Office Organization

The Office of the Spokane City Prosecuting Attorney is organized into six key units. They are: Administration, Central Prosecution, Domestic Violence, Appellate, Civil Infraction, and a Re-licensing.

Administration Unit

The Administration Unit is composed of the City Prosecuting Attorney and the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney. This unit is tasked with the following responsibilities:

• Formulate and implement policies and procedures related to prosecution of cases in the Spokane Municipal Court.
• Act as the primary Interface between the Office of the Spokane City Prosecuting Attorney and the other agencies in the regional criminal justice system.
• Act as the primary Interface between the Office of the Spokane City Prosecuting Attorney citizens of the City of Spokane.
• Primary responsibility for drafting, revising the penal sections of the Spokane Municipal Code, as well coordinating the provisions of the penal sections of the Spokane Municipal Code with periodic changes in state law.
• Supervise each of the other prosecution units operating within the Office of the Spokane City Prosecuting Attorney.

Central Prosecution Unit

The Central Prosecution Unit is comprised of 6 attorneys and three support staff. This unit is responsible for the prosecution of all criminal cases, including criminal traffic and infractions related thereto, that do not involve an allegation of domestic violence. The attorneys and staff are assigned to caseloads defined by specific letters of the alphabet that correspond to the first letter of the last name of each defendant. This method of case assignment is designed to permit the application of an enhanced vertical prosecution model to prosecution of criminal cases by the City of Spokane. Current case assignments for the attorneys assigned to the Central Prosecution Unit can be determined by calling our main office telephone number.

All cases prosecuted by the Core Prosecution Unit are divided between two Judges of the Spokane County District Court. Each judge presides over cases involving defendants with the last names beginning with the letters A-K of those involving defendants with the last names beginning with the letters L-Z. Current judicial assignments can be obtained by calling the Spokane City Court Clerks Office at 509-835-4400.

Domestic Violence Unit

The Domestic Violence Unit of the Office of the Spokane City Prosecutor is comprised of three assistant city prosecutor’s who, with the assistance of two city support staff, prosecute approximately 1500 misdemeanor Domestic Violence (DV) cases annually.

The Domestic Violence Unit acts as an integral component of the Spokane Regional Domestic Violence Team (SRDVT), an organization that is comprised of a number of separate agencies brought together in order to collaborate on services, personnel and objectives. The agencies are: Spokane Police Department (lead agency), Office of the Spokane City Prosecutor, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office, Spokane District Court and the YWCA.

The Office of the Spokane City Prosecuting Attorney recognizes the seriousness of the threat posed by intimate partner violence and the need for providing enhanced efforts to insure victim’s safety, offender accountability and swift justice in all cases involving domestic violence.

The Office of the Spokane City Prosecuting Attorney is committed to being a proactive part of the SRDVT effort structured to place victim safety and advocacy on an equal par with the criminal justice goals of successful prosecution and offender accountability. As part of this effort, this office makes domestic violence misdemeanor offenses a priority by assisting in the development and implementation of an effective protocol by prosecuting theses offenses. If you feel that you are a victim of domestic violence - WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU! If you have questions call us at 509-835-4500.

Appellate Unit

The Appellate Unit represents the City on each appeal of a Spokane case for the Spokane County District Court. Normally, the City's appellate function responds to appeals of right initiated by defendants. Double jeopardy principles limit when the City may appeal (e.g., the City may not appeal when a Defendant is acquitted); the City may appeal sentencing issues or a pretrial order suppressing evidence that in effect terminates the prosecution’s case. The appellate caseload also includes writ actions, discretionary reviews and Personal Restraint Petitions as discussed below.

Types of Review:

Appeals of Right: Municipal defendants have a legal right to one appeal of their conviction to Spokane Superior Court.

Statutory/Constitutional Writs of Review & Habeas Corpus: A procedure by which a party may seek appellate review of an issue that is not reviewable as a matter of right. For instance, the City could not appeal if a trial court rules that a portion of a municipal ordinance is unconstitutional, but it could seek review by an interlocutory writ and stay the prosecution pending resolution of that particular issue. It is a separate civil action and the reviewing court’s final decision is subject to an appeal as of right.

Both the private and public defense bar often use writs of review as a way to resolve “global” issues, such as challenges to the Breath Alcohol Content (BAC) instruments and constitutionality of ordinances.

Discretionary Review: When a party is not entitled to an appeal as of right or has exhausted such review, that party may seek discretionary review at either the Court of Appeals or the Washington State Supreme Court.

Personal Restraint Petitions: After a criminal defendant has exhausted his/her appeal as of right and any discretionary review involving that appeal; they may file a Personal Restraint Petition (PRP) with the Court of Appeals.

Mental Health Unit

The Mental Health Unit of the Office of the Spokane City Prosecutor provides one assistant city prosecutor and one full- time mental health court clerk to the Spokane area’s newly-formed Mental Health Therapeutic Court.

The Mental Health Therapeutic Court (MHTC) was established as part of the funding initiative approved by Spokane voters to improve the availability of mental health resources and enhance coordination among mental health service providers in the community. As part of that initiative, Spokane’s Mental Health Therapeutic Court is designed to address the therapeutic needs of those who suffer from mental illness and whose mental illness is a significant factor in the commission of non-felony crimes. Examples of significant mental illness includes individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders, major depression or other disabling mental illnesses that affect judgment and cause erratic behaviors leading to arrest.

A great many individuals with mental illness are charged with relatively minor offenses, and for most, the underlying issue is their need for basic services and mental health treatment. Many of these individuals are disconnected from community support services and are either overlooked or intimidated by the mental health system. Without available services in the community, many of these individuals continue behaviors that lead to arrest and incarceration.

