Pubdate: Sun, 21 Sep 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Authors: Steve Miletich and Evan Bush
Page: B1

CITY ATTORNEY HOLMES TO SEEK BROAD DISMISSAL OF POT-USE TICKETS

In Municipal Court

Not Just Those Issued by Police Officer Facing Discipline

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, reacting to one police officer's 
personal campaign to write citations for public marijuana use, will 
announce Monday that he will seek dismissal of more than 85 tickets 
issued during the first seven months of the year, according to two 
City Hall sources.

Holmes, who is set to discuss the decision at a briefing of the City 
Council on Monday morning, will go beyond Police Chief Kathleen 
O'Toole's request to dismiss tickets written by bicycle Officer Randy 
Jokela and include all infractions, out of fairness to everyone who 
was cited, according to the sources and briefing materials provided 
to The Seattle Times.

Jokela, who issued about 80 percent of the $27 tickets for public pot 
use during the first half of the year, wrote on many of them "*Attn: 
Petey Holmes*."

Holmes actively supported Initiative 502, which legalized pot smoking 
in 2012 but barred public use.

Jokela also wrote on one ticket that he flipped a coin to decide 
which of two people to cite.

Holmes' plan means 86 infractions written between Jan. 1 and June 30 
- - originally believed to be 82 in a Seattle Police Department report 
- - stand to be dismissed if approved during a Municipal Court hearing 
planned for Tuesday.

Holmes will also ask that all tickets written in July be dismissed 
because Jokela also issued tickets during that month, according to 
the briefing materials. The number of those tickets was not immediately known.

People who were cited had the option of paying the fine, mitigating 
the sum or contesting the infraction. Those who defaulted had their 
cases sent to collections.

How the city will resolve each case if the tickets are dismissed wasn't clear.

O'Toole, acting on information uncovered in an internal 
investigation, wrote to Holmes asking that he seek dismissal of 
Jokela's tickets, which included at least 66 written during the first 
half of the year.

City Councilmember Bruce Harrell, chairman of the council's 
public-safety committee, arranged Monday's briefing, where Holmes is 
scheduled to appear with Craig Sims, the chief of the city attorney's 
criminal division.

Deputy Police Chief Carmen Best and Assistant Chief Nick Metz also 
are set to appear before the council.

O'Toole has notified Jokela that he faces a three-day suspension 
without pay, and she has informed Jokela's immediate supervisor, Sgt. 
Ryan Long, that he faces a one-day suspension without pay, according 
to a third source familiar with the matter.

Jokela and Long are scheduled to soon meet with O'Toole as part of 
their legal right to offer their side, though both are expected to 
accept the discipline, the source said.

Monday's council briefing is not expected to delve into the details 
of possible discipline, because O'Toole has not made a final decision.

Jokela, who joined the department in 1990, is widely known on the 
street as "Officer Joker."

Holmes sponsored a city ordinance enacted last year that gave police 
the authority to write $27 tickets for using pot in public. The City 
Council action called for police to give warnings whenever possible 
before issuing fines and to study enforcement patterns.

Although Jokela referred to Holmes on tickets, the city attorney's 
office does not screen tickets written for public marijuana use. They 
are filed directly by police officers in Municipal Court. If a ticket 
is contested, an infractions attorney from Holmes' office then 
becomes involved.

Jokela's actions came to the attention of Police Department staff 
reviewing data collected for its first semiannual report on pot-law 
enforcement delivered to the council in July.

Jokela works in the West Precinct, which includes the downtown 
business district, the Chinatown International District, Queen Anne, 
South Lake Union and other neighborhoods.

He was reassigned to administrative duties at the time O'Toole 
revealed the internal investigation, but after apologizing to 
O'Toole, he was returned to regular duties while the inquiry continued.

The marijuana-enforcement report, delivered to the City Council on 
July 23, found that 99 percent of all public-use tickets were issued 
for infractions in the West Precinct, primarily in Victor Steinbrueck 
Park, Westlake Park, Occidental Park and downtown streets.

Blacks were disproportionately cited, receiving 37 percent of the 
tickets, the report said. Blacks account for 8 percent of the Seattle 
population, according to 2010 census figures; 50 percent of the 
tickets went to whites, who represent 70 percent of city residents.

O'Toole has said she has not seen any evidence Jokela's actions were 
racially motivated.

The report, for reasons that remain unclear, didn't note Jokela's 
role in writing so many of the citations, a factor that gave a false 
picture of overall ticket writing.

O'Toole, who was sworn in as police chief June 23, has said she 
wasn't told of Jokela's role when she was briefed on the report 
before the department delivered it to the council. She said she 
wasn't provided the information until July 29 - six days after the 
report's release.

The next day, O'Toole publicly disclosed the internal investigation 
into Jokela's conduct.

The Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability, which 
handles internal investigations, has been looking into the 
circumstances of the release of the report and why O'Toole wasn't told.

Under a new city directive to be disclosed at Monday's briefing, 
officers will first warn offenders using pot in public, whenever 
practical, according to the briefing materials. But warnings won't be required.

Officers must document warnings in incident reports, according to the 
materials.

Council members also are expected to be presented statistics on 27 
tickets issued between July 1 and Sept. 15, of which 59 percent were 
handed to whites and 30 percent to blacks.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom