And while [Jim] Bates, who today enters the final week of campaigning for a seat on the Washington state Supreme Court, insists he was never told of [Jill] Picchena's complaint, [Bobbe] Bridge said yesterday that Presiding Judge Charles Johnson "took the matter seriously," met with Bates after hearing the complaint "and no further problems were reported."

Picchena told The Seattle Times about her complaint last month. But until yesterday, court officials had refused to confirm its existence or to say whether Bates had been told about it. Bates did not return calls yesterday seeking an explanation for the discrepancy between his account and Bridge's one-sentence, written statement.

Additionally, a judge who was in charge of scheduling trials says she and Picchena began to divert some sex-crime cases from Bates as a result of the complaint. Carmen Otero, who was chief criminal judge, says the cases were diverted not because of concern about Bates' performance on the bench, but as a way to assure Picchena that her complaint was being taken seriously.

Copyright 1998, The Seattle Times Co.

A King County Superior Court official complained to judges in 1991 that Judge Jim Bates had made obscene phone calls to her and had made sexual comments about autopsy photographs of a female homicide victim.

Criminal-case manager Jill Picchena expressed her complaints to the presiding judges of the court at the time, according to the current presiding judge, Bobbe Bridge.

And while Bates, who today enters the final week of campaigning for a seat on the Washington state Supreme Court, insists he was never told of Picchena's complaint, Bridge said yesterday that Presiding Judge Charles Johnson "took the matter seriously," met with Bates after hearing the complaint "and no further problems were reported."

Bridge said she was speaking for the court and for Johnson, who is semiretired.

Picchena told The Seattle Times about her complaint last month. But until yesterday, court officials had refused to confirm its existence or to say whether Bates had been told about it. Bates did not return calls yesterday seeking an explanation for the discrepancy between his account and Bridge's one-sentence, written statement.

Additionally, a judge who was in charge of scheduling trials says she and Picchena began to divert some sex-crime cases from Bates as a result of the complaint. Carmen Otero, who was chief criminal judge, says the cases were diverted not because of concern about Bates' performance on the bench, but as a way to assure Picchena that her complaint was being taken seriously.

Bates says he also had no knowledge of that. Nor, he said, was he ever given any hint that anyone in the courthouse was concerned about his behavior.

"When I think back over my 18 years as a judge, I can't think of anything that gives me pause for concern," he said last week.

"I never heard anything like this from anyone," he said in an earlier interview. "I'm very surprised."

Otero, who retired in 1995, said she cannot recall how she had heard about Picchena's complaints in the fall of 1991. But after learning of them, she says, she worked with Picchena to move sex-crime trials away from Bates when possible.

Court records for that time period are sketchy and don't allow for a complete and accurate assessment of judges' trial schedules. However, the records suggest his load of sex-crime trials did fall off after Picchena's complaint, and they contain no evidence to contradict Otero's account.

Bates did continue to hear some sex-crime cases, but Otero says other cases that would have gone to Bates were sent, instead, to other judges.

Picchena, 39, provides substantial detail about her experiences with Bates, and the facts that can be verified - such as which cases Bates was handling when he made the alleged remarks and when those trials occurred - check out.

A former bailiff of Bates' says through her attorney that she, too, had witnessed the judge making sexual comments about autopsy photographs of female homicide victims.

Picchena said she began to have trouble with Bates in the spring of 1991. She said she knew Bates casually and had had lunch with him once or twice, as she had with other judges, before he began making personal phone calls to her.

During what she remembers as three or four phone calls during a murder trial Bates was running in May and June 1991, Picchena said, the judge asked her to come to his chambers. She said he talked about the female victim, who had been stabbed more than 100 times.

"He said, `I want you to come down and look at the autopsy photos,' and, `The victim was really into anal sex,' " said Picchena, whose surname at the time was Mensing.

That summer, Picchena said, she received a phone call while she was in a conference in a courtroom. The phone had an identification system and showed the call was from Bates' chambers, Picchena said. The caller didn't identify himself, but she recognized the voice as Bates'.

Picchena recalled: "He said to me, `I know you are really good at doing two or three things at once' - and he is laughing - `and could you still do your job right now if I was under your desk performing oral sex on you right now?' "

Later that summer, Picchena said, she received in her office a copy of an article from a journal of human sexuality headlined, "Scrotum self-repair," about a gory case of accidental genital mutilation caused by a man masturbating with a piece of machinery.

