believe? A municial court whose participants have never been convicted of a crime or found in violation of a Bar requirement?
Or a District Attorney's Office where the DA has been convicted of felonies, misdemeanors and Bar violations, and has shown to give certain favorite people protection, and with lawyers who participate in it to have been found in violation of Bar standards that had to be reported by people outside the DA's Office?
This information is all recent history, "Patrick". I am surprised you do not know about it.
I hope this answers your question.

Patrick McGee said...

Audio Transcript Of House Judiciary Committee Hearing On HB-3025, March 31, 2011

Patrick McGee said...

....."Or a District Attorney's Office where the DA has been convicted of felonies, misdemeanors and Bar violations, and has shown to give certain favorite people protection, and with lawyers who participate in it to have been found in violation of Bar standards that had to be reported by people outside the DA's Office?
This information is all recent history, "Patrick". I am surprised you do not know about it.
I hope this answers your question."


Cite those "Felonies", "Misdemeanors" and "Bar Violations" specifically that you accuse the District Attorney's office with for us "Bill Goodman"

Bill Goodman said...

Patrick,
I am not sure why you provided the audio report? Did the legislature say Marquis could take municipal court cases? I did not hear that, I only heard a debate.
As for misadventures in the DA's office, DA Julie Leonhart was convicted of 4 felonies and 2 misdemeanors in about 1995. I can't remember the exact crimes but they involved her misuse of the Grand Jury to indict two Astoria police officers on drug charges. The officers were exonerated when she confessed that she made up the grand jury witness in order to get even with the police for giving her boyfriend a traffic ticket. None of the lawyers in the DA's office turned Leonhardt in, but after a 3 or so year investigation, the Bar took her license.
Then, there was the local lawyer who submitted two petitions regarding DUIIs to two different courts on the same day each saying the other petition did not exist. Marquis office knew but did nothing about these, but another local lawyer turned the attorney in to the Bar and he was suspended. That, by the way is a bar violation for the DA who did not report the violation, but nothing happened.
Then, there was the local politician/businessman who was accused of soliciting prostitution and using illegal drugs. He was given a much reduced charge and almost nonexistant penality to pay some money and stay good for a year by Marquis, who even worked it out so the politician could legally say he committed no crime after the year was over.
All this was reported in the newspaper at the time.

Patrick McGee said...

"Then, there was the local lawyer who submitted two petitions regarding DUIIs to two different courts on the same day each saying the other petition did not exist. Marquis office knew but did nothing about these, but another local lawyer turned the attorney in to the Bar and he was suspended. That, by the way is a bar violation for the DA who did not report the violation, but nothing happened."

Question is Bill Goodman....Why are you not reporting this alleged violation, you are again accusing the Clatsop County District Attorney of, to the appropriate authority if it is true?

Don't you think it your responsibility to do so?

Then again, it finally dawned on me why your posting name is so familiar and why this discussion will never go any further than it already has, with no resolution whatsoever.

The fact still remains, Clatsop D.A. Marquis "Is" taking all DUII's from Astoria Municpal Court to be prosecuted in the District Courts and that pretty much is the resolution to it all unless you truly do have something to stop it.

What you got?

Bill Goodman said...

Patrick, it would be a shame for anyone to say that people in law enforcement have an easy job. One of many aspects that make the job difficult is that good people do bad things, as well as bad people doing bad things. How to deal with the good people violators sets the standard for the particular law enforcement person and agency. It also sets the pace for potential and actual corruption.
That one law enforcement organization, such as DA Marquis, says that another law enforcement organization, such as the Astoria municipal court, is corrupt, as DA Marquis has said, weshould raise our attention level. Why would a person we elected to protect us say this if it was not true?
For the accuser, in this case DA Marquis, who is able to make both criminal and professional charges against the organization he says is corrupt, does neither but continues the corruption mantra should really grap our attention.
And, then, for the facts to reveal that the organization of the accuser, in this case DA Marquis, has examples of convictions for criminal and professional behavior, but the organization accused of corruption, in this case the Municipal Court, has none should certainly make us pay attention.
Obviously, public oversight of elected officials is not working in Clatsop County to prevent corruption. In the examples I told earler, the media did not find out the problem, nor did the general public. Instead, the only oversight was hindsight and the corruption occurred before the public could do anything. This is because the media is not doing its job. In part, this is because the media does not have reporters who know enough about the subject to put the situations in context, in part because the media is too small, and in part because the media is subject to the same corruption it is supposed to reveal. In this case, it seems obvious that the media has played into the hands of the elected official by supporting what it believes to be an lesser evil to attack what it believes a greater evil.
But, why should the media attack evils? Its job is to report the news and let the public decide.
In any case, DA Marquis, the head of an organization which has proven incidents of corruption is accusing the municipal court, an organization that has never been proven corrupt, of corruption.
So, who do we believe? The head of an organization that has been corrupt or the head of an organization that has not been corrupt? That is exactly the case here.
But, you are right, Patrick. American, including Clatsop County, has been taken over by the Nancy Grace/CNN phenomon. We believe what is said loudest and longest. We do not believe the facts, even in the rare occassions when they are presented by the media. So, we deserve what we get.
That is all I've got.
Have a great year, Patrick. I am done with you.

