Judge Sanctions Attorneys for ‘Intentionally Misleading Conduct’
A King County, Washington, judge has sanctioned two attorneys hired by Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist’s office, citing their “intentionally misleading conduct” during a long-running lawsuit, according to a report in the Tacoma News Tribune.
“The ruling Wednesday from Superior Court Judge Beth Andrus sanctions Seattle attorneys Richard Jolley and Stewart Estes,” the report says. “It orders them to pay $32,000 for withholding information from civil attorney Fred Diamondstone and conducting ‘misleading settlement negotiations’ that fell apart in December.”
The case involves false-arrest lawsuit filed by a former resident who was twice charged with sex crimes by Lindquist’s office.
“Those charges were dismissed initially in 2011 because of erroneous evidence: a picture wrongly identified as Dalsing. The charges were dismissed again by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Ed Murphy in 2015, due to a finding of prosecutorial vindictiveness,” the report says.