At the top was this handwritten note: "Hi Jill: Is this guy one of your former boyfriends? Enjoy, J." It came in an envelope from Bates' official stationery and she recognized the handwriting as Bates', she said.

Picchena kept the article and the note and recently showed it to a Times reporter.

Another time the same summer, Picchena said, she got a call from someone she recognized as Bates: "He said, `I know you enjoy hurting me. I'd like you to come down in your high-heeled shoes, jump up and down on my chest with your skirt flying up around your head.' "

The caller didn't identify himself. But again, Picchena said, the phone showed the call came from his chambers.

"He was laughing mechanically at this point. There is no question in my mind I am talking to Jim Bates and he is out of control."

At that point, Picchena said, she complained to her superiors. She met with Johnson and another judge, Anne Ellington. (Ellington, now a state Court of Appeals judge, would not comment, saying she would not discuss Superior Court personnel matters.)

Picchena said that after her meeting with Ellington and Johnson, she experienced no further problems with Bates.

Bates would not respond to any of Picchena's specific allegations. He called her "a valued co-worker, somebody I respect," and said, "We told each other jokes."

"I've told - particularly when I was single - my share of offbeat jokes in the past. After my marriage (in 1992) and having children, I have taken things in a little deeper and I try not to do that anymore," he said.

"It can hurt people. It can be disrespectful and it can be taken the wrong way. I have learned it doesn't feel good to tell those kinds of jokes. I don't do it anymore."

Picchena said she never told Bates off-color jokes.

Picchena said that sometime shortly after her September 1991 meeting with Johnson and Ellington, Otero decided to divert sex-crime cases from Bates. Otero said she can't remember who came up with the idea of the diversion. But "the thing is," she said, "yes, it did happen."

Otero was reluctant to talk about Bates. She said she never witnessed inappropriate behavior by him. But she said she has great respect for Picchena.

"I did know she had complained," Otero said. "Jill is a top-flight person. She is ethical in every way. She is not flighty. She is not emotional and she has a great memory. I never doubted anything she said."

"I was concerned that she would feel ill at ease in the position she was doing very well in," Otero said. "I knew that Jim Bates would be just fine. He had the wherewithal to survive anything that would happen."

Picchena left the court last year.

She says she has no connection to Bates' opponent, incumbent Justice Barbara Madsen, except that she knows Madsen's husband, Don, a public defender. But she felt the state's voters deserved to know her story.

"I realize this could determine the outcome of the election but I have to keep thinking that it wasn't me who made those phone calls," Picchena said. "He was the one using his position of power to intimidate women."

Another woman, Bates' former bailiff, says his Supreme Court candidacy also motivated her to tell of her experiences with him. The woman - who lived with Bates for about five years in the 1980s - declined to be named and would speak only through her attorney.

Attorney Suzanne Thomas says she was retained by the former bailiff to help persuade Bates not to run for the Supreme Court. Her client does not intend to sue Bates and is not seeking any money from him, Thomas said.

"There was nothing motivating her other than she felt the public-service obligation."

Thomas said the woman's relationship with Bates began when the bailiff was 23 and he was 37. The woman said that in more than one instance, Bates made crude comments about the autopsy pictures of female victims.

One day in 1986, Thomas said, Bates called the bailiff into his chambers and was holding autopsy photos of a victim in a murder trial over which he was presiding. Thomas said Bates commented on how youthful the victim looked for her age and said to the bailiff, "Do you see her breasts? They're just as beautiful as yours."

Bates confirms he had what he called "a romance that blossomed in the workplace" with the former bailiff. "It's sad to me that it's taking this turn," he said.

Bates said the proper forum for complaints such as Picchena's and the bailiff's is the state Judicial Conduct Commission. Complaints to the commission become public only after there is probable cause to open a formal investigation. The commission says there has never been a formal investigation of Bates.

"Unless there is a specific charge on an individual case that is served on me, I'm uncomfortable commenting on it," Bates said.

He added: "I think it's interesting it comes up on the eve of the election."

Times reporter Richard Seven contributed to this report.

David Postman's phone message number is 360-943-9882. His e-mail address is: dpostman@seattletimes.com

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