YAKIMA, Wash.- After over 40 years of working in the legal field and 12 as Yakima County Superior Court Judge, Richard Bartheld will be retiring in December 2024.
“This has been an adventure throughout my legal career,” says Judge Bartheld. “I’m here today to announce that I am not going to be running for election this fall.”
The Washington native has spent his entire legal career in Yakima starting in 1980 with his own private practice. After his work as a lawyer, he succeeded Judge James Lust in the Superior Court.
Judge Bartheld was sworn in to office in 2012 by then Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire when he made a pact with her.
“I made a promise to her that I would do my very best as a judge to represent the community here in Yakima and surrounding areas,” says Bartheld.
The acting-presiding judge for Yakima County led the court through the COVID-19 pandemic and introduced videoconferencing in the courtroom.
Among other challenges, he says navigating the new laws laid out by State Legislation was a difficult process for him.
“Every time the legislation meets, I want to retire,” says Bartheld.
As he prepares to ride off into the sunset, Judge Bartheld says he will look back proudly at the implementation of a pre-trial system to allow a fair calculation of bail.
He says after making the switch from a lawyer, Judge Bartheld struggled to decide bail for individuals who were arrested and balancing the dollar amount for differing crimes.
As a result, the pre-trial system is able to find factors including criminal history and failure to return to court to impose a relevant and fair bond.
“It gives us a little bit of some guidance as to what is the right person to be released from jail and what is the person that you want to keep in jail,” says Bartheld. “Obviously a person that has a high score of prediction of new criminal activity based upon their history, you’re going to want to keep that person in jail.”
Judge Bartheld says he’s looking forward to celebrating his retirement by spending more time with his family and restoring a 1948 Chevy pick-up truck. Before reaches that point, he’s setting up Yakima County for life after his retirement.
He is endorsing James Elliot of the Halverson Northwest Law Group to take his place as his successor. Bartheld says working with Elliot in the past has shown a compassionate demeaner and civil litigation experience that will serve well in the Superior Court.
“I’ve had the pleasure to hear some of his cases and I’ve also had the pleasure to see him work in the courtroom,” says Bartheld. “We need a judge that’s going to be able to step into this civil law practice and be able to deal with those issues.”
Elliot will have to run for the seat in the fall, but he believes he’s ready for the challenge.
“I’m excited to get in and there’s a lot of other areas that I need to learn as well,” says Elliot. “I’ve been spending time over the last couple of months trying to learn the other dockets of criminal, family law and really trying to get comfortable and understand those areas as much as I can.”
Elliot’s 25 years of legal practice has included employment, agriculture and contract negotiations, but he thinks his ability to connect with the community can set him apart.
“My hope is that people look at me and say ‘that’s a person who can deal with difficult challenges, can handle the stress and still be a good decision maker in terms of what we have,'” says the endorsed Elliot.
Bartheld service will end in December of 2024, just before his 70th birthday. He says his milestone played a part in his decision to retire.
“At that point in time, it’s about time to move on to bigger and better adventures,” says Judge Bartheld.
