New district judge steps up from justice court, says he's ready for challenges ahead

After six years of serving as Flathead County justice of the peace, Dan Wilson was sworn in as Flathead County District Court judge on Friday before colleagues, friends and family, in the courtroom in which he’ll now take part in a more serious and complex division of the criminal justice system.

In November, Wilson won the seat in an unopposed race to replace David Ortley, and said last week that he’s looking forward to bringing the same brand of justice to a different court.

“I’ll bring the same things that I brought to the justice court, which is a good work ethic, a commitment and proven track record for deciding cases on time,” Wilson said Thursday. “As well as a level of professionalism that I believe that job requires and deserves.”

Wilson is a product of Eastern Montana, where he grew up in Billings and often spent time on the Hi-line in Malta. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School and returned to practice law in Montana as a deputy county attorney in Great Falls in 1993. He landed in Kalispell two years later as a Flathead County deputy attorney, where he met his wife, with whom he would have his future daughter.

Wilson in 2010 was first elected as Flathead County justice of the peace and was re-elected in an unopposed race in 2014. He filed for appointment to the district judge position vacated by Ted O. Lympus, but lost to Amy Eddy. When Ortley announced he wouldn’t be seeking re-election, Wilson knew he had to run.

Wilson said the initial motivation to pursue a career in law was a societal one.

“It was the desire to make a difference, for people and in the law,” he said. “There’s a lot of good work in the legal profession, although lawyers in general don’t seem to be that celebrated in society.”

And Wilson knows there’s room for work to be done in the county justice system. His predecessor, Judge Ortley, was plagued by a growing docket of cases caused by what Wilson called an “unfortunate wave” of methamphetamine and heroin use.

“That’s one of the greatest challenges to the legal system now,” he said. “The use not only triggers a response from law enforcement and prosecution but those who are heavily involved in that community then experience other break-downs in their lives.”

Wilson said a spike in hard drug use systematically leads to more divorce filings, as well as child neglect and abuse. It has a ripple effect, he said, and can drive increasing caseloads for judges.

Wilson said the docket will have a clean slate when he takes the bench on Jan. 1, but the caseload tide will soon rise again with the unfortunate drug wave. Following his lead with oceanic metaphors, his approach will be one described by the old “How do you eat a whale?” adage: One bite at a time.

“Without sounding too grim about it, the only sensible approach is to deal with each case one at a time,” he said. “Every case is different in some sense, every case involves individuals with different levels of need for rehabilitation or even punishment.”

Addressing each case on a circumstantial basis could mean exacerbating the backlog issue, but Wilson said other plans are in the works to address that issue. He believes many repeat drug offenders could truly benefit from a treatment model in court, clearing several cases as once. Meanwhile, Wilson said plans are underway to establish a new drug court in Flathead County to address the wave. There’s no set timeline for the drug court’s creation, but Wilson said the job requires marching forward knowing there are other forces in play.

“Like any sort of work in progress, you push as hard as you can against the obstacles you encounter and bring about the change as soon as you can,” he said.

In the move from justice court to district court, Wilson said he’ll be able to address a larger range of issues.

“Certainly more complicated legal issues, and there are some excellent lawyers in the valley and I look forward to working with them.”

The other justice monkey on Wilson’s back will be the overcrowding at the Flathead County Detention Facility, one of the top issues in all county issues during the past year’s election. Wilson said judges have already been involved in the discussion of solving the jail issue, along with law enforcement and county government officials. He praised Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry for the recently implemented measures of converting the youth jail into an adult facility and developing more than 30 new beds for inmates in the former county attorney’s space in the building.

“Judges have been working with all the stakeholders involved in pushing for solutions,” he said. “The challenge is not only going forward to ensure adequate jail space but also work with stakeholders to come up with some alternatives to incarceration when it’s appropriate.”

In addition to actually building more space to the jail, Wilson said the county is developing new supervision programs that could allow offenders to await a criminal hearing outside the facility, rather than cramming more people than the jail was built to house. The program would include some form of GPS monitoring as a measure for public safety and allow those charged with crimes to be more productive than if they were sitting in jail.

Along with rising drug use in Flathead County, Wilson said the overcrowding problem is compounded by the same growing pains at the state level, where state prison facilities and many treatment programs are overbooked, keeping convicted offenders in their county cells before they can begin their actual sentence elsewhere.

“There’s no room at the destination,” he said. “It’s because of, again, the drug epidemic. Treatment facilities are full and you can’t send someone to occupy those beds until the bed opens up.”

Wilson isn’t looking to address those problems outside his community, though. He has enjoyed his 21 years in the Flathead, and said he has no interest in rising through the ranks and leaving his community behind.

“That’s not to say it could never happen, but the district court is where I believe my talents would be best utilized and I could best serve the community.”

Wilson’s first case is scheduled for 8:30 Tuesday morning.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.