Huckleberry Press April 16, 2020

Page 4 Huckleberry Press April 16, 2020
An update on the commissioners misuse of homelessness
by Tim Rasmussen, Stevens County Prosecutor
The virus crisis has upset all scheduling in the
courts across the state and this has affected the
scheduling of motions and hearings in the case involving
the commissioners misuse of homelessness
funds.
Before the virus crisis arrived, a date had been
set for the Summary Judgment motion that might
have brought an end to this whole sad episode. That
date was April 24 and both sides were preparing
briefs for that deadline. But Judge Moreno notified
us that the date would not work and now the motion
will be moved till later. When it will be rescheduled
has not been decided at this time.
Meanwhile, the commissioners filed a notice of
Request for Discretionary Review with the Court
of Appeals. The commissioners want the court to
change Judge Moreno’s decision that they are not
entitled to an attorney at public expense. They claim
that they should be allowed to rely the fact they are
public officials and did not know they were doing
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anything they did not have the right to do.
The filing of this motion by the commissioners
required a response from me. I worked with the
lawyer helping me and we filed a response to the
motion on Monday, April 6. The Court of Appeals
has set a date of April 15 for the hearing on the motion
for Discretionary Review.
Discretionary Review is exactly what it is called.
One side asks the court to just take a look at the
situation and stop the litigation before it is finished.
The rules provide four situations when a Request
for Discretionary Review can be filed. The commissioners
have relied on just one of the situations.
They argue that Judge Moreno has made such an obvious
error of law that the Court of Appeals should
recognize that her ruling was obviously wrong and
change it.
I do not think this motion will be successful. The
State Auditor decided that that the commissioner’s
actions amounted to illegal gifts of public funds.
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Gifts of public funds are strictly prohibited by the
Constitution and the law. Judge Moreno carefully
applied the law and I am confident her decision was
not wrong, let alone an obvious error.
Holding persons accountable for their conduct or
misconduct can be a long and difficult process. It is
made even longer and more difficult when persons
refuse to accept responsibility for what they have
done and admit their mistakes.
It should be remembered that the proof in this
case is not required to be beyond a reasonable doubt.
That is the standard in criminal cases. This is a
civil case. The standard is much lower. The proof
has to be just by the greater weight of the evidence
or whatever is more likely. We will see what happens,
just a little later.
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