Tri-Cities judge who brought levity, wit and a magic rabbit to his courtroom has died
Philip M. Raekes, a prominent Tri-Cities attorney, regent emeriti of Gonzaga University and retired Benton-Franklin Superior Court judge, died Jan. 27 in Kennewick.
He was 92.
Raekes left a vast imprint on the Tri-Cities as a lawyer, a judge and leader in his church, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Kennewick.
He played a key role in one of the most significant trials ever held in Benton County, the capital murder case of triple murderer Jeremy Sagastegui.
Sagastegui was executed by lethal injection in 1998 after pleading guilty to charges he raped and murdered a 3-year-old boy he was babysitting and then shot his mother and her friend when they returned to her Finley home in 1995.
Raekes was called on to determine if Sagastegui could represent himself in a death penalty case, which was unclear at the time, said retired Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller.
“Judge Raekes should be remembered for his legal intellect,” Miller told the Tri-City Herald.
“The law was unclear and a wrong decision either way would have caused a reversal. His thorough findings based on the hearing and the law were upheld by the (Washington) State Supreme Court and ultimately by the U.S. Supreme Court after reversal by the Ninth Circuit,” Miller said.
Raekes brought wit and humor to a courtroom where dissecting crime was an everyday occurrence, said Lisa Lang, a long-time court stenographer who served Raekes during his six-year tenure as a judge.
She recalled he would occasionally get exasperated in private meetings with attorneys in his chambers when attorneys pushed their arguments too far. Raekes would pull a stuffed rabbit out of his desk and ask the offending lawyer, “What do you want me to do, pull a rabbit out of my hat?”
He was a spirited co-worker who regularly barked, “Lang, coffee!” at her, knowing she’d bark some version of “get it yourself” back at him.
“I never got him coffee,” she said. When she retired, he had a mug made with his name, the scales of justice, and “Lang, coffee!” on it.
Humor and levity brightened the workplace, but as a judge, he brought compassion as well.
A 1999 report prepared for the Sentencing Guidelines Commission showed he seldom imposed the maximum sentence sought by prosecutors.
In one notable case, he sentenced an unnamed defendant who had pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property to three months in jail — a quarter of the 12 months requested by prosecutors. Case notes indicated the defendant had made restitution to the victim before being caught and was seeking help for substance abuse issues.
Judge Jacqueline Stam is the bi-county court’s current presiding administrative judge. Raekes retired before she became a judge, but she remembers appearing in front of him as an attorney. She recalled representing a father in a family law case where the mother represented herself.
Raekes, she recalled, gave everyone time to tell their story, then rendered a fair and impartial decision. That was his style, she said.
“That’s why he was so respected by the other judges of the bar.”
Stam didn’t know about the stuffed rabbit in his desk, but she wasn’t surprised. It suited his sense of humor to a “T.”
Gonzaga alum
The Montague, Mich., native went to Richland High School after his family moved to the Tri-Cities so that his stepfather could work at the Hanford Atomic Works, according to a court biography.
He went on to serve in the Navy during the Korean conflict, then earned his law degree from Gonzaga University in 1959, a momentus year that saw him get married and admitted to the Washington state bar.
He met the former Mary Bruns in Spokane while he was in law school and working at a local bank where she was a teller.
The couple married at Christ the King Catholic Church in Richland and were together for 64 years, until her death two months ago on Nov. 24, 2023.
His began his legal career in the Washington state Attorney General’s office but later moved into private practice, eventually helping found the law firm of Raekes, Rettig & Osborne.
He spent 35 years as a civil lawyer until he joined the Benton-Franklin Superior Court bench in November 1994, when he was elected to complete the term of Judge Fred Staples.
He was elected to a full term in 1996. He did not seek reelection and retired for good in January 2001 at age 68. He was succeeded by Judge Robert Swisher.
Outside the courtroom, Raekes was a founder of the Central Washington Catholic Foundation (2002) and spent 20 years on the Gonzaga University of Board of Regents, which presented him with its Distinguished Alumni Merit Award in 1999.
Raekes and his wife established a law scholarship at Gonzaga in 1989.
The couple were longtime parishioners of St. Joseph’s, where she served on the finance committee and he was a lector.
Raekes is survived by his children, Michael Raekes of Seattle, Diane Roe (Tom) of Kirkland, John Raekes (Judy) of Kennewick, Julie Raekes (Scott) of Richland, and Amy Cleary (Joe) of Spokane as well as by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Einan’s at Sunset funeral home is in charge of arrangements.
