New Deschutes County judge has passion for the law

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, January 26, 2022

As a child growing up in Klamath Falls, Alycia Herriott learned about the legal system when her father got in over his head on a project and needed a lawyer.

A lot of lawyers, in fact, Herriott said.

All told, her father’s legal ordeal stretched for more than a decade, or, most of her childhood.

“I remember him coming home with a stack of pleadings, briefs and criminal complaints,” she said recently. “My father was very open with me, a child of 10. We sat next to each other on the couch and he told me, ‘Never be in a position where you are helpless as to what all this means.’”

The experience had a powerful affect on Herriott, 39, in the way that children often feel more than they can put into words.

She thinks it helped lead her to a career in the law, a career that will start a new chapter later this month. Herriott, and Michelle McIver, were selected to fill two newly created judgeships in Deschutes County. Herriott will begin hearing cases this month, and McIver, early next month.

After years of lobbying by local officials, the Legislature in August approved a request to add two new judges to the Deschutes County Circuit Court for a cost of $1.59 million.

As circuit court judges, Herriott and McIver will now have to win elections every six years to keep their seats.

Since receiving her law degree in 2008 from Willamette University, Herriott has worked as a prosecutor with the Deschutes County and Clackamas County district attorney’s offices. Among the high-profile cases she prosecuted is that of David Fincher, a drunk driver who killed a 2-year-old girl outside the Sisters Folk Festival in 2016. In Clackamas County, she prosecuted Jason Hogan, who shot his ex-girlfriend and murdered her mother.

From 2015 to 2016, she prosecuted cases as special assistant attorney general with the U.S. Attorney’s office. And for the past three years, she worked as a criminal defense attorney with Bend firm Gilroy, Napoli, Short Law Group.

Herriott is married with two daughters, 3 and 7. Her husband, Andrew, is the marketing director for Rebound Physical Therapy. She’s the niece of former Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan.

Q: Why do you want to be a judge?

A: I’ve been a trial lawyer throughout the state of Oregon and it has become evident to me that a judge has a unique opportunity to frame the community’s perception of the justice system. When a judge is fair and thoughtful and equitable, the community understands the system to be that way too. I think it benefits the community as a whole to develop this level of trust with the justice system. The opportunity to make that impression in the role of a judge is why I want to serve in that capacity.

Q: Do you believe there are bad people in the world?

A: There are people that make bad judgments and bad decisions, and that is a fact. I don’t think that a person’s decisions should necessarily define who they are, because everybody is bigger than one decision or even a series of decisions. So a part of the justice system is to really listen and look for perspective and empathy and make decisions based on the judgment in front of them and not put people into a category of good or bad.

Q: You and Michelle McIver were chosen to fill newly created judgeships in Deschutes County, the intent being to help relieve long waits in cases. In your experience, how bad is the slowdown at the courthouse?

A: I have had the unique opportunity to practice throughout the state of Oregon during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is ongoing, of course. So, I saw how different presiding judges have dealt with the backlog of cases that were inevitable when we were faced with this situation. And I have to applaud presiding Judge (Wells) Ashby. He did a phenomenal job with the limited resources that Deschutes County Circuit Court had in maneuvering through this pandemic.

Even given that, the court is overburdened, and so I think that these two new positions are really going to offer a lot of opportunity for access to justice in the community, which is really important.

Q: What else needs to change to improve access to justice in Deschutes County?

A: We’ve made a lot of improvements. The pandemic has forced the courts to become more technologically advanced and that has helped extremely in allowing people to appear in court remotely. So they don’t have to take time off work or find transportation. Those things are really moving the ball forward in terms of access to justice.

Things we can do moving forward are adding more resources for pro se litigants. Those are litigants that don’t have an attorney and that may not have the resources to hire an attorney. And if we as a community, and as a bar and a bench, can help provide resources for those litigants, I think it would further help access to justice.

Q: How should law enforcement change?

A: I’ve been really impressed with local law enforcement transition to using more bodycam footage. I think that can only benefit all sides. And it really brings a level of transparency to the system and I think it helps develop trust in the system. So I think that more avenues like that, that develop that transparency and trust will be helpful with law enforcement.