Retired Washington Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens, an associate on the state's high court for 24 years where she was a model and champion of rural justice, died Friday while visiting family in California. She was 75.
Owens retired from the high court in December and, according to colleagues, had been in declining health.
Her retirement marked the end of a 44-year judicial career that began when she was appointed as the first woman judge on the Clallam County District Court in 1981. She was subsequently elected to the county bench six times.
She was elected to the state Supreme Court in 2000.
"Justice Owens was a true original and a good friend. Though she had been in declining health recently, she never lost her wit, her humor and her strong sense of justice," said Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Stephens on Friday. "The world will not be the same without her in it."
Among the more significant opinions Owens authored was a 5-4 decision in 2018 in the case of Washington State v. Bassett, which did away with the sentence of life-without-parole for juvenile offenders.
"Susan made a positive difference in people's lives, on and off the bench. She was so genuine and easy to love. Her family, friends and the people she touched through her work and in the community will feel her loss deeply," said Washington Supreme Court Justice Barbara Madsen, who was on the court in 2000 when Owens became a justice.
Owens was elected to the state Supreme Court in the November 2000 general election, becoming the seventh woman to be on the court. Prior to the election, she had worked for 19 years as a judge on the Clallam County District Court.
In keeping with her rural judicial roots, Owens founded the Rural Courts Committee of Washington's District and Municipal Court Judges' Association. She taught on the subject of rural courts at the state's Judicial College. She was a part-time chief judge for the Quileute Tribe for five years, and the Lower Elwha S'Klallam Tribe for more than six years. As a state Supreme Court justice, she was active on Washington's Tribal State Court Consortium.
Another focus of Owens' career was improving judicial education on domestic violence cases. While on the district court bench, Owens recognized that the cases were prevalent and often involved the same people and circumstances. Judge were mostly ignorant of the dynamics of domestic violence cases, and Owens decided to change that.
"People were being injured," Owens said in 2024 just before her retirement. "It needed changing. We all needed education."
She joined numerous committees to learn about the subject, then became a national trainer on the topic. She lectured at the National College of Prosecuting Attorneys' Domestic Violence Conference and co-authored the Northwest Tribal Judges Domestic Violence Manual.
She became the first woman on the Supreme Court to work until the mandatory judicial retirement age of 75. Owens' colleagues at the Supreme Court have remarked on her storytelling abilities and ability to communicate and listen, noting her personal vow to "help everyone who comes through the door."
The Supreme Court will be planning a memorial for Owens, Stephens said.
Owens graduated from Duke University in 1971 and earned her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was admitted to the Washington Bar in 1976 and moved to Port Angeles, where she worked as a Legal Aid attorney.
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