ISLAND COUNTY: Hazelo gets no jail time in case involving mask mandate in elections office
Jessie Stensland reports from the Island County Superior Court for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.
Tim Hazelo will not have to spend any time in jail for disrupting the Island County Elections Office by refusing to wear a mask last year.
A judge in Island County Superior Court handed the former chairperson of the county’s Republican Party a first-time offender waiver during a sentencing hearing Monday afternoon. On July 10, a jury found Hazelo guilty of unauthorized access to a voting center, a felony, and criminal trespass in the first degree, a gross misdemeanor.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Joseph Wilson ordered Hazelo to perform 40 hours of community service with a non-political nonprofit group and pay $700 in fines and fees. Wilson pointed out that Hazelo, a convicted felon, lost his right to possess firearms unless a judge someday restores the right, but he will be able to vote since he wasn’t incarcerated.
Wilson didn’t explain his reasoning in depth, although he said earlier than Hazelo seemed like a decent guy, was respectful during the hearing and has no criminal history.
“I just can’t get myself to the place where I’m going to sentence Mr. Hazelo to jail,” he said.
They Said It
Before announcing the sentence, Wilson explained that he agreed to take on the “politically charged” case after Island County judges recused themselves. He said that he’s one of the most senior superior court judges in the state.
Wilson said he always tries to figure out people’s motivations when he’s sitting on the bench in both criminal and civil cases. He said he had difficulty figuring out the reasoning behind Hazelo’s actions.
The judge said he understood the importance of challenging government, but he indicated that was accomplished in a related civil case filed by Hazelo and Tracy Abuhl, another former leader of the county GOP party. Wilson said that letters from the community paint Hazelo as a “really decent human being” and that he was respectful during all the proceedings.
“I’m left with the question,” Wilson said. “If really that is the kind of man he is, then why would be take the action of putting other people in jeopardy? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“I’m of opinion,” he added, “that if you really are your brother’s keepers, you comply, challenge it in a different forum so as not to put anybody in jeopardy. That’s my personal opinion, the way I conduct my life.”
Wilson said a line from a letter supporting Hazelo may hold the answer to the question. The man wrote that the circumstances surrounding the crime Hazelo committed were “full of politics.”
