When an offender is released from a state prison and doesn’t settle down in Pierce County, there’s a decent chance Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Gerry Horne deserves credit.
Horne, who leaves office Monday after 27 years in the department and nine years in its top job, forged a reputation for seeking justice – for crime victims as well as for the public he served.
He was an early and fierce champion for the concept of “fair share.” After establishing that Pierce County was the state Department of Correction’s favorite dumping ground for released offenders, he worked tirelessly to get legislators on board with the idea that other counties should take back their own offenders.
That’s happening now, thanks to legislation passed in 2007, and Pierce County will be a safer place because of it. Today, an estimated 150 to 200 offenders are not being released to Pierce County each year who in earlier years would have been.
Horne has been a tough prosecutor who didn’t shy away from seeking harsh punishment when he thought it was merited. That has included capital punishment. He won a death penalty case against Spokane serial killer Robert Lee Yates Jr. for a Pierce County murder when prosecutors in three other counties cut deals that spared Yates’ life.
But Horne eventually went “soft” on capital punishment, recognizing that the courts almost always prevented its enforcement in this state. He was willing to take the death penalty off the table if circumstances warranted. When there was hope that 12-year-old Zina Linnik might still be alive, for example, Horne promised suspect Terapon Dang Adhahn that he wouldn’t seek his execution if he would lead police to where he had left the missing Tacoma girl.
Horne has his negatives. He’s been overprotective of his staff when they’ve erred. And last year he was on the losing end of a lawsuit by a former deputy who charged that he had dismissed her without cause and defamed her in remarks to the press. The county is appealing the $3 million award.
We’ve also criticized the way Horne is leaving office, timing his departure in a way that gives his anointed successor a leg up on getting elected to the position.
But on the whole, Pierce County has benefited from having Horne as its top prosecutor. He may have lacked the political skills of his predecessor, John Ladenburg, but Horne has been a strong force for justice over his 45-year career in public service.
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