SEATTLE, WA — The King County Prosecuting Attorney is dismissing about 1,500 misdemeanor cases from 2017 due to a staffing shortage, the prosecutor's office has confirmed. By clearing smaller cases, prosecutors can focus on violent crimes and DUIs, a spokesman said Friday.

Some misdemeanors that will be dismissed include bus fare infractions, trespassing, illegal fishing, and certain types of theft, like shoplifting. "The [prosecuting attorney] regrets the need to decline these misdemeanor crimes and will continue to review all referred cases and prioritize those that most impact public safety," Communications Director Whitney Keyes told Patch.

The police departments that referred the misdemeanor cases up for dismissal were notified of the decision, Keyes added. Keyes said that the prosecutor's office has fewer deputy prosecuting attorneys than a decade ago due to budget constraints. In the adopted 2017-18 budget, the prosecutor's office budget was set at $141 million, about a $7 million increase compared to 2015-16. However, the staffing level dropped from 470 in 2015-16 to 457.5 in 2017-18.

The prosecutor's office has the third-highest budget allocation in King County behind only the sheriff's office and the adult and juveniles jails. The dismissals apply only to cases in King County District Court. Some cities, like Seattle, prosecute misdemeanor cases in municipal court — those cases are not under the jurisdiction of King County.



On Feb. 8, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes and Mayor Jenny Durkan announced an initiative to vacate about 600 marijuana possession cases from between 1995 and 2009 — a move intended to help people hampered by a criminal record.

In 2012, the King and Pierce county prosecutors dismissed about 220 marijuana cases due to the state's legalization of marijuana — about 175 of those cases were in King County alone.



King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg earlier in February told the cannabis information site Leafly that he supports Seattle's move, but doing so at the county level would be costly and time-consuming. "In order for our office to undertake this project, we would need some help, because all of our criminal division deputies and staff are already overloaded with prosecuting serious felony crimes," he said in a statement.