Last week, Walla Walla County Prosecuting Attorney James L. Nagle declined to file criminal charges against a sitting Klickitat County commissioner over an Oct. 28, 2021, incident where minors were served alcohol at his vacation rental.
Nagle wrote in a May 24 letter to Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer that he declined to prosecute County Commissioner Jacob Anderson on charges of furnishing alcohol to minors, a gross misdemeanor, and misdemeanor third degree rendering of criminal assistance based on a lack of evidence and witness cooperation. Klickitat County Prosecuting Attorney David Quesnel had previously appointed Nagle as special prosecutor in the investigation into the incident due to a potential conflict of interest.
“This has been a frustrating experience for my family, friends, and myself. However, it has reaffirmed my faith in the separation of powers and the due process of law as afforded to us by the Constitution,” Anderson said in a written statement. “I respect the decision of Klickitat County Prosecuting Attorney David Quesnel forwarding this matter to the Walla Walla Prosecuting Attorney allowing for a decision free of bias from politics and any conflict of interest. I appreciate our local newspaper for their journalistic integrity and I would like to thank the community for their phone calls and letters of support these past few weeks.”
Songer had personally recommended that charges be filed against Anderson in a May 9 probable cause statement obtained by Columbia Gorge News.
According to police reports, Anderson was interviewed on Oct. 29, 2021, by Officer Frank Randall of the Bingen-White Salmon Police Department after responding to a report of a missing juvenile that had been found at his residence. Anderson stated he received a call that night from his parents that there was a lot of traffic going to the residence. He went to investigate and found a party where alcoholic beverages were being consumed and advised the occupants to leave.
According to the police report, he told investigators he had rented the residence out and that there were only supposed to be five people at the residence.
Instead of reporting the party to law enforcement, Anderson indicated that he thought it would be safer to allow the participants to sober up before leaving the property. He told investigators he had been at the residence the morning after the party to tell the participants to clean up the property.
Only one witness was interviewed, a minor who claimed they saw Anderson at the party but police were unable to verify the information, because they later indicated they were not interested in further participating in the investigation.
Because the witness was interviewed by a Hood River County Sheriff’s deputy in a follow-up interview seeking information on a related incident, it was Hood River County Sheriff Matt English who had brought the investigation to the attention of Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer during a Nov. 4 meeting, according to the probable cause statement.
Songer requested the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office to further investigate the incident on Nov. 23 due to a potential conflict of interest. By Feb. 1, the Yakima County sheriff’s detective had deemed the matter “unfounded” based on a lack of witness cooperation. Despite the potential conflict of interest, Songer “made the decision to complete the investigation myself even if it is viewed as a conflict of interest,” according to the probable cause statement he signed.
Songer revealed in the probable cause statement that he had provided a copy of the police reports to Lou Marzeles, editor and publisher of The Goldendale Sentinel, for a possible story on the allegations.
Marzeles told Columbia Gorge News he declined to publish the allegations on the basis that Anderson had not been given a chance to respond to the allegations.
Songer interviewed Anderson March 22 about the incident and said Anderson accused him of making the investigation political. According to the probable cause statement, “(Anderson) kept trying to claim I was making this political, because when the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office closed their investigation, I then gave (Marzeles) a copy of the police reports before even talking to him first.
“I wanted (Marzeles) to know the alleged conduct having been committed by Commissioner Anderson, because I knew once I decided to complete the investigation myself, Commissioner Anderson will try to claim the only reason I am investigating him is because I am upset with him over the June 17, 2021, letter (press release) I wrote and the Board of County Commissioners publicly criticized me for the contents of the press release,” Songer wrote, referencing an announcement by the sheriff threatening government officials with arrest for enforcing COVID-19 mandates.
Despite Marzeles’ unwillingness to publish the allegations against Anderson, months later, Songer sent a press release to local news outlets, including Columbia Gorge News, announcing that he had recommended the charges to the county prosecutor.
Columbia Gorge News declined to publish the allegations until the prosecutor had made a decision on whether to advance the charges based on the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
Nagle, in his prosecutorial decision, said that Anderson was not required by law to notify parents or law enforcement that there were juveniles on his property without permission who may have consumed alcohol.
“He may have very well made a wise decision to make sure those who had consumed alcohol were able to remain there until they had sobered up,” Nagle wrote. “Based on the foregoing analysis, I do not believe there is sufficient admissible evidence of such convincing force as to make it probable that a reasonable and objective fact finder would convict after hearing all the admissible evidence and the most plausible defense that could be raised. In other words, I don’t believe the prosecution could prove these charges to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Songer accepted the prosecutor’s decision but said he felt that he ignored statute that criminalizes permitting minors to drink on “any premises under his/her control.”
He also defended taking on an investigation despite a perceived conflict of interest.
“Just because they control my budget doesn’t mean I’m going to stand in the corner and let them stop it (the investigation),” Songer said.
Songer filed for reelection last month despite health issues that initailly prompted him to announce plans to retire.
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