By Brad Shannon
The Olympian March 12, 1994<p>

Well-liked: No one ever challenged Patrick Sutherland in his tenure as
county prosecutor.
 <A HREF = http://lbloom.net/okthurstoncountyofficial.html>Thurston County</a> Prosecutor Patrick Sutherland, who was appointed to the job
20 years ago and simply nevergave it back, is quitting at year's end.
Some say the lifelong Democrat is the last of the old Irish-style
politicians. As <A HREF = http://lbloom.net/okreed.html> Republican county Auditor Sam Reed</a>  
put it: "Everyone feels , like they're a friend of Pat Sutherland. And they
are...
He is always there with the glad hand and quick quip."
Sutherland, now 71, says it's just time
to retire. "I can't really be it's coming to an end. I have mixed emotions.
I certainly want to get with my family more."
With Assessor Ann Clifton's retirement last year, Sutherland is the last
elected county official remaining from the old County Courthouse, which
since was converted into commercial offices and a restaurant along Capitol
Way.
Just last week, the former Superior Court Clerk of 24 years, Thelma "Chum"
Thomas, died at age 76. Thomas retired in 1990.
Back in 1974 when Sutherland was appointed to replace an ailing Democrat,
Smith Troy, the biggest crime problem was a string of saunas that sprang up
along Martin Way.
   Used as fronts for prostitution, the saunas were shut down, and
prostitution never grew to become a publicly recognized problem after that.
Sutherland says, "I'm convinced it was overflow from Pierce County, like
your gangs now."
In five subsequent elections, not a soul challenged Sutherland - a record
that local elections officials say is remarkable and probably unequaled.
Sutherland's lone political loss came in an unsuccessful bid to become state
attorney general in 1956. He had won election to the state House and Senate
from Seattle from 1949-59.
Mike Redman, recently retired from the Washington  State Association of
Prosecuting Attorneys, said Sutherland's old-fashioned political skills are
a big reason the Thurston County office has kept well funded, by comparison
to desperate offices in neighboring counties.
During Sutherland's, tenure, the Thurston County office grew from six
deputies to 27 with a yearly budget of $2.5 million. Echoing the explosion
in crime and lawyers who work in the field, a recent ad for a juvenile-case
deputy in Sutherland's office drew 114 applicants - compared to the
half-dozen or fewer who might have applied in bygone years.
John Bumford, the lone announced candidate for this fall's prosecutor's
race, won't publicly criticize Sutherland, but he has been very clear in
stating that he will be a "working prosecutor" seen weekly in the courtroom.
That would be a contrast to Sutherland, who says he kept long hours but let
his hired deputies do the work in court.
  Sutherland said he'll leave office having started three programs that he
considers well-run models: the victim and witness, assistance program; the
drug unit; and the family-support enforcement program.
He also pioneered a program that allows certain first-time nonviolent
offenders to clear their records by making restitution.
At the top of Sutherland's disappointment list is Mitchell Rupe, who was
convicted in the 1981 murders of two Turnwater bank tellers during a
robbery.
Sentenced to die, Rupe has sat more than a decade on death row appealing the
death warrant. Sutherland insists the death penalty is appropriate and
suggests a five-year time limit on appeals.
Sutherland also complained that a kind of "victimology" is taking over the
criminal-justice system.
"Victimology " Sutherland explains, "is where the defendant puts himself in
the place of a victim."
. He also noted the case of 17-year-old Israel Marquez, who two years ago
was found guilty of a lesser charge ot manslaughter after firing eight shots
and killing his stepfather, a sheriffs deputy.  Jurors took into account
that after years of alleged abuse, Marquez may have become conditioned to
think he was in extreme danger the night he took the deputy's revolver and
killed him.
"Again I say, that (abuse factor) should be considered in the sentencing.
That shouldn't be a defense. The public, when it realizes how this is
developing is going to be outraged by it."
Through the years and changes, one gentle nemesis has remained for the
prosecutor's office.
Back in the early'70s, Jeff McMonigle of Lacey was driving the older set
crazy with his hippie-filled Dinosaur Valley rock festivals.
McMonigle later changed his name to Gideon Israel and started Peace
Gatherings at Rainbow Valley near Littlerock.
Sutherland tried unsuccessfully in 1990 to shut down Rainbow Valley's tie
dyed gatherings on the grounds that !hey were a public nuisance. But Israel
insists he bears no ill will.
"I think. after (Sutherland) retires, maybe he'll want to come out to
Rainbow Valley and bring his kids and grandkids," Israel said.