Judge Nelson Hunt Looks Back on Years in Courthouse While Planning Retirement

As Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt enters his 12th and final year on the bench, he took time this week to look back on the past decade, and on his nearly 40-year career practicing law in Chehalis.

Hunt announced his upcoming retirement in December, saying he does not plan to run for reelection in November. It has been an “open secret” in the Lewis County Law and Justice Center for some time, he said.

Hunt was first elected as a judge in Lewis County in 2004 after he ran unopposed the year Judge David Draper retired.

“The thing about the job I like is it’s often extremely busy and you really have to do some good time management,” he said.

While the last nearly 40 years of his life have been centered around Lewis County courtrooms, Hunt, 67, said he’s ready to retire.

“He taught me everything I know about criminal law.”

When he first became a judge in 2004, Hunt said he thought it would give him a chance to expand his knowledge of criminal law.

However, he soon learned the fast pace gave him little time to learn the details of a case unless it went to trial.

“The cases come in really fast. That’s the big thing I notice about looking back on my career as a judge,” he said. “That was a surprise.”

In contrast, Hunt said he can remember all of his cases he took on as a prosecuting and defense attorney.

“I think the best job I ever had was as a deputy prosecutor,” he said. “I don’t want to say it’s a fun job because everyone of those (cases) represent a tragedy for someone at some level.”

Hunt started his career in 1979 as a deputy prosecutor at the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. Former prosecutor James Miller hired him fresh out of law school and acted as a mentor for Hunt throughout his career.

“He taught me everything I know about criminal law,” Hunt said.

Hunt served as the elected county prosecutor from 1990 to 1995. In 1995, he resigned as county prosecutor to take a position as a defense attorney in the firm Mano and McKerricher.

“I felt like I was getting stale,” he said.

While he enjoyed working as a deputy prosecutor, Hunt said being the elected prosecutor didn’t suit him. He preferred trying cases to administrative tasks assigned to the position.

“I really did not care for that,” he said.

The new position also presented a challenge for the long-time prosecutor.

“One of the most effective ways to prepare for the case is to figure out how you would defend the case,” he said,

Hunt said he wanted to test that theory in practice.

“It’s like changing uniforms at halftime — the rules are the same, the goal is different only in degree,” he said. “I enjoyed being a defense attorney.”

While the rules are the same, being a defense attorney came with new challenges, he said, particularly when defending clients he knew to be completely innocent of the charges against them.

“There certainly are some very stressful times,” he said. “Something less than winning is not acceptable in that case.”

“If I have a legacy, it will probably be that.”

Looking back on his time on the bench, Hunt said he was most proud of presiding over the county’s drug court, and the successes of that program and its participants.

At first, Hunt said he wasn’t sure the program would actually work.

“I didn’t know much about the drug court model,” he said. “Being in the criminal justice system since 1979, I’d seen a lot of programs come and go.”

Hunt said programs such as D.A.R.E. and intensive probation didn’t keep people off drugs in the long term. His experience led him to be skeptical about drug court in its early stages.

“All of those (were) very well-intentioned ideas … but they didn’t do what drug court does,” he said. “It didn’t take me very long to see if there was ever a program that was going to work, this would be it.”

Drug court encourages participants to make a lifestyle change and enforces transformations through regular review hearings in court, drug tests and penalties for being late, or missing or failing tests. As the judge presiding over drug court, Hunt can order participants to stay away from known drug users, even if they’re close friends or family members.

“This is not your regular probation,” he said.

Hunt said participants often think the program is easy, but soon find out it takes a major commitment to graduate.

Participants are encouraged to have a brief conversation with Hunt at their review hearings — a process that’s unique among other hearings in typical court proceedings.

“These individuals — we get to know their entire story because it makes a difference to how we deal with them,” Hunt said, noting the participant’s stories are often shocking. “It’s really eye-opening,”

In drug court, attorneys, counselors, administrators and judges work together to address a participant’s individual issues.

“If I have a legacy, it will probably be that,” he said. “…The success is not mine. The whole team has to be committed to the model.”

After nearly 40 years in criminal law, Hunt said it’s nearly impossible to not feel a little jaded by everything he sees. However, he said success stories in drug court have helped.

“Every time I’ve wanted to say no (on accepting a drug court applicant), they graduate,” he said.

“I certainly will miss the association with the other judges here and just kind of the lifeblood of the courthouse.”

While devoting so much of his life has been tied to the courthouse, Hunt has diverse interests. He announces basketball and other sports for W.F. West High School, and is considering using a voice he recently learned was made for broadcast as a part-time radio announcer.

He also enjoys gardening — although he noted he has had little time for it recently and fears his homeowner’s association will crack down soon — and is an avid fan of classic country music. He said, as a judge, it is difficult to maintain membership in community and service organizations, and often difficult to get to know people outside of the criminal justice system.

With his retirement looming, Hunt is still developing his plans for the future, but is considering teaching and a move to a warmer, drier climate.

“I’m keeping my options open,” he said.

Hunt said he would be very interested in teaching criminal law and procedure classes at Centralia College, or another small college not too far from home.

“It’s incredibly egotistical for me to say, but I have a lot of knowledge and I know how to convey it,” he said. “I think I would be good at it, but it’s also a lot of work.”

While Hunt said he’s ready to leave criminal law behind after his many years at the courthouse, he said he will miss the opportunity to dive headfirst into really difficult cases.

“Maybe it’s that I’ll miss being able to show off,” he said. “I certainly (will) miss the association with the other judges here and just kind of the lifeblood of the courthouse.”

When Hunt finally leaves, he said the bench will be in good hands if Andrew Toynbee, who recently announced plans to run for Hunt’s seat, is elected.

Hunt said Toynbee was the first attorney he hired to work at the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, where he worked for 13 years. Toynbee now works at the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office.

“He has gone on to do great things,” Hunt said, adding that Toynbee has the “perfect combination of knowledge, curiosity and judicial demeanor.”