In many cases, incarcerating the mentally ill results in unproductive jail stays during which the individual receives no treatment for the illness most directly related to the behavior. For mentally ill persons subject to arrest, booking and incarceration, an encounter with the criminal justice system can be profoundly traumatic and have consequences which can impede their later access to housing and mental health services, the very support services that prevent new offenses from being committed. Repeated incarcerations of this population is commonplace, costly to the taxpayers and, in many cases, does little to improve public safety by preventing future arrests of these individuals.

The Spokane City Prosecutor’s Office forms part of the Mental Health Therapeutic Court team. This team, operating in a manner consistent with public safety, acts to identify defendants with documented mental illness and place appropriate individuals from this group on a therapeutic track of supervision under a court-ordered treatment plan. These treatment plans incorporate targeted mental health services and a coordinated plan of community intervention designed to address the specific needs of each individual.

Civil Infraction Unit

The Civil Infraction Unit prosecutes all civil infractions and code violations for the City of Spokane. These civil cases range from simple parking tickets up through health and safety code violations, to violations of the uniform traffic code. Fines in this area of the law range from $20 for a parking violation to thousands of dollars for dangerously overweight vehicle citations.

With some exceptions there are three basic options in responding to a civil infraction: (1) you can pay the ticket; (2) contest the ticket and request a hearing, or (3) admit you committed the infraction and ask fine be mitigated (reduced). Paying the ticket closes the case. If you want to contest or mitigate your ticket, the back of the citation can provide you additional information. The court clerk can also provide additional information, as well as set your case for hearing. You may also find additional information on the Spokane District Court Web Site.

In general, contesting the ticket will involve a mini-trial conducted in accordance with the rules of evidence. If you are found committed, the full amount of the fine must generally be paid. If you are found not committed then the matter is concluded with no further obligations on your part. Alternatively you may ask the fine be mitigated and the fine will generally be reduced approximately one third, subject to some restrictions imposed by law. Once you have elected to proceed with a contested hearing you may not then ask to mitigate the fine if you are found to have committed the offense. Additionally, on some tickets you may qualify for a deferred finding where you pay a reduced processing fee and, provided you comply with certain restrictions, the ticket is eventually dismissed. All of these options may be discussed with your lawyer if you choose to hire one or with the prosecutor before the docket begins if you choose to represent yourself.

Because these issues are civil there is no right to counsel and the public defender may not represent those charged unless there was a criminal citation issued at the same time.

Re-licensing Unit

What is this program and what will it do for me?

The Relicensing Project, formerly the Restorative Justice Program, is again sponsoring a program for people currently Suspended Third Degree, for failing to pay traffic fines in the courts for the City and County of Spokane, Pend Oreille County, Lincoln County, Stevens County, City of Airway Heights, City of Deer Park, City of Cheney, Bremerton and/or City of Medical Lake. This cooperative program will provide several very important opportunities:

1. Opportunity to avoid prosecution and conviction on a pending DWLS 3° offense and related traffic infractions, if any;
2. Opportunity for you to work directly with members of the community toward the goal of becoming a licensed and insured driver in the State of Washington;
3. Opportunity to obtain a reduction of existing monetary obligations that are preventing a reinstatement of your driving privileges;
4. Opportunity to combine your existing Spokane County, Spokane City and participating jurisdiction traffic offense related fine payments into a manageable monthly amount; and
5. Opportunity to have the Spokane District, Spokane Municipal and other participating courts release the holds on your driving privileges based upon your successful progress in completing the program.

I am interested, but am I eligible for the program?

To be eligible for the program you must meet the following criteria:

1. You must resolve all outstanding warrants for your arrest, alcohol holds, child support holds and financial responsibility holds before you are eligible for the program.
2. The suspension of your driving privileges must be in the third degree and that suspension must be for unpaid fines, whether imposed by the court or based upon your failure to respond or appear;
3. You may have only 1 pending (open with the court) DWLS Third Degree. If you have multiple pending DWLS Third Degree charges, you must resolve all but 1 of the charges before you can be admitted to the program. You do not need a pending DWLS Third Degree charge to be eligible for the program. Having no pending DWLS Third Degree cases will greatly reduce the time it takes to reinstate your license in most cases.
4. All fines causing you to be suspended must be in the City and County of Spokane, Pend Oreille County, Lincoln County, Stevens County, City of Airway Heights, City of Deer Park, City of Cheney, Bremerton, and/or City of Medical Lake.
5. You cannot have previously participated in this program;
6. You cannot have been convicted of a “sex offense”, “serious violent offense” or a “most serious offense” as they are defined in the Revised Code of Washington.
7. Your criminal history cannot demonstrate a pattern of felony, assault, drug and/or weapons charges.
8. If you have gang affiliations and have been convicted of any felonies, assault or weapons violations, you may not participate in the program.

This all sounds good, but what do I have to do to get the benefits offered by this program?

Come into our office at 909 W. Mallon (Spokane City Prosecuting Attorneys Office) Monday through Friday, during our regular business hours of hours 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and begin the relicensing process. The Relicensing Project is closed on all holidays. We will determine if you are eligible, and if so, rank you into one of three tiers, based upon your traffic offense history and develop a plan for you to reinstate your driving privileges. If you accept the plan outline developed by the program staff, you pay a nonrefundable administrative fee, unless previously in the program, and sign some documents to begin the process of resolving your status as a suspended driver. The program staff and / or volunteers will monitor your progress on your plan. As long as you fulfill your side of the plan, we will request your current DWLS 3° and related infractions, if any, be dismissed and will do everything we can to help you get your driving privileges back. Your success in this program will depend on your active participation. The total length of the program is up to 120 days. If you filled out the Matrix or are a return client you may call (509) 835-5936.

For more information, view the Relicensing Project Information Sheet (PDF)