Magistrates got caught playing hooky in Maui

When the American Judges Association held a six-day conference at the Westin Maui last fall, five of Seattle Municipal Court's six magistrates went at city expense.

Four of them skipped class.

The magistrates, attending the conference as part of their regular, city-paid workweek, failed to show up for significant portions of the event. Instead, they took in the tropical island as tourists.

"For me, it became a vacation," admitted Magistrate Francis Devilla, who blew off the conference after the first day.

Magistrates Debra Hankins, Charles Duffey and Shirley Wilson also skipped portions of the conference.

Their absences did not go unnoticed. Their boss, Municipal Court Judge Jean Rietschel, the presiding judge at the time, also attended the conference. She confronted the magistrates when they returned to Seattle, telling them she was not satisfied with their participation.

After the talk, which also included current presiding Judge Fred Bonner, the magistrates' timesheets were retroactively amended to reflect vacation time for the parts of the conference they missed. They also paid back the city for some or all of the expense of the trip — refunds that ranged from $250 to $1,234, according to court records released to The Seattle Times under a public-disclosure request.

New policy adopted

As a result of the incident, the court has adopted a new travel policy that requires all travel by magistrates outside the Puget Sound region to be OK'd by the presiding judge.

"There were consequences," Rietschel said. "We took care of it as an internal matter, and I think we took care of it appropriately."

Three of the magistrates, in an interview last week, stressed they had willingly paid the city back for the parts of the conference they missed. They said they were not forced to do anything by Rietschel and effectively chose their own punishments.

Although they paid back some city expenses, the magistrates did not choose to reimburse the city for the $1,500 spent hiring temporary replacements while they were at the conference. The city paid for the $350-per-person registration, lodging, meals and, in some cases, air fare.

The magistrates, who earn $86,000 a year, are appointed by the city's nine elected municipal-court judges. They mostly handle traffic and parking tickets and can reduce or throw out such fines.

Keeping up with issues

Like judges, they are required to keep up on current legal issues by taking certified, continuing-legal-education courses. The conference, which ran from Sept. 8 to Sept. 13, offered several such classes on topics including judicial burnout, jury reform and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

It wasn't all such serious fare, though. There was also a class titled "Ethics in Cinema," a golf tournament, banquets and snorkeling tours, according to the conference schedule.

Devilla, who missed virtually all of the conference, repaid the city for the entire $1,234 claimed on his expense voucher.

He said he did not fly to Hawaii intending to skip the conference. But it was 84 degrees and sunny in Maui, while it was drizzling and 64 back in Seattle. Devilla, who came to the island with his wife, decided to ditch the conference for other activities.

"We got to Hawaii, I went to the first session and I never made it back," he said.

After he returned, Devilla charged himself four vacation days to make up for the weekday parts of the conference he missed.

Hankins refunded $860 of the $1,210 the city had paid for her to attend. In an e-mail, Hankins said she thought she wound up taking four vacation days for the conference, though city records show only two vacation days.

Wilson and Duffey each repaid the city $250 of the approximately $1,200 in costs for the trip and charged themselves two vacation days. They said they had attended some of the conference classes but missed sessions on two days. Wilson said she was sick one of the days and simply did not attend on the other.

The magistrates interviewed said they believe they properly compensated the city for the parts of the conference they missed. Wilson noted the magistrates tried to minimize expenses by staying in condos or other lodgings rather than at the posh conference hotel at Kaanapali Beach. Some paid their own air fare as well.

"Tourist stuff"

The magistrates did not elaborate on what they did during the time they did not attend the conference, beyond referring to "tourist stuff."

Rietschel said judicial conferences are generally worthwhile and offer judges a chance to see how other courts operate. In the past, magistrates have been allowed to choose which conferences they attend. They are each allotted five "training days" per year for that purpose. But Rietschel said "after this we have not allowed the magistrates to be in charge of when they leave for conferences."

Tom Clark, who was presiding magistrate at the time, also attended the conference, as did Judge Theresa Doyle. They both attended the entire event, Rietschel said. Clark, whose city-paid expenses for the conference topped $1,200, retired at the end of the year.

A week after the judicial conference, Mayor Greg Nickels announced citywide budget cuts needed to deal with a $60 million revenue shortfall. Seattle Municipal Court eliminated 29 positions and trimmed its budget by $1 million.

Rietschel said the Hawaii matter was adequately resolved and the court's new travel policy should prevent any repeat problems.

"I feel very strongly that city money should be used appropriately," Rietschel said. "This won't happen (again)."

The magistrates said they were more than willing to make amends.

"We're all adults," Duffey said. "We knew there would be consequences and faced it."

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com