Olson granted new hearing

Published 11:14 pm Thursday, November 15, 2007

With no fanfare and just a stroke of the pen, Everett City Councilman Mark Olson got a court order for a second hearing and a new judge to decide what punishment he might receive for violating conditions of a deferred prosecution in his 2003 drunken driving conviction.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Cowsert signed the order Thursday nullifying additional conditions imposed on Olson in September by Cascade District Court Judge Jay Wisman in Arlington.

The brief order also sends the case back to the district court presiding judge for reassignment of a new jurist to hear the case.

Both Olson’s lawyer, Diana Lundin of Bellevue, and Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Thomas Curtis agreed that the councilman should get a new hearing.

The agreement came after Olson appealed the fact that Wisman heard his case, despite a request that the Arlington judge step aside. Wisman refused to step aside, saying that the request for him to not hear the case came in too late.

The district court judge lost that battle when his own lawyer, the deputy prosecutor, agreed that Wisman shouldn’t have heard the probation violation case. The request for Wisman to step aside came just in time under court rules, Curtis said.

Under the law, a defendant can ask for disqualification of one judge without stating any reason.

In September, Wisman extended the court’s jurisdiction over the case for two years. He also extended Olson’s court supervision two years and extended a ban on Olson’s drinking until 2010. In addition, Olson would have had to get an updated assessment from a therapist.

Olson’s resumption of alcohol consumption became public when a search warrant was filed in connection with an allegation that he raped a woman after an evening of drinking in Everett.

A probation officer noted that the drinking happened within the original five-year ban on consuming alcohol, which was set in 2003 as part of the deferred prosecution.

In front of Wisman, lawyer Bill Bowman, also of Bellevue, admitted that Olson violated the original court order. He argued that Olson, an attorney, got some bad advice from a therapist and a former attorney.

Whether Olson gets new sanctions will be up to the new judge who hears his probation violation case.

When the case first came to court in 2003, Olson negotiated a deferred prosecution instead of jail time. Under a deferred sentence, a defendant can avoid jail and even a record of conviction by complying with court-ordered conditions.

Olson’s current legal troubles started in June after a woman told Everett police that she believed Olson sexually assaulted her at his downtown Everett law office after drinking in Everett restaurants.

The Washington State Patrol investigated, and the Skagit County prosecutor is reviewing the case to determine whether charges are warranted.