Nathan Rouse, a public defender in Seattle, is throwing his hat into the ring to unseat incumbent Metropolis Lawyer Ann Davison.
As we shift again into defense-against-the-constant-onslaught-of-attacks-on-human-rights mode, in any other case often known as a Donald Trump presidency, Rouse believes Seattle wants a metropolis lawyer who won’t kowtow to President Donald Trump, however will stand as much as him one lawsuit at a time. He argues that Davison’s tough-on-crime method has failed. If elected, Rouse, who identifies as a “progressive prosecutor,” pledges to guide the Metropolis Lawyer’s Workplace with an evidence-based method.
For the reason that position of the CAO is restricted to civil instances and prosecuting misdemeanors, Rouse might want to advocate for the insurance policies he helps to a Metropolis Council that, because it stands presently, doesn’t align along with his beliefs. He thinks he has what it takes.
Rouse, 41, is a Philadelphia native. He moved to Seattle 20 years in the past the place he labored at REI after which at a crusing journal. After attending regulation faculty at Seattle College, Rouse labored for “Massive Regulation” corporations, he held clerkships for federal judges, and, for the final 4 years, has been a public defender. It was that work within the Division of Public Protection that he says motivated him to run for metropolis lawyer.
“What I’ve actually seen the final 4 years as a public defender is how ineffective the misdemeanor system is,” Rouse mentioned. “We now have a revolving door with out significant outcomes. We now have a really massive quantity of instances which are filed with out efficiently interrupting the cycles of crime.”
Beneath Davison, who, in case you forgot switched her voter registration from Democrat to Republican in 2020, the CAO fully disbanded Seattle Municipal Court docket’s Group Court docket, a pioneering therapeutic court docket that supplied low-level offenders companies as an alternative of prosecution. Davison additionally applied the “Excessive Utilizers Initiative,” which allowed the CAO to focus on individuals who had greater than 12 misdemeanors. She additionally supported the Metropolis Council’s Keep Out of Drug Space (SODA) and Keep Out of Space of Prostitution (SOAP) zones that restricted the actions of these arrested for drug or prostitution fees. Moreover, she has made prosecuting extra misdemeanors a precedence.
Rouse believes that none of those insurance policies have been efficient or useful.
“I actually see an emphasis on submitting instances and an emphasis on performative public security insurance policies to attain political factors as an alternative of truly attempting to resolve these points with the assets that we now have,” Rouse mentioned.
He might have some extent. The Excessive Utilizers Initiative focused these high offenders, half of whom had been ordered by judges to bear competency checks. Of these, 55% of offenders had been discovered incompetent to face trial. Rouse believes that persevering with to prosecute these people doesn’t remedy the underlying issues. Moreover, the Seattle Occasions simply reported the CAO just isn’t even imposing SODA.
“I see that coverage as a waste of time,” Rouse mentioned. “It is a distraction.”
If elected, Rouse mentioned he wouldn’t prosecute SOAP/SODA violations just like how former metropolis lawyer Pete Holmes stopped prosecuting misdemeanor hashish crimes when he took over the workplace.
These insurance policies, in addition to Davison’s give attention to prosecuting increasingly more misdemeanors, imply fewer essential crimes get prosecuted, in response to Rouse. Driving below the affect and home violence instances—the intense issues the CAO can prosecute and what Rouse desires to give attention to—are chucking up the sponge.
“Lots of these instances are getting dismissed as a result of the road prosecutors, the deputies that truly take care of them, have a lot else on their plate due to the variety of instances which are filed,” Rouse mentioned. “So these severe areas aren’t even getting the outcomes that they need to get.”
He desires to resolve this by reimplementing neighborhood court docket and advocating for extra evidence-based interventions such because the Regulation Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program.
Rouse desires to convey neighborhood court docket again to the Seattle Municipal Court docket and likewise beef up the companies the court docket can present to low-level offenders. By doing so, the CAO may scale back recidivism and the positive-feedback loop of the prison justice system. It might additionally reduce the caseloads of CAO attorneys.
“Seattle Municipal Court docket must be a connection level for accessing therapy and different companies,” Rouse mentioned. “Group court docket can present accountability for behaviors which are unacceptable, but in addition present the forms of assets that may work towards disrupting the behaviors that we’re involved about.”
To get extra “strong” therapy choices and to spice up funding for LEAD, Rouse would want to liaise with King County and state lawmakers. For a lot of of his targets, he’d need to persuade the Seattle Metropolis Council to sponsor the requisite laws.
“Town council is filled with members who all ran on a public security platform,” Rouse mentioned. “All of them have that in widespread, and I might hope that they’d be taken with evidence-based responses to those persistent points that we see.”
One different manner Rouse want to scale back the cycle of crime could be to broaden the Group Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) staff, which connects individuals in sure crises with behavioral well being professionals somewhat than police. Contract negotiations with the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) restricted the growth of these groups to forestall the roles from being taken over by police.
“SPOG has interfered with efforts to reform the police by attempting to carry on to these areas of labor and never permit these reforms to be applied,” Rouse mentioned. “We do not need law enforcement officials responding to overdoses. We wish them investigating and fixing severe crimes.”
Nevertheless, as metropolis lawyer, Rouse wouldn’t have direct energy to make that occur. As a substitute, he would want to affect the method by advocacy. If he had been town lawyer negotiating SPOG’s contract, Rouse mentioned he would advocate for a extra reform-heavy contract by advising metropolis leaders throughout negotiations.
Rouse additionally flexes his “progressive prosecutor” standing in how he believes town ought to take care of landlords value fixing rents in Seattle. He believes the civil division of the CAO must be “extra proactive and fewer reactive” in that area, although he didn’t state how this is able to be finished in motion aside from that “affirmatively imposing rental protections for metropolis residents is vital.”
Whereas it is exterior the CAO’s purview, Rouse can also be against the Supreme Court docket’s latest overturning of Martin v. Boise, which beforehand made it unlawful for cities to arrest individuals for dwelling outdoor. He bristled over how, earlier than the Court docket’s ruling, Davison filed an amicus temporary in assist of repealing the regulation.
Davison’s actions on the federal stage have been disappointing throughout the board, in response to Rouse. As we enter a second Trump presidency, one the place sanctuary cities providing protected harbor for migrants and refugees in addition to these searching for reproductive well being procedures equivalent to abortion are as soon as once more below assault, Rouse thinks it is very important have a metropolis lawyer that may defend its residents.
Davison has but to sue or stand as much as Trump in any capability. Holmes sued Trump over sanctuary metropolis protections. Rouse just isn’t assured Davison, who switched events after 4 years of dwelling below a Trump presidency, will do something aside from capitulate.
He believes his expertise in federal courts and dealing prison instances will permit him to be efficient in a manner different CAO candidates, together with Davison, won’t be.
“It is not the time to be silent or complicit,” Rouse mentioned. “It is actually the time to dig in and defend our metropolis.”