LONGVIEW — With her appointment as Cowlitz County’s fifth Superior Court judge, Anne Cruser’s career has come full circle.
The Kalama resident will become the third woman to serve on a court facing a lengthy backlog of criminal and civil cases.
Cruser, who started her legal career in the Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office, was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee last week after serving as judge pro tempore on the Cowlitz County District Court for five years. She is currently lead attorney for the appellate division at the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Cruser said she could begin hearing cases as soon as mid-September.
Cowlitz County commissioners voted in December to pay half of the fifth judge’s $165,870 annual salary more than a decade after the state approved money for the position (the state funds the other half).
Former longtime Cowlitz County prosecutor Sue Baur said she remembers Cruser as an exhaustive learner with the right qualities for the job.
“She’s got a heck of a lot of energy,” Baur said of Cruser (pronounced like “cruiser”).
One thing Cruser is expected to focus her energy on is reducing the court’s backlog.
In 2013, more than 6,500 cases were filed in Cowlitz County Superior Court, roughly the same as Clark County’s caseload — even though Cowlitz has a quarter of the population.
Of the 39 counties in Washington, only three superior courts had a lower percentage of completed cases at the end of 18 months, according to a recent strategic plan published by the Cowlitz County commissioners.
While judges can’t instruct prosecutors to try fewer cases, they can consider alternative ways to expedite them. In an interview with The Daily News, Cruser said she’s already discussed a number of ideas with Superior Court Judge Michael Evans.
Cruser also said she supports the Cowlitz County Drug Court, which allows approved defendants to avoid felony convictions by agreeing to get treatment and follow a strict set of rules. She noted that Clark County also has a district mental health court and recently expanded a felony mental health court, as well as veterans court and substance abuse court.
“Clark County is really a model of treatment courts,” she said.
