Let’s remember when King County judge Gary Little killed himself, on this day in 1988 (August 18)
This story is bad any way you look at it, but I can at least say it has no parallels towards anything happening in the news right now.
Per HistoryLink’s David Wilma:
On August 18, 1988, King County Superior Court Judge Gary M. Little commits suicide after learning that allegations that he had abused children would run in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Little had been investigated and disciplined for inappropriate contacts with juvenile offenders, but the findings of the Commission on Judicial Conduct were kept secret. Publicity around the allegations and Little’s death will result in a constitutional amendment giving Washington the most open process for the investigation and discipline of judges.
Gary M. Little graduated from Harvard University and received a law degree from the University of Washington. He worked as an admissions officer in the Seattle Juvenile Court, as an Assistant Attorney General at the University of Washington, and as counsel for the Seattle School District. He was elected to the King County Superior Court in 1980.
In October 1981, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office opened an investigation into allegations of inappropriate contact with juvenile offenders. Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mark Sidran interviewed Little about his alleged conduct, namely that he had one child visit his home in the San Juan Islands and that another child spent the night at Little’s home in Seattle after doing yard work. Little denied the latter accusation. The Commission admonished Little for inappropriate contacts with three different juvenile offenders, but the report was kept secret as required by law.
In April 1985, Little was transferred from his assignment in juvenile court when Presiding Judge Norman Quinn found that Little had more unacceptable contacts with a 14-year-old juvenile offender in Bellevue. Little had taken the boy to buy a Christmas card for the boy’s father.
Read the whole thing here, if you wish.
