TACOMA — The Pierce County Superior Court judge convicted of patronizing prostitutes and threatening to kill one man remains free while awaiting sentencing on Nov. 19.
As a first-time offender, Judge Michael Hecht, 59, faces up to 90 days in jail.
The News Tribune of Tacoma reports he also remains on paid leave from the job that pays $148,000 a year.
Hecht could be removed after an investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct which will hold a Feb. 22 hearing in Seattle.
A jury Wednesday found Hecht guilty of felony harassment and patronizing a prostitute, a conviction that he called “absolutely a setup.”
Hecht had been accused of paying one man for sex and threatening to kill another man who talked about having sex with him.
The judge denied the accusations on the witness stand and testified that he had only tried to help young men as a grandfatherly figure. He has said the accusations were politically motivated.
After the verdict was announced Wednesday, The News Tribune of Tacoma reported two of Hecht’s grown children and his wife, who sat through the trial, started crying. They hugged Hecht.
Hecht said he was happy for the love of his family.
He said he was set up by the authorities and the son of the man he defeated in the election for the judgeship.
“It’s absolutely a setup,” Hecht said. He said jurors were duped.
Assistant attorney general John Hillman contended that Hecht bought sex from one young man on multiple occasions in 2008 and 2009 and threatened to kill another who last summer was telling people about his alleged previous sexual relationship with Hecht.
Hecht’s attorney, Wayne Fricke, argued in his closing statement that Hecht is an honorable man whose efforts to help struggling members of society gave his political enemies ammunition to attack him.
Hecht was elected to the Pierce County bench in August 2008, and he was sworn into office Jan. 12, the day after The News Tribune reported that Tacoma police were investigating him.
Hecht took a voluntary leave of absence from his job in March after his arraignment on the two criminal charges.
Information from: The News Tribune, www.thenewstribune.com
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