Oregon State Bar Judicial Voters Guide 2010 1) Full name: Wells B. Ashby 2) Office Address and Phone Number: Deschutes County District Attorney s Office 1164 NW Bond Street, Bend, Oregon 97701 (541)388-6520 3) Web site (if applicable): www.wellsashby.com 4) List high school, college and law school attended, including dates of attendance, degrees awarded and your reasons for leaving each school if no degree from that institution was awarded. William Hall High School, West Hartford, Connecticut. University of Colorado, B.A., cum laude, Boulder, Colorado 1988-1992. University of Colorado School of Law, J.D., Boulder, Colorado 1994-1997. 5) List employment since graduation from law school, including dates employed, your position and the nature of the practice or activity. Attorney: Roger L. Keithley, P.C. 1997-1998, Denver, Colorado: complex civil litigation. Attorney: Office of the Public Defender, 1998 2002, Twin Falls, Idaho: indigent criminal defense. Prosecutor: Twin Falls County Prosecuting Attorney s Office, 2002-2004, Twin Falls, Idaho: criminal prosecution. Prosecutor: Josephine County District Attorney s Office, 2004-2005, Grants Pass, Oregon: criminal prosecution.
Prosecutor/Supervisor: Deschutes County District Attorney s Office, 2005- Present, Bend, Oregon: criminal prosecution, trial team supervisor. During my tenure at the District Attorney s Office I have handled major crimes cases including drug cases, business fraud, assault, sexual assault, driving under the influence, homicide and other major crimes. 6a) List state and federal bars, courts and administrative bodies to which you are presently admitted and the date of admission. Oregon State Bar, admitted 2003. Idaho State Bar (inactive status), admitted 1998. 6b) List any previous admissions, including dates, and the reason why you are no longer admitted. Colorado State Bar, 1997-2004: relocation. Limited practice license, Colorado, 1996-1997. Idaho State Bar, 1998-Present: inactive status due to relocation. 7) List publications and/or articles you have authored. 8) List community, teaching or civic activities. Elected Official / Director: Bend-La Pine School Board Budget Committee, Bend-La Pine School District Boundary Advisory Committee, Bend-La Pine School District Volunteer Instructor: Central Oregon Community College, J Bar J Ranch, Saving Grace, Mountain View High School, Deschutes County Sheriff s Reserve Academy, Bend Police Department, Sunriver Police Department, Sunriver Citizen s Academy Juvenile Justice Committee, District V, Twin Falls, Idaho Former Board member, ex officio, Bend Education Foundation Bend Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Bend graduate Cascade Academy Career Day Class
Presentations: COCC Anatomy of an Investigation, This Isn t Best Out of Three. Computer/Cyber-Predators, Real Threats from a Virtual World, Sunriver Rotary, Redmond Rotary, Bend Lions, La Pine Lions, Redmond Public Library, Mid-State Electric Cooperative, Good Morning Central Oregon, KBND Your Town Juror: Central Oregon Mock Trial Competition, 2008/2010. 9) What is the general character of your practice? Indicate the nature of your typical clients and mention any legal areas in which you concentrate. I started my career in Denver with a firm handling insurance defense cases for A.I.G. and Zurich International. I left Denver for Twin Falls, Idaho where I handled criminal defense cases in the state trial, appellate and supreme courts. For the past eight years I have prosecuted criminal cases. I have prosecuted cases involving narcotics, drunk driving, child and adult sexual assault, business fraud, homicide and other major crimes. 10) What percentage of your practice is litigation? 100% 11) Do you regularly appear in court? I appear in court every work day. 12) What percentage of your litigation practice in the last five years was in: Federal Trial Courts: 0% Federal Appellate Courts: 0% State Trial Courts: 100% State Appellate Courts: 0% Administrative Bodies: 0%
13)Describe your litigation practice in the last five (5) years and address both the courts and types of cases. I have been a prosecutor in state trial courts for the past eight years. I have handled court trials, jury trials and post-conviction relief trials. I currently supervise a trial team that prosecutes 3500 of the 5000 cases annually prosecuted by the Deschutes County District Attorney s Office. My caseload has included all levels of crime from misdemeanors to aggravated murder. I am responsible for all levels of prosecution: case filing, grand jury, motions practice, trial practice and sentencing. 14) Describe any appellate court experience not included above. As a criminal defense attorney in Twin Falls, Idaho, I was assigned to brief and argue cases from our office, in the Idaho Court of Appeals and the Idaho Supreme Court. I practiced criminal defense for one year in Colorado and for four years in Idaho. 15) Describe any experience serving as an arbitrator or mediator. I served in law school as a volunteer mediator for the City of Boulder, Colorado. The City of Boulder assigned me neighbor/neighbor disputes and landlord/tenant disputes. 16) State the approximate number of cases you have tried to conclusion in courts of record during each of the past five years (or longer period, if you desire), indicating whether you were sole, associate or lead counsel. Approximately 30 jury trials in the past five years, 50-60 in the past 10 years. I was sole counsel in all cases with the exception of a penalty phase aggravated murder sentencing in which I was co-counsel. 17) State the approximate number of cases you have handled in state and federal appellate courts in the last five years, indicating whether you were lead or co-counsel. Include citations of reported cases. 18) List any experience you have as a pro tem or municipal judge, and the names of the courts you have served.
