A prosecuting attorney representing the city of Burlington has decided against filing criminal charges against a Skagit County prosecutor.
The Burlington Police Department investigated allegations that Skagit County Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Will Honea threatened to assault Mount Vernon City Councilmember Richard Brocksmith following a May 21 meeting of the Skagit Council of Governments.
The details of the city’s investigation were forwarded to Chad W. Krepps, a lawyer with Zachor, Stock & Krepps in Lynnwood to decide whether charges were warranted.
Krepps announced Monday that assault and harassment charges would not be filed.
“The city is declining to follow charges for Harassment or Assault as it would not be able to prove either charge beyond a reasonable doubt,” Krepps wrote in a document explaining his decision.
Brocksmith alleged that Honea threatened to assault him following the meeting, which Honea denied.
During the May 21 meeting, Brocksmith spoke out against a proposed Skagit Council of Governments resolution requested by the Skagit County Board of Commissioners dealing with the Skagit Watershed Council and salmon recovery governance.
The resolution sought to amend a 1998 SCOG resolution that designated the Skagit Watershed Council as the lead entity for salmon recovery in two water resource areas.
Honea spoke at the meeting in support of the resolution.
Brocksmith told a Skagit Valley Herald that Honea “stepped up to him” following the meeting and said, “... If you want to take this outside ... I will settle this right now.”
Honea told the Skagit Valley Herald in a May 22 email that Brocksmith was arguing with Upper Skagit Indian Tribe Attorney David Hawkins near the entrance of the Burlington City Council chambers.
“Specifically, I said, ‘Maybe you guys should go outside to cool off,’” Honea wrote in his email. “Without any further discussion or effort to understand what I was saying, Brocksmith immediately began waving his arms, walking through the assembled people, and yelling loudly to the effect that I had supposedly threatened him.”
Hawkins said in an email to the Skagit Valley Herald in the days following the May 21 meeting that he took Honea’s remarks to Brocksmith as an effort to deescalate “Brocksmith’s behavior.”
“It was certainly not a threat,” Hawkins said in the email.
Krepps referenced Hawkins’s email to the Skagit Valley Herald in his decision not to charge.
“Mr. Hawkins wrote a statement to the Skagit Herald about this incident via email,” Krepps wrote. “This email supports Mr. Honea’s version of events that he did not threaten Mr. Brocksmith but had stated that Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Brocksmith to move their conversation outside.”
Krepps stated that the city would not be able to prove assault because Brocksmith told police “he did not care much about the physical contact.”
Krepps said, “This indicates that he was not offended by the touch, which is a required element of assault.”
And in terms of a harassment charge, Krepps said a “true threat” is required. And in this case, one does not exist.
“In this instance Honea whispered something to Brocksmith during a council meeting in the presence of several people. Brocksmith though is unable to describe what the threat was, and there are no witnesses supporting his version of events.”
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