Update on 2020 Demonstration-related Cases from Bellevue (as of Dec. 16, 2021)

There were 63 people arrested in Bellevue demonstrations that were referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO). (There were also at least 8 others arrested, but not referred to the KCPAO.) A summary of what happened with each of those case referrals is below.

The majority of cases were referred to our office for a charging decision after the suspects were out of custody — many of them months later. The latest of the cases was sent in July 2021. In that case, the delays led to the case being legally insufficient because of a Juvenile Court rule against such delays.

• 25 felony cases were filed by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office after an independent review. These are cases we believed we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt. A number of those cases had multiple felony counts. Two of the 25 cases were later taken proactively by federal prosecutors.
• 5 cases are awaiting filing in the queue. During the pandemic when court operations were severely limited, we prepared cases for filing. Once they’re prepared, they can be filed when there is an opening. Of those prepared cases, the priority is violent crime and repeat offenders in custody. While we can’t file all the cases at once — that would overload the Superior Court system — we’re adding those cases in among the new cases we’re filing daily — roughly 30 overall each day.
• 6 cases are being reviewed by deputy prosecuting attorneys. Most of those cases were referred after additional investigation (when defendants were out of custody).
• 10 cases were not filed because they were legally insufficient — we did not believe we could prove a felony case beyond a reasonable doubt. Specific details were shared with each case detective. Five of those cases could be resubmitted to the Bellevue City Attorney’s Office for charges in Bellevue Municipal Court, and one could be resubmitted in Juvenile Court.
• 7 cases were declined because additional information was not available or sent from case detectives.
• 10 cases were sent back to the case detective for a municipal court filing because they did not meet our felony filing and disposition standards.
• From the Bellevue Police Department (BPD) list of arrests, 8 arrests were not sent to the KCPAO as a felony case referral (according to searches of our system by name and birthdate). Of those 8, three were sent for a first appearance hearing but a case was not sent from BPD to the KCPAO for a charging decision.

Looking at that in terms of percentages:

• Of the cases that were referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, 27% were legally insufficient according to our review, or did not have information from police that was requested by prosecutors — and our review showed that additional information was needed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
• 16% of the cases referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office did not meet our Felony Filing and Disposition Standards.
• 40% of the cases referred the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office have already been charged as felonies.
• 17% of the cases are awaiting filing or awaiting a review.

So overall:

• 57% of the cases are either filed as felony cases or awaiting filing or a review.
• 43% of the cases that were sent to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office were either legally insufficient, did not have information requested to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, or did not meet our felony filing and disposition standards.

The statement being circulated on Facebook by a former Bellevue City Councilmember that our office “refused to prosecute more than 90% of the arrests from the Bellevue riots on May 31, 2020” is inaccurate, as the details here show.