With decades of experience putting criminals behind bars, veteran prosecutor Mary Robnett announced her candidacy for Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney today. Robnett, with strong support from law enforcement and the legal community, will challenge scandal-plagued incumbent Mark Lindquist.
Robnett vows to turn the page on Lindquist’s chaotic tenure and take a more non-political, non-partisan approach. “The voters need someone they can trust in this office. As Mr. Lindquist has proven, he’s no longer that person,” she said.
Robnett has tried some of the biggest cases in Pierce County’s history, including convictions against 2010’s Craigslist murderers, Frank Nordlund (the “Parkland Rapist”), and Zina Linnik’s murderer Terapon Adhahn, who is now serving a life sentence in Walla Walla. As a prosecutor in Pierce County’s Special Assault Unit, Robnett helped lock up family abusers, rapists, child molesters and murderers.
A graduate with honors from the University of Puget Sound’s law school, Robnett spent 18 years in public service to Pierce County, where she rose through the ranks to become Chief Criminal Deputy in the prosecutor’s office. Uncomfortable with the partisan, political way Lindquist operated, she departed in 2012 to join the state Attorney General’s Office. Hired by Rob McKenna (R) and promoted by Bob Ferguson (D), Robnett works as an assistant attorney general in the Sexually Violent Predators unit.
“When I say we need to restore professionalism to the prosecutor’s office, I’m not talking about the deputy prosecutors. We have some truly heroic deputy prosecutors working hard every day to protect the public, but morale in the office is suffering,” Robnett said.
“That’s because we have someone in the top job who has burned too many bridges and crossed too many ethical lines. Not to mention, Mr. Lindquist has wasted so much taxpayer money on a vanity lawsuit to hide his work-related text messages from the public. This is no way to run a professional prosecutor’s office.”
Retired Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Gerald Horne is an early backer of Robnett’s candidacy, with additional important endorsements coming. “Mary is ethical, tough and fair – exactly what the Prosecuting Attorney’s office needs after Lindquist,” Gerry Horne said. “She’ll lift the cloud over the prosecutor’s office and remove the taint of politics that has pervaded there.”
“I’m running because Pierce County voters deserve better. With management know-how and extensive courtroom experience trying complex cases, I know I can restore trust, run the office in a non-political manner, and free up our deputy prosecutors to do what they do best: Put the bad guys away,” Robnett said.