19) List all bar association memberships, offices held and committee assignments. Oregon State Bar Deschutes County Bar Regular participant in Inns of Court in Colorado and Oregon. 20) Have you ever been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a violation of any federal, state, county or municipal law, regulation or ordinance? If so, please give details. Do not include or parking offenses or traffic violations for which a fine of less than $500 was imposed. Never. 21) Have you ever been the subject of a formal disciplinary proceeding as an attorney? If so, please give the particulars and the result. **Include only proceedings that were authorized for prosecution by the SPRB. 22) Why do you want to be a judge? I believe that I have the right combination of relevant experience, energy and commitment to the community to be an effective circuit court judge. I have broad experience in the law and know the impact our courts can have on the community. As a judge, I will use my experience to make sure that the law is fairly applied, rules are consistently followed and rights are evenly protected. 23) Briefly describe your philosophy of the judicial role, the qualities that are most important for the role, and the greatest challenges to the role. Judges should be fair, firm and clear. I believe that it is the duty of a judge to learn the law and fairly and consistently apply the law according to the particular facts of each case. Judges should decide cases in a timely manner. Judges and judicial candidates should be experts in court, respected in the legal community, be involved in their community and should possess the necessary experience and energy to be successful on the bench. Our judges should be committed to the protection of rights and to community safety. Greatest Challenges: Managing increasing case volume with diminishing resources. Assuring that both criminal and civil cases are given time on the court s crowded docket.
24) Briefly describe a case, or a legal issue on which you worked, of which you are particularly proud, or which is reflective of your legal ability, work ethic, judicial philosophy, or temperament. I prosecuted the Freeland Opps Ponzi scheme. The Freeland Opps scheme was a complex internet based investment scam which defrauded numerous victims in Deschutes County as well as victims in other states. Losses totaled over $200,000 and many of the victims were low income earners which made the losses particularly painful. This case was prosecuted with the investigative assistance of the F.B.I. and the State of Oregon Division of Finance and Corporate Securities. I am proud of my work on the case because it involved the prosecution of securities crimes which rarely happens at the local level. Both defendants were convicted and restitution continues to be paid to the victims. This prosecution required initiative and significant research, work and resolve. 25) Briefly describe an issue, related to Oregon's justice system, that concerns you, or that you have interest in working toward improving. I am concerned about access to our courts and how we fund our courts. I am concerned that our courts are increasingly criminal courts and that there is little time for civil trials. I would be interested in working to find or create efficiencies that save both money and courtroom resources. I am also interested in working on integrating our currently divided district/circuit court system. I have worked in court systems that have used a master calendar or hybrid calendar system and believe we can achieve efficiencies through such a model. I look forward to assisting with this transition. 26) Briefly describe a legal figure, personal, fictional or historical, whom you admire and why. I admire Idaho Supreme Court Vice-Chief Justice Roger Burdick. Justice Burdick is a friend and mentor. He has had a long career in public service. He is efficient, fair, intelligent and pragmatic. He is an outstanding example of a judge. 27) State any other information that you regard as pertinent to your candidacy. I am a married, father of four and a native Oregonian. I believe that our judges should be committed to the communities they serve beyond the courtroom. I am a Director on the Bend-La Pine School Board and have previously served on the Budget Committee and Boundary Advisory Committee. In Idaho, I served on the Juvenile Justice Council. I am a
graduate of the Bend Chamber of Commerce Leadership Bend program and I have volunteered my time as a volunteer instructor for Bend-La Pine Schools, COCC, Saving Grace, Sunriver Citizen s Academy, the Deschutes County Sheriff s Office and more. I look forward to serving as Deschutes County s next Circuit Court Judge. I appreciate your support and vote.