Past misdemeanor forced court official to leave post

By Jim Haley

Herald Writer

The man credited with taking great strides to consolidate Snohomish County’s four district courts suddenly resigned as director because his past caught up with him, a judge has confirmed.

Dennis Howard, 55, who suddenly stepped down Jan. 11 as administrator of the district court and court probation, was convicted in 1991 of a misdemeanor sexual assault in Colorado, presiding judge Carol McRae acknowledged.

Someone anonymously sent McRae a packet of information containing the text of newspaper articles from Colorado more than 10 years ago recounting the conviction and his sentence, the judge said.

Trained as a lawyer, Howard was the Jefferson County court administrator in Golden, Colo., from 1983 to 1991.

Howard was sentenced to two years probation, 150 hours of community service and treatment after he pleaded guilty to fondling a 12-year-old boy.

McRae said she is not aware of Howard having any problems with the law since the 1991 incident.

The offense stemmed from what Howard described Monday as unintentionally touching the child in the genital area "in the context of roughhousing around at a friend’s house. I’m just sorry for all this."

When he was hired, Howard said he signed an agreement for the court to do a background check on him. He said he assumed the conviction had been detected and the judges hired him anyway.

"It was something I thought was behind me," Howard said. "I never would have accepted the position if I had known they hadn’t done a thorough background check."

In hindsight, he conceded that it would have been better had he pointed out the conviction to the judges.

When asked why the conviction wasn’t detected in a background check, McRae said, "It’s my understanding that’s not always possible, especially with a misdemeanor that’s out of state and that’s a number of years old."

Unlike more serious felony convictions, she said finding information on misdemeanors becomes more difficult with time.

The judges want to make sure this never happens again, she added.

The court will conduct an extensive search involving in-depth reference checks and a background check including criminal history, she said. The judges are working with the Snohomish County Human Resources staff seeking an outside agency to help in a search for Howard’s replacement.

"I think the use of an outside agency that will screen applicants, coupled with a more diligent approach by the bench, will hopefully result in the hiring of an appropriate candidate," McRae said.

The information came to light when McRae received the packet containing the newspaper articles on Jan. 9. She immediately summoned Howard. She said he tendered his resignation that day, but McRae asked him to wait until she could gather all the judges to discuss the situation.

On Jan. 11, the eight judges from Lynnwood, Everett, Arlington and Monroe met and voted unanimously to accept Howard’s resignation, McRae said.

"The misdemeanor conviction would have cast a shadow over the court," McRae said. "The judges, I firmly believe, felt the misdemeanor conviction would have cast a shadow over Dennis’ abilities to work in that position and interact with the people he’d been working with."

The judges’ primary concern now is that "the public continue to have trust and faith in the court process and the integrity of the judges," she said.

Howard had been in his position a little more than three years, and his task was to bring the four courts together, standardize forms and procedures, reduce costs and bring about other efficiencies.

"Mr. Howard’s work was exemplary throughout that entire period," said McRae, who came on the bench several months after Howard took the job. "We achieved more in the way of consolidation than the judges anticipated in the beginning of the process, and that’s a direct result of Mr. Howard."

Likewise, Howard said it was difficult working with the four previously independent courts and getting judges and staff to work together.

"I think the judges have learned to work with each other fairly well," Howard said.

Prior to accepting the job, Howard was a manager for Microsoft. Since leaving the post in Colorado, he also has worked as a consultant on court matters, something he said he may now have to resume.

You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447 or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.

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