Judge retiring after 25 years

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard A. Strophy will end a 25-year career on the bench, including 23 years as a Superior Court judge, when he retires effective Jan. 10, he announced Tuesday.

Strophy, 63, said he wanted to announce his retirement well in advance so he'd give potential successors ample time to announce their candidacy and run for the Superior Court judgeship, a nonpartisan, elected position in Washington.

Strophy did not give a specific reason why he decided not to seek another term, but he noted that his 12 grandchildren are getting older every year, "and I want to be able to spend more time with them."

"I'm very grateful and appreciative that the voters have re-elected me five terms unopposed and given me the opportunity to be part of the law and justice effort to maintain the rule of law," he said. "I've enjoyed it. I truly have mixed emotions."

Before Strophy was elected as a Thurston County District Court judge in 1982 and a Superior Court judge in 1984, he started out working for the county as a prosecutor in 1971.

His public-service career goes back further, to 1968, when he began working at the state Employment Security Department while at Gonzaga Law School.

Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney Ed Holm said he remembers Strophy as a formidable opponent during that time, when Holm, then a defense attorney, faced off against Strophy in criminal cases.

"I don't know if I ever won one against him," Holm said of Strophy's record as a prosecutor.

In recent years, Strophy has made his mark as the presiding judge for Thurston County Drug Court. Many people with legal ties said Tuesday that Strophy's leadership was instrumental in starting the program here. Drug court is a voluntary, court-supervised treatment program that gives some defendants the opportunity to have their nonviolent felonies dismissed — provided they complete the program, which requires them to stay sober and meet specific goals, such as continuing their education or maintaining continuous employment.

Strophy said drug court "probably has been, in the big picture of things, the most significant and the most rewarding" accomplishment in his tenure as judge. Since drug court started in 1998, there have been 277 graduates, and "less than 10 percent of them have been re-arrested for criminal offenses," he said.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Gary Tabor will serve as presiding drug court judge after Strophy retires, Strophy said.

Strophy said that as a prosecutor, one case that stands out was his conviction of a man who shot and killed two bank tellers during a robbery in the early 1980s. He said that on the bench, some of his significant cases included a civil case in which he ruled it was unconstitutional for a local Eagles Club to ban women from its meetings. Strophy fondly remembered that his ruling was upheld by the state Supreme Court, and one of its former judges, C.Z. Smith, quoted him in his opinion.

Attorneys who work in both prosecution and criminal defense said Tuesday that they were sad to hear Strophy was leaving the bench. Defense attorney Sax Rodgers said Strophy's leadership with drug court will have a lasting effect on countless defendants.

"I think Judge Strophy has been an excellent judge — very fair, very honest, on the criminal as well as the civil side," Rodgers said. "We'll miss him — and I've lost and won in his courtroom."

Thurston County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim called Strophy "one of the best judges I've ever been in front of on the rules of evidence.

Added Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham, "I think we'll all miss his leadership."

Thurston County Superior Court judges hear a larger number of cases involving statewide issues than judges in other counties because it's the location of the capital. Because all government agencies have a home base in Olympia, any legal proceeding involving a state government entity, even in other parts of the state, may be heard in Thurston County.

Jeremy Pawloski covers public safety for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5465 or jpawloski@theolympian.com.