July 22, 2010
Jonathan Meyer, a candidate for County Prosecutor, has based his campaign largely on statistics which he claims show the
ineffectiveness of Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden. Specifically, Meyer has stated that the felony dismissal rate
for Golden’s office is twenty three percent higher than the State average and that under Golden, the Prosecutor’s office
has trailed the State average in felony trial conviction rates by thirty-seven percent.
Data compiled by Washington State’s Administrative Office of the Courts establishes that Mr. Meyer’s claims are false.
Golden said: “I knew Mr. Meyer was misstating the facts. My office has a dedicated team of attorneys who in 2009
exceeded State averages for felony trials, trial conviction rate, non-trial conviction rate and sentencing to state
institutions. It appears that Mr. Meyer is inventing numbers. Every year since I have been Prosecutor, our overall felony
conviction rate and our felony dismissal rate have each been better than the State average. The felony trial conviction
rate has never been thirty-seven percent below the State average. From at least 2000 through 2008 the Prosecutor’s
felony trial conviction rate was below the state average, but it has improved every year I have been in office, and in
2009 our trial conviction rate went above the State average for the first time in at least a decade. The numbers that
Mr. Meyer is claiming are wrong and mislead the public. Anyone can go to the State website (www.courts.wa.gov) click on
‘Caseloads Reports’ and obtain accurate current data. Checking for accuracy is what responsible attorneys do.”
Please read the letter below directed to Michael Golden on the percentage of cases involving a felony trial conviction.
