Locke fills post at local court

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, July 15, 2004

Michael Downes may have prosecuted his last case.

The veteran Snohomish County deputy prosecutor was appointed Thursday to the Superior Court bench, filling a vacancy created by the death last week of Judge Charles French.

Gov. Gary Locke came to Everett to make the appointment in a packed courtroom of well-wishers for Downes.

“I’m just thrilled, really thrilled to have the opportunity to do this,” Downes told the gathering.

It was Downes who led the prosecutor team that convicted eight people in connection with the September 2002 shooting death of Rachel Burkheimer, 18, of Marysville. The prosecutions concluded with a series of lengthy trials in which three men were convicted of first-degree murder. Two of them face life in prison without possibility of release.

Downes, 52, stood next to two of his children. A third child and his wife, Edwina, listened via a speakerphone because they were on the East Coast tending to a sick relative.

The new judge will be sworn in Wednesday. He will have to file for election at the end of the month and run for the job in November.

“I am pleased to add Michael to a branch of government that is so vital to our democratic system,” Locke said. “He has the legal skills, the temperament and the life experiences to be a top-notch Superior Court judge.”

Locke, a former King County prosecutor, has made it a habit to travel to counties where he’s appointing judges because of vacancies. He said judges are “among our everyday heroes” because they resolve disputes peacefully.

While addressing the crowd, Downes sometimes became emotional. The judicial job is one he’s eyed for years, and he said after the appointment he could hardly contain himself.

He promised the governor and the crowd he would bring common sense, hard work and fairness to the position.

“I will work every day to show you the faith you’ve put in me is justified,” he told the governor. To the crowd, he said, “I’m not going to let you down, either.”

Downes, an assistant chief deputy, has been with the prosecutor’s office for 21 years. An Everett resident, he’s served on the boards of such groups as United Way and Red Cross. He’s also been involved in such organizations as the YMCA, north Everett Little League and Rotary.

He’s a 1977 graduate of Western Washington University and graduated from the University of Puget Sound Law School in 1982.

Before attending school, he worked as a survey researcher, in the food service industry and as a production line worker in a mayonnaise factory – where he worked next to a 75-year-old man who spent almost his entire adult life there.

It was people such as that man, and Downes’ hard-working parents, who taught him the common sense experience he said he will bring to the bench.

“The public ought to be able to trust that their cases are promptly handled and that the parties will get a fair shake,” Downes said in a statement. “I’ll work hard to do that every day.”

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.