A misconduct complaint that was filed with the Montana Supreme Court against Yellowstone County District Court Judge Ashley Harada on January 31, 2020, has now reached an “unusual” and “unprecedented” stage where a normal recommendation to Montana’s highest court is being questioned and encouraged to be overturned. However, a petition by supporters of Judge Ashley Harada’s are now publicly calling for the process to proceed as normal and allow the Montana Supreme Court to accept the recommendation that was recommended to them saying that it is completely politics at this point. However, opponents and claimants are saying that the recommendation is not enough.
The complaint alleges that Harada had violated rules of conduct while running for her position in the 13th Judicial District Court in November of 2018 when Ashley Harada won in a narrow election by 125 votes against Billings attorney Juli Pierce following a recount. The complainants, filed after the 2018 election, stated seven violations while she was a candidate of which six were campaign related.
The Judicial Standards Commission (JSC) appointed investigator Ed McLean of Missoula to investigate the complaints and present the findings to the five-member Judicial Standards Commission which members are appointed by Governor Steve Bullock. The five members of the commission along with investigator Ed McLean, Harada’s Attorney Russ Fagg and Ashley Harada accepted the findings and agreed to a recommended resolution of which was submitted by the JSC and filed with the Montana Supreme Court on March 12, 2020.
This normal process has now injected more public comment by opponents and now supporters of Harada’s in an unusual way.
Kerri Seekins Crowe, personal friend and candidate for House District 43, told the Yellowstone County News on Tuesday that she feels that “The Montana Supreme Court is not following their own normal procedures that they set in place” in reference to how the Supreme Court is allowing public comment and statements to be filed with this case when the Judicial Standards Commission dealt with the complaints and made the recommendation for public censure.
“They should not be taking public opinion at this point,” stated Kerri Seekins Crowe who says that, “It’s a political witch hunt and I know it is,” she stated.
“This is a public censure that Ashley Harada and her attorney Russ Fagg agreed to and she, Ashley Harada, signed off on.”
“Once they get on the bench after being elected and do a good job as a judge as Ashley has done, they should not have to go through what Ashley Harada has had to go through.”
When asked about the process of accepting public comments at this stage of the process, Harada’s Attorney Russ Fagg stated to the Yellowstone County News on Tuesday that “Yes, it is unusual” at this point in reference to have public comments of this level trying to persuade the Montana Supreme Court to reject the recommendation of the JSC.
Long time Billings attorney and retired Federal Judge Richard F. Cebull stated his perspective to the Yellowstone County News about the process and level of public comment in Ashley’s situation.
He stated, “I don’t like it; I think it’s pure politics.” “I know the opposition that is against her; they were the ones who campaigned hard against her, and they threw a lot of money in it, and their opponent lost.”
He continued, “I don’t know if the Montana Supreme Court has ever allowed this public comment time frame. I’m not aware of any case where the Montana Supreme Court has not accepted the recommendation of the Judicial Standards commission. In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever heard that the judicial standards commission’s recommendation to ever be challenged. I have not checked the procedures but I’m not aware of it,” he stated.
In regards to knowing Ashley Harada and her personality and character, retired Judge Cebull stated, “When I started on the bench, I would hire law clerks in a staggered sequence, but Ashley was one of my law clerks that I hired full time because she was smart.” She was my law clerk for about eight years or so and she did a great job. Each Law clerk would have an equal number of cases, and if there were any pretrial motions, they would read the briefs and give me a bench memorandum. She would sit in the courtroom, and she did a great job.”
“She was extremely intelligent, thoughtful. She cared and wanted her work product to be at a high level, and it was. I’m assuming those qualities transferred into her current job.”
“She agreed that she did some things wrong, but has tried to get this behind her, and they all agreed together on both sides about the public censure, but then all this other opposition has started. It’s very unfortunate, especially for her. It’s unfortunate.”
Jimmy Patelis, former Chief US Probation Officer and Republican candidate for House District 52 got to know Ashley Harada when she was a law clerk for former Federal Judge Rick Cebull. “Law clerks did a lot of the research for case law, and assisted the probation office with information. It seemed like she was there for a number of years, and Ashley did a really good job in her abilities. She was a hard worker and was always available for anyone day or night. She was fabulous to work with. She always gave good advice and was always thorough, excellent, and had good communication skills,” he stated.
“It’s my own opinion that they don’t want a conservative judge on the bench. I understand that is a non-partisan position but the Yellowstone County Republican Committee should be able to support who they want. At this point, it’s like the opposition is trying to remove a duly elected Judge,” he said in reference to the opposition spending about $20,000 in support of Harada’s opponent in the last two months before the election.
“I’m disappointed that the process appears to be political,” Patelis concluded.
An online petition in support of Ashley Harada was initiated on March 23 at www.ipetitions.com under “Citizens Supporting Ashley Harada” and has garnered over 663 signatures with 190 comments by late evening March 24, 2020.
Signatures and public comments are being submitted and recorded with the Montana Supreme Court website at https://courts.mt.gov/clerk with case # pr 20-0072 where proponents and opponents can still file their comments with the Montana Supreme Court.
Now that the submitted recommendation has been filed by the Montana Judicial Standards Commission with the Montana Supreme Court, a decision will be made. However, an exact date for that decision could be anywhere as early as a couple weeks to months.
