Former judge pleads guilty

ASOTIN–Former Hells Canyon Circuit Judge Scott D. Gallina has pleaded guilty to charges of third-degree assault with sexual motivation and fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation stemming from complaints followed by an investigation that resulted in the judge's arrest in April, 2019.

Three of five counts lodged against Gallina, 58, were dismissed, according to a prosecutor's statement filed in Asotin County April 4 by the Washington State Attorney General. Gallina pleaded guilty to Count III, Assault in the Third Degree with Sexual Motivation, and the Count V charge was amended from Third Degree to Fourth Degree Assault with Sexual Motivation.

The three dismissed charges were Count I, Rape in the Second Degree, Count II, Indecent Liberties (By Forcible Compulsion) and County IV, Fourth Degree Assault with Sexual Motivation. The Count IV alleged offense was believed to have occurred in Columbia County.

A sentencing hearing has been set for 9 a.m. Thursday, June 16, in Asotin County Superior Court, Superior Court Judge Michael P. Price, to preside.

Prosecutors will recommend that the court sentence Gallina to the high end of the sentencing range on each count for a total of 27 months, according to the plea agreement. The Count III recommendation will be 15 months, comprised of one to three months plus the mandatory 12-month sexual-motivation enhancement, and 364 days for Count V with all days imposed in custody and to run consecutively to the sentence for Count III.

Elements of the plea agreement include sparing victims from testifying in court.

While the amended information indicated that prosecutors anticipate Gallina's attorneys may argue for the low end of the range on Count III, and that Count V be served concurrently or suspended, the plea agreement indicates that, by agreement, "neither party may seek an exceptional sentence, whether upward or downward." Gallina's guilty plea to charges "with sexual enhancement result in mandatory sentences which must be served in total confinement and must run consecutively to any other sentence and to any other sexual-motivation enhancements.

As part of the plea agreement, Gallina may also be ordered to pay mandatory fines and fees, will register as a sex offender for 10 years, serve 36 months of community custody, observe no-contact orders per each victim, and observe "law-abiding behavior."

Gallina presided over superior courts in Garfield, Columbia and Asotin counties until being taken into custody on these and other charges in early 2019. Both incidents resulting in charges to which Gallina pleaded guilty occurred in Asotin County, Count III occurring between May 18, 2017 and April 9, 2019, and Count V taking place between January 1, 2018 and September 13, 2018. One of the dismissed charges is alleged to have taken place in Columbia County. No indication could be found in court records showing that any alleged improprieties occurred in Garfield County.

He is represented by Carl J. Oreskovich and Andrew M. Wagley of Spokane.

Gallina was arrested in the Asotin County Courthouse April 10, 2019, by Asotin County Sheriff's officers and troopers from the Washington State Patrol, on a number of charges including suspicion of second-degree rape, indecent liberties by forcible compulsion and fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. Other charges were added as a result of the ensuing investigation.

Initial investigation showed approximately nine female victims in the Asotin County Courthouse provided investigators of Gallina's alleged inappropriate conduct.