Patrick McGee said...

And all of us wiser, "Bill Goodman", if not better informed from the experience and that "Truth" is truly individual concept.

I'll take just plain old facts anyday.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Marquis is corrupt because his predecessors were?
And the Mayor's THREE DUIIs don't count in this discussion?
I don't remember the DA ever calling the City corrupt. That may be your interpretation but please print where he said that.

You say "And, then, for the facts to reveal that the organization of the accuser, in this case DA Marquis, has examples of convictions for criminal and professional behavior, but the organization accused of corruption, in this case the Municipal Court, has none should certainly make us pay attention."

Marquis has never been convicted of anything. In fact he has been named one of the top attorneys in the state and voted by his peers state-wide and even nationally.
The Mayor has three DUIIs and "Judge" Kaino was arrested for attempting to use his title as "judge" to get out of a fishing ticket and the Judicial Fitness Commission tried to discipline him.

Why not let voters in Astoria vote on this issue, as if they didn't already when Blair was turned out of office the same year Marquis was re-elected for the fifth time?

Ornery Oley said...

That's all "Billy Bob's" Got?
Nothin from start to finish and he still didn't get the District Attorney to respond to his nothingness.
Good riddance!
Speaking of old Blair himself, kind of interesting that attorney job popped up when it did because Mellin was about to hand him his ass in a handbasket and what an insult to the local royalty, especially Willis's presumed successor.

Anonymous said...

The facts are clear. Neither an Astoria Municipal Court Judge nor an Astoria Munciipal Court Prosecutor has ever been convicted of a criminal violation and neither has been sanctioned by the Oregon Bar. That cannot be said for the District Attorney's Office as members of the DA's office have been both prosecuted for felonies and found in violation of Bar regulations. The facts speak for themselves. Why is this so hard to understand?

Tom T. said...

"Anonymous said...
The facts are clear. Neither an Astoria Municipal Court Judge nor an Astoria Munciipal Court Prosecutor has ever been convicted of a criminal violation and neither has been sanctioned by the Oregon Bar."


Yet!

Anonymous said...

Marquis is probably one of the most despised public officials ever to hold office in this county. He needs to be replaced and the sooner the better.

Marc said...

Anonymous said...
Marquis is probably one of the most despised public officials ever to hold office in this county. He needs to be replaced and the sooner the better.


I hardly call one misguided zealot/nutcase obviously, still unhappy about a county court decision and clearly out to destroy Marquis, "The Pulse of the Community" when he has just started his 5th term(20 years), un contested.
Maybe you should pool your anonymous supporters and have them all list their names in support of their hatred for this guy, just to make your accusation more believeable.
Maybe even find an anonymous lawyer to challenge him next election, that is if you can't find a better reason to take him out before but, as McGee says, he is still, doing what he was elected to do isn't he?

Voter said...

The Mayor has been prosecuted.
The City Attorney has been prosecuted.
The City Judge has been prosecuted.
THIS DA, nor any of his staff have ever been.
The sheer hatred of the DA seems confined to a few hundred people who
have never been able to find any other lawyer in the entire state (there is no residency requirement for DA) to run for DA.
The issue here is not the DA. It is whether DUII cases are treated with uniform fairness in a court where one day a defense attorney is a judge or prosecutor, the next a defense attorney.

Tom T. said...

"The issue here is not the DA. It is whether DUII cases are treated with uniform fairness in a court where one day a defense attorney is a judge or prosecutor, the next a defense attorney."----------Bingo!