Jean Rietschel

King County Superior Court

Position 37

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: In her 12 years as a Seattle Municipal Court Judge, Jean was Presiding Judge for 3 years, and on the Court’s Executive Committee for eight years. She’s been a member of the Judicial Ethics Advisory Board; Chair, Trial Court Coordinating Counsel; Chair, King County Regional Law and Justice Committee; Chair, Regional Relicensing Summit; and Co-chair, Misdemeanor Work Group. She worked for eight years in the Public Defender Association in all divisions: felony, misdemeanor, juvenile, dependency, appeal, and civil commitments. Before that, she was in private practice, handling juvenile, criminal, personal injury, consumer bankruptcy, domestic partnership, adoption, wills and probate matters.

CANDIDATE STATEMENT: Judge Jean Rietschel has been a judge in King County for the past 12 years, adjudicating more than 1,000 cases in Municipal Court ranging from domestic violence, criminal infractions and land use disputes. She led the Seattle Municipal Court as its Presiding Judge. She has heard more cases than all of the other candidates running for open seats this election season.

She has been rated "Exceptionally Well Qualified" by the King County, Asian Bar, Washington Women Lawyers, Latina/o, and GLBT Bar Associations. She has consistently been top-rated by attorney evaluation polls throughout her career.

Judge Jean took the lead in writing the Misdemeanor Report, which saves money and reduces the number of defendants who fail to show up in court by offering alternative sanctions and relicensing programs. She established the new Domestic Violence Court to hold suspects more accountable. The Alternatives to Confinement program was also her idea – to save dollars and promote rehabilitation in cases where offenders were non-violent.

Judge Jean is endorsed by more than 30 Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, and bench court judges; Women’s Political Caucus; most of the Seattle City Council members; many local legislators including Speaker Frank Chopp; and your friends and neighbors.

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