Knodell sworn in as superior court judge

Grant County Superior Court Judge John Knodell, left. speaks to the crowd while Judge Ken Jorgensen, right, watches. Photo by Cameron Probert/ Columbia Basin Herald

by Cameron Probert<br
| January 12, 2009 8:00 PM

EPHRATA — Former Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell was sworn in as a superior court judge Friday.

Knodell won the election for the position in September. He replaced retiring Grant County Superior Court Judge Ken Jorgensen.

Jorgensen’s last act as a judge was swearing in his successor.

He’s known Knodell since entering law about 28 years ago, he said.

“We were antagonists,” Jorgensen said. “I was in the prosecutor’s office and (Knodell) was doing defense work. He was a formidable opponent. We were trying some pretty high profile cases here in the county and I was getting kicked around a little bit … I remember one case we had, where we had an expert on the stand. I suspect (Knodell) had done more reading on the subject than the expert had.”

Jorgensen said Knodell was the most challenging attorney he dealt with.

“I suspect that there will be few attorneys that come before him that get away with any shenanigans,” Jorgensen said. “He knows the law, and he’s been in the courtroom more than anybody else.”

Dennis Sweeney, Washington state Court of Appeals Division III judge, said Knodell was an excellent choice for judge.

“There are lawyers who can try cases in a trial court setting and there are lawyers who can argue cases in an appeals setting,” he said. “There are many lawyers who can’t do both because they’re very different undertakings. (Knodell) is one of those lawyers who does both equally well.”

Sweeney remembered many times when Knodell was able to communicate the facts of a case and the law in a clear way.

“There are some lawyers who argue the case that the world will come to an end unless this case is resolved in their favor,” he said. “That was not John Knodell. These are the facts, these are the laws, this is the question before the court, this is the way I think you should resolve it.”

Sweeney said he remembered complimenting Knodell for how he handled a case while he was the prosecutor. Another judge told Sweeney he should have seen Knodell when he was a defense attorney.

“He was just as good and just as thorough an advocate when he represented the other side,” he said. “Which I thought spoke well for somebody who aspires to be in a judicial position.”

Knodell said the real adjustment from being the prosecutor to being a judge, is he’ll have to stop complaining about judges and start complaining about lawyers.

“But before I make that transition, if I could, becoming a judge reminds me of the story that I heard as a boy of the man who was trying to cross a raging river,” he said. “He walked up to the bank of the river (and) there were two men sitting there beside a boat. The man looked at the two and said, ‘Hey would it be all right if I take this boat across the river.’ One of the two gentlemen said, ‘Well I’m a circuit court judge. That’s my boat I give you permission, so I can tell you it’s okay to take that boat across the river.’”

When the man gets halfway across the river, water started coming through a hole in a bottom, Knodell said. Once the boat sinks, the judge’s friend asked why he didn’t tell the man about the hole.

“The judge said, ‘That question was not before me,’” Knodell said.