Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Sally Olsen retires after 19 years

When Sally Olsen was appointed to her seat on the Kitsap County Superior Court bench in 2004, she brought 18 years of experience practicing law to the position. But in her first trial after the appointment, she was given a case in an area she knew nothing about: worker’s compensation. She’d been thrown in the water, and it was time to swim.

“I remember getting it thinking, ‘I have never studied this, I know nothing about worker’s compensation,’” the Bainbridge Island resident said, reflecting on her career at the end of December. “I thought it was somewhat ironic that here I had all this experience with family law, criminal law, to get a very first trial in the subject matter that I knew literally nothing about.”

The experience points to the range of law that judges in a court of general jurisdiction must handle. Superior Court judges can see criminal and civil concerns, proceedings that delve into deeply personal family matters, and handle cases involving juveniles, mental health and substance use. Inside each area of law lies unique nuances and arguments. Olsen said she loved the challenge of learning something every day.

“We have to be prepared to do a wide variety of areas and have to be able to learn new material quickly and absorb it and be ready to make decisions on areas that you may not be as familiar with,” she said.

Olsen, the court’s most senior judge, retired at the end of 2023, having completed 19 years on the bench in Kitsap County. Gov. Jay Inslee appointed former Mason County Superior Court Judge Cadine Ferguson-Brown as Olsen’s replacement, and Ferguson-Brown is scheduled to be sworn in later this month.

Looking back on her time on the bench, Olsen recalled a long list of family law cases, personal injury cases, medical malpractice cases, a stint overseeing cases involving juveniles. She loved overseeing criminal trials.

Olsen said she didn’t try to rule her courtroom with an iron fist but with a background in mediation, tried to lean into listening and making sure that participants felt heard. She made sure that they understood her decisions – whether they liked them or not.

Olsen presided over a notable murder trial for a Jefferson County man who was convicted of killing a Quilcene couple in 2009. The defendant, Michael Pierce, had to be tried four times – “It was mishap after mishap,” Olsen said – and the case was moved to Kitsap County. Pierce was eventually found guilty of the murders by a jury, and Olsen sentenced the man to 117 years in prison in 2014.

“The right result came out, even though it took a long time to get there,” she said.

Outside court, she found joy in volunteering and doing search and rescue with her dogs, something she plans to embrace further now with the search and rescue group she works with, Kitsap County Search Dogs. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she saw dogs in action on a rubble pile and was intrigued by the idea of having a working animal. She pursued the vision and now estimates that she’s done more than 100 searches over 20 years of work.

“I thought, ‘Let me get this right, I could do a charitable, volunteer function and be outside and hike at the same time?’ And be with my dog?’” she said. “The combination, it’s perfect for what I like.”

She’s had three chocolate Labradors over the years, including Torr, her current 8-year-old K9 companion. She plans to pick up another dog at the end of this month.

'Up to the task'

Case files could stack up, but Olsen said remembering the importance of the work would help her to get through it all.

“If you feel like, ‘I’ve heard this argument a hundred times,’ … you have to step back and go, ‘It’s the first time they’re making it,’” she said. “‘It’s their life that something horrible has happened to, and they want us to help them.’”

Neil Wachter, an attorney and friend of Olsen’s, told the Kitsap Sun in a message that she was part of a strong tradition of jurists in Kitsap County’s courts and said she had been an important mentor for local attorneys.

“She brought a great temperament to her courtroom, knew how to apply the law evenhandedly, how to enforce the rules, and how to give all participants their fair shake in court,” he said. “Being a judge is very hard work, and Sally was always up to the task.”

Judge Melissa Hemstreet, who became a colleague of Olsen’s in Kitsap County Superior Court, recalled early on in her law career in Kitsap County going to a Kitsap County Bar Association lunch as she was looking for a job and sitting down with Olsen and her husband Steve. The two took her under their wings and introduced her to all the other attorneys.

“They were really supportive and have always been supportive of me and quite frankly most of the younger attorneys,” she said. “They’ve always been willing to answer questions, and before Judge Olsen became Judge Olsen, I knew that if I had a question with a case, I could call her and run it by her and get some good advice. When she became a judge, I always found her to be really good at listening to the whole story. I think she made very fair decisions based on the information that she had.”

Olsen said she felt she earned her seat but counted it as a privilege to hold the office that voters sent her back to four times.

“This,” she said, “has been my dream job.”

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Judge Sally Olsen retires from Superior Court after 19 years