Commissioners choose Mortensen for prosecutor

COEUR d’ALENE — County commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday to appoint Stanley Mortensen to the office of Kootenai County prosecuting attorney.

Mortensen, who has 10 years of prosecutorial experience, will take office after Barry McHugh resigns Sept. 30. McHugh is set to take the bench in January, replacing Judge Lansing Haynes, who retired in May.

Bill Brooks and Chris Fillios voted in favor of Mortensen, while Leslie Duncan opposed.

Commissioners chose Mortensen from among three candidates recommended by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee. Because McHugh is a Republican, the county GOP is empowered to nominate his potential replacements.

The candidates were Mortensen, county prosecutor Bryant Bushling and attorney Donald Gary.

The other nominees, whose names were not forwarded to commissioners, were Chief Deputy Criminal Prosecutor Arthur Verharen and Sagle attorney Colton Boyles.

Mortensen, of Post Falls, is a Kootenai County prosecutor who got his start as a detention deputy with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

While working for the sheriff’s office, he graduated from North Idaho College and Lewis-Clark State College. He became a patrol deputy before leaving law enforcement to enter law school.

Mortensen said he believes local police listen to him more than they do other lawyers because he has a background in law enforcement.

“I was at the police academy listening to a lawyer tell me how to do my job when they’d never done my job,” he said.

Still, Mortensen said his experience as a police officer doesn’t mean he’s biased in favor of police. He said he’s declined to prosecute some cases due to police errors.

“There are rare occasions when police make a mistake,” he said. “I’ve had to look at cops I’m friends with, cops who taught me to do the job, and say, ‘You did this wrong.’”

Mortensen emphasized to commissioners that each career change came from a desire to gain “more influence” on outcomes in his community.

After about a decade as a criminal prosecutor, Mortensen said his move to fill McHugh’s soon-to-be vacated office was motivated both out of a wish to serve his community and for personal reasons.

“If the wrong person gets this job, that puts my job at risk,” he said.

Duncan noted that Mortensen ran unsuccessfully for a district judge position in May. He lost the nonpartisan election to sitting Judge Rich Christensen.

“He ran for judge and is now interested in being a prosecutor,” she said.

Duncan said she favored Bushling due to his experience and because he is McHugh’s preferred replacement.

“I would like to see Mr. Mortensen with a little more under his belt,” she said.

Gary is a tax and business lawyer based in Post Falls. He is a former principal in the local firm of Winston & Cashatt and previously worked in the Los Angeles area.

He ran unsuccessfully against McHugh in the 2012 Republican primary.

Gary acknowledged that he has no prosecutorial experience, nor does he have knowledge of the daily workings of the prosecutor’s office.

“I don’t think I’m the best candidate of the three up here,” he said.

Brooks questioned Bushling about an incident in 2016, when Bushling commented on a Facebook meme that depicted a white police officer with the text: “If we really wanted you dead all we’d have to do is stop patrolling your neighborhoods… AND WAIT.”

Bushling originally replied: “Great point. Where the police are under attack from politicians, and the police become less aggressive, the murder rates go up. I say, let them have their neighborhoods. They will be like Rwanda in a matter of weeks.”

He later edited his comment to describe his time as a prosecuting attorney focused on gang activity in Los Angeles.

McHugh, Bushling’s superior at the time, told The Press in 2016 that the matter called for education, not punishment.

Bushling indicated to commissioners that, when he wrote his original comment, he believed it would not be publicly visible.

“I didn’t know how Facebook worked,” he said.

He said he was referring to people who support “defunding the police” in his comment, not to any marginalized community. He also compared gang violence in American cities to “tribal” conflict and genocide in Rwanda.

“I have many, many Black friends,” Bushling said. “They keep voting in a way that hurts them.”

Duncan asked the candidates if they would refrain from using social media while serving as prosecutor.

Mortensen said he plans to use social media as a tool to communicate with the public and intends to continue using personal accounts to keep in touch with family.

Retaining experienced lawyers in the civil and criminal divisions is a top priority, Mortensen said. That means good, though not extravagant, wages.

“None of us prosecute because we want to become rich,” he said.

He also said he’s committed to running for re-election in 2024.

“I plan on being a prosecutor for a long time,” Mortensen said. “I’m humbled that I get to do this for a living. I don’t take it lightly.”