PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has a new face in District Court, now that Miriam Norman is taking over misdemeanor cases.
Norman, 27, fills a position vacated by Rafael Urquia in October. She will earn $58,465 a year.
Since Urquia’s resignation, the District Court caseload has been assumed by Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell, who is retiring next week.
“Miriam’s timing was perfect,” said Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Scott Rosekrans, who will take over for Dalzell after winning election to the post in November.
Norman’s employment is the only new hiring for the office for the foreseeable future.
Because of budget cuts, Rosekrans will not be able to fill the $82,005 chief criminal deputy prosecutor position he is vacating as he moves to the office’s top job, which pays $123,568 salary, a level set by the state.
Budget cuts did leave enough money to hire a part-time juvenile prosecutor, which he has done, Rosekrans said.
Rosekrans will have three deputies: Cheryl Potebnya in District Court, David Alvarez for civil matters and Chris Ashcraft for drug cases, a position funded by a grant that will expire at the end of 2011.
Rosekrans will be in charge of all criminal prosecutions and will be required to handle administrative duties, juvenile prosecutions, drug court and Superior Court.
Norman comes to Jefferson County from the Yakima area, where she worked as an attorney for two cities.
She said she is comfortable with prosecuting misdemeanors.
“District Court cases are less serious than those in Superior Court,” she said.
“You have a chance to enter someone’s life early on when you can make a difference, before they end up becoming defendants in Superior Court.”
Rosekrans, 58, said he appreciates Norman’s youth and enthusiasm.
Norman graduated from the South Texas College of Law Prosecutor’s School, which is also Rosekrans’ alma mater, a fact she did not know until her interview.
She said she looking forward to the mentoring that Rosekrans will provide.
“In law school, they teach you about the law but they don’t teach you how to practice law,” she said.
“When you walk into an office like this, you have a built-in mentor, which I didn’t have in my last job where I had to learn by trial-and-error.”
Norman was one of nine attorneys interviewed for the position out of 39 applicants.
“I was impressed with Miriam because she was used to working on her own,” Rosekrans said.
“I am not going to have to stand over her and tell her what to do.”
Rosekrans also said that another positive aspect of his new hire is that she has the habit of contacting each crime victim, even if it is not required to try the case.
“It’s important that I talk to victims so they know what the process is,” she said.
“A lot of people haven’t been in a courtroom before. They don’t know what’s going on. They don’t know what the word ‘arraignment’ means and how it affects them.
“So I think it’s really important to interview all the people who might be touched by a crime, let them know that the process is and how I can help them.”
Norman and her husband, Joel, who is in the military, live in Port Townsend, “close enough to the courthouse so we can hear the bells.”
The couple have no children.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
