Seattle (March 1, 2024) – Today, the Seattle City Attorney’s Office (CAO) announced that it will file affidavits of prejudice on Seattle Municipal Court Judge Pooja Vaddadi in all criminal cases going forward.
An affidavit of prejudice is a preemptory disqualification of a judge to hear a case. In this circumstance, the CAO has made the decision to preclude Judge Vaddadi from hearing any criminal cases brought by the CAO.
“Public safety is among our highest priorities, and this includes trying cases on behalf of those victimized by crime,” said City Attorney Ann Davison. “Unfortunately, we have encountered a regular pattern of biased rulings.”
The decision to issue the affidavit was recommended by CAO Criminal Division Chief Natalie Walton-Anderson and approved by City Attorney Davison.
In a memorandum to the CAO Criminal Division, Chief Walton-Anderson wrote:
“For the past several months, we have internally discussed the Criminal Division’s serious concerns with the conduct and rulings of Judge Pooja Vaddadi,” Chief Walton-Anderson wrote. “Unfortunately, as outlined below, those concerns have only continued to mount in the past several months. As a result, I have made the difficult decision that the office will submit affidavits of prejudice for Judge Vaddadi on all criminal cases moving forward.”
On Wednesday, Feb. 27, Chief Walton-Anderson informed both Judge Vaddadi and Presiding Judge Faye Chess of the CAO’s decision.
As outlined in the internal CAO memo, key issues include:
- Judge Vaddadi routinely overrules prior findings of probable cause by her fellow judges;
- repeatedly fails to find probable cause in situations where, clearly, probable cause exists;
- makes improper rulings related to public safety in domestic violence and DUI cases;
- frequently makes erroneous evidentiary rulings for unjustified reasons, rather than articulating any legal analysis.
The CAO memo stated:
“Judge Vaddadi routinely raises arguments on behalf of defendants without prompting or argument from their own attorneys,” said Criminal Chief Walton-Anderson. “The resounding input from attorneys that have appeared in her courtroom is that her decisions demonstrate a complete lack of understanding, or perhaps even intentional disregard, of the evidence rules, even on basic issues.”
(Editor note: the original headline — “Seattle City Attorney’s Office Issues Standing Affidavit of Prejudice on Seattle Municipal Court Judge” — has been edited to the current version to better reflect the eventual process of filing affidavits of prejudice established by the then-Presiding Judge of Seattle Municipal Court. Similarly, the lead sentence of the news release has been edited to reflect more accurately the process of filing affidavits of prejudice in the context of this topic.)