PORT TOWNSEND — The final details of legally clearing the name of Chimacum High School’s former principal, Rex E. Whipple, have been wrapped up in Jefferson County Superior Court.
On May 20, the Tacoma-based Division II Court of Appeals reversed Whipple’s 2006 Jefferson County conviction on nine counts of possessing child pornography, saying in a 2-1 decision that the evidence against him was insufficient.
Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell — who was not available for comment on Friday afternoon — decided against appealing the ruling to the state Supreme Court.
Whipple, who had been the Chimacum High School’s principal for five years before he resigned in the spring of 2006 after his arrest, was alleged to have taken photos and videos of his stepdaughter from outside her bedroom window at his former Port Ludlow home. She was 15 at the time.
On Friday, Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser agreed with Whipple’s Bainbridge Island-based attorney, Alton McFadden, who said Whipple’s name should be removed from the county’s list of sexual offenders, his DNA samples should be removed from the state database and his court fees should be refunded.
The court will place a stay on his Department of Corrections status as a Class 3 sex offender.
Verser said he will order the State Police to remove his DNA samples from the database/
Whipple will be refunded $350 in court fees, but the cost of expert witnesses in the case will not be refunded, Verser said.
Whipple — who was living in Arizona in May, Dalzell said — was not present for the hearing.
