New deputy prosecutor is familiar with county

Having previously served as the law clerk for former District 3 Judge Susan Wiebe, and most recently serving as legal counsel with the Canyon County public defender’s office, Sean Jorgensen is no stranger to Washington County. Jorgensen is set to begin in his new role as deputy prosecutor for the county on Jan. 13.

 Jorgensen spent a few minutes introducing himself to the Washington County Commissioners on Monday, Dec. 23. He said newly elected Washington County Prosecutor True Pearce had contacted him this past summer about the job opening.

 “I guess he got my name from one of my former colleagues, and we hashed it out and we’re ready to get moving,” Jorgensen said. “My understanding is that True is going to primarily handle civil cases. He may have me help out from time to time if he needs assistance with anything.”

 Civil cases fall under the headings of: child protection proceedings; mental health proceedings; civil suits involving the county; and, drug asset forfeiture.  

 “My main duty is just going to be the criminal docket,” he added. “I believe he’s still looking for one more deputy who can take over misdemeanors and I would handle felonies, but for now I will probably just cover the entire criminal docket.” 

 Jorgensen said his family had moved to Boise from the Detroit, Mich., area when he was 17. He finished high school in Boise, and when he decided to pursue a law degree, moved to Pennsylvania, earning his degree from Penn State. 

 He said his interest in prosecuting cases was piqued while he was clerking for Judge Wiebe, and he had also spent a short period of time serving as Judge Kiley Stuchlik’s law clerk after her appointment to the bench in early 2022.

 “I spent two years prosecuting in Canyon County, and the past year with the Canyon County public defenders,” he added. “I’m looking forward to getting back to prosecuting.”

 Following Jorgensen on Monday’s commission agenda, current prosecutor Delton Walker described his court load since both of his deputy prosecutors left the office earlier this fall.

 Walker said there are times when it can be too much for one person, and other times, not necessarily enough to keep two fully busy.

 “It’s a lot of court,” he said. “I’ve been doing it, and I was in court four of the five days last week, pretty much from 8:30 a.m. on. You can do it, but there’s limited time to prepare. I would recommend they get somebody, if they can, to do one of the (two) loads, misdemeanor and felony. That makes it so you can manage the cases and prepare.”

 A week earlier, Dec. 16, Walker told the board the transition should go smoothly when he hands the job over to Pearce.

 “We’ve digitized everything, so there’s (just) a few files,” Walker said. 

 Thinking back to his first term in office in 2009, Walker said he had then received “something like 30 boxes from Chuck (Kroll).”

 “We’ve scanned everything, except we’ve kept all of the cds,” he said. “Lenae has been working on scanning, and making sure the cds are downloaded, so that they’re in the cloud. There are no physical files to hand over.” 

 Walker said cases are listed, and there are notes with everything that’s happened in each case. Active cases, he said, will transition to the new prosecutor.

 “When we worked with Adams County, we just gave them access to our online file and they were able to work there,” Walker said. “There are some cases that are set by trial, and I’m going to basically brief him, probably by email, because that’s the easiest way. When he gets into office, he’ll have the software program that shows him the notes for the file, the witnesses, the evidence, everything is in the cloud. He’ll be able to pick up and look at the case and see what’s coming.

 “I’m still settling cases,” he said. “There will be some settled probably on the 9th, because 95 to 98 percent of the cases don’t go to jury trial. So, there’ll probably be cases settled on Jan. 9, and whatever’s left after there, he will have the digital files.”