EVERETT — Recently retired Snohomish County Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer died Thursday after a three-month battle with brain cancer.
Allendoerfer, appointed to the bench in 1990, was known for being an analytical and thoughtful judge, who wasn’t afraid to make tough decisions inside his courtroom. He was 66.
“We’re really going to miss him. He was a hard- working man who just loved being a judge, and that showed through his work,” said presiding Judge Larry McKeeman, who joined the bench a month after Allendoerfer started.
Allendoerfer was diagnosed in April with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. He had hoped to return to the bench but later decided he had to step down. His resignation was effective July 15.
“He was heartbroken that he was forced to leave,” his daughter Barbara Allendoerfer said. “He loved his job. He loved the law.”
The judge died at his Mukilteo home surrounded by his wife Patricia and his daughters Barbara and Cheryl. He also is survived by his stepchildren Gina and Vince and five grandchildren. Plans for a memorial service are under way.
When he wasn’t on the bench Allendoerfer traveled to far away places, often finding his way to a hiking trail. He summitted Mount Rainier, hiked Machu Picchu in Peru and the Himalayas in Nepal. He and his wife often spent time at their cabin in the Cascade Mountains.
He cheered for the University of Washington Huskies. The judge had a terrific sense of humor with a soft-spot for practical jokes, his daughter said.
One thing he didn’t joke about was his responsibility to serve the community, his family said. He often spent hours studying the law, poring over details to arrive at his decisions. He also enjoyed working for small towns when he was a lawyer.
Allendoerfer graduated from the University of Washington School of Law in 1967. He worked for a year as a law clerk to Washington State Supreme Court Justice Orris Hamilton.
In 1968, looking for an adventure, he signed a two-year contract with the Territory of Guam, where he worked in the Attorney General’s Office. Still in Guam, Allendoerfer interviewed over the phone for a job with the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office. He worked in the office for a couple of years before joining Merle Wilcox and Richard Thompson in their law offices in Marysville and Snohomish. Attorney Bruce Keithly joined the firm about five years later when Thomspon left. Allendoerfer became a respected attorney for his expertise in land use and municipal law.
Often those who he had defeated in court then became his clients, Keithly said.
“He was so clearly bright, well-prepared and professional, and he so often won, that people or companies represented by some other lawyer would, once the dust had settled, ask Jim if he could represent them in the future,” Keithly added.
While in private practice Allendoerfer served on boards for the Everett Symphony and the Evergreen Council of the Boy Scouts.
He left behind the practice after being appointed to the Superior Court. He took the bench in 1991.
“What really stands out with Jim is he really cared about the people that shared in his decisions,” McKeeman said. “He wasn’t afraid to take a unique approach if he thought it would help those folks.”
One such approach made international headlines in the 1990s.
Allendoerfer agreed to allow two teenage cousins to be banished to remote islands of the southeastern Alaskan coast in an attempt to rehabilitate the boys under legal traditions of the Thlawaa Thlingit Nation.
Simon Roberts and Adrian Guthrie, then 17, robbed a pizza delivery man in south Everett after they attacked him with a baseball bat.
State sentencing guidelines didn’t recognize the banishment as a sanctioned punishment. Allendoerfer, intrigued with the idea of rehabilitating the teens, found a way to follow the law and allow tribal elders to punish the boys under their traditions.
He put off sentencing the cousins and released them to the Kuye’di Kuiu Kwaan Thlingit Tribal Court.
The experiment was cut short amidst a media frenzy and an internal tribal dispute. The teens were brought back to Snohomish County about a year after they were banished and Allendoerfer sentenced them to state prison.
Allendoerfer learned several years later that Guthrie was in trouble with the law again. He told a reporter at the time he didn’t regret his decision to allow for the banishment.
“He brought a great deal of compassion to court,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern said. “In a system that is often impersonal and one-size fits all, he tried to custom fit every single case. It’s what endeared him to lawyers and frustrated lawyers.”
Veteran Snohomish County Public Defender Natalie Tarantino admired Allendoerfer’s ability to make defendants feel comfortable enough to tell him the truth. He was good at reading people and sniffing out what was really going on, she said.
“He was just one of the most independent-minded judges,” she said. “He always had interesting legal questions before making a decision.”
Longtime Snohomish County Public Defender Marybeth Dingledy appreciated Allendoerfer’s willingness to listen to what defendants had to say.
“All clients have a story. I don’t think you can do a one-size-fits-all kind of justice,” she said. “I think he was able to do that. A sentence was not just a rubber stamp to him.”
Dingledy recalled the case of a Marysville woman who was convicted in 2007 of vehicular homicide in the death of her boyfriend. The woman was severely injured in the crash. She suffered amnesia and had no memory of the crash.
Dingledy and Stern, who prosecuted the case, asked for leniency for the woman. Allendoerfer agreed, saying the woman’s inability to remember what happened hindered her ability to assist in her own defense at trial. He sentenced her to 480 hours of community service.
“I find it most just” to let her avoid a prison sentence, Allendoerfer said. “Putting you in the penitentiary would simply be punishment for punishment sake.”
Allendoerfer was a leader on the bench, McKeeman said. He was primarily responsible for bringing the “For The Sake of Kids” program to the county. The program requires parents seeking a divorce to take a seminar to help them understand the effects of divorce on children.
“He was one of hardest working public servants around. I didn’t always agree with him, but if we disagreed, I always knew I could go talk to him face to face about it,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Mark Roe said. “That’s really all you can ask of anyone. Work hard, and be willing to listen if folks disagree with you.”
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com.
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