ARLINGTON — Citizens hoping to hasten the prosecution of the owner of Blaze the dog were dealt a serious blow in court Jan. 14.
Linda Perri, organizer of Unchain in Washington State, retained Adam Karp to petition the court for the private prosecution of Kari Ilonummi for gross misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty in the second degree.
Judge Kristen Olbrechts, of the Cascade Division of Snohomish County District Court, expressed her sympathies with the passions of Perri and her fellow UWS members, who object to the chaining and coning of Blaze. But as a matter of principle, she refused to take the job of any possible prosecution of this case out of the hands of Zachor & Thomas, who serve as the city of Arlington’s prosecuting attorneys.
“It’s bad policy for judges to step into the shoes of prosecutors,” said Olbrechts, who told Karp that he should have sent Zachor & Thomas his 90 pages of evidentiary documents in hard copy, rather than via email. “Perhaps you’re more new-school in that regard, but if I were them, I wouldn’t know what all I had in front of me.”
Olbrechts also asserted that Karp didn’t give Zachor & Thomas enough time to review those documents before petitioning the court to conduct a private prosecution, even though she echoed Perri’s concerns about Blaze’s ability to seek cover from the elements inside his doghouse while he was still coned.
“That bothers me,” Olbrechts said. “But you were premature in bringing this case before me.”
Olbrechts explained that Zachor & Thomas have two years from the date of the offense to charge Ilonummi. She elaborated that Zachor & Thomas are likewise granted leeway to determine a specific date for the offense, in the case of an offense which was committed continually through multiple days.
“This is going to involve a lot of investigation on their part, including lining up their own interviews,” Olbrechts said. “For them to prosecute, they can’t just have probable cause. They have to be able to prove the case.”
Perri lodged complaints about what she saw as the non-responsiveness of the Arlington Police Department to this issue. When Olbrechts informed her that public records requests can’t be granted for ongoing investigations, Perri claimed to have heard contradictory accounts of whether Blaze actually was the subject of an ongoing investigation.
Attorney H. James Zachor, who was in attendance during the hearing, told the UWS members that his family cares passionately about animal welfare, but must follow proper procedures.
“We have eight cities we have to review,” Zachor said. “We probably prosecute more of these cases than the county does.”
Perri remained undeterred by the verdict, and swore, “We will not quit fighting for Blaze.”
