Harger: Leesa Manion’s fury exposes a broken system in King County’s justice system

The King County Prosecutor is furious. And when you hear these numbers, you’ll understand why.

Leesa Manion is a Democrat. She’s not a law-and-order, hang-’em-high crusader looking for headlines. She’s the elected prosecutor in one of the most progressive counties in the country. And even she’s saying that the system is broken.

She explicitly said she’s not calling for cuts to public defense. She just wants parity. Equal resources to protect victims’ constitutional rights. That’s not happening.

Her anger is expressed in a letter she sent to the King County Council regarding next year’s budget proposal. Despite documenting crisis-level caseloads, her office receives zero new prosecutors, while public defense receives 17.

In that letter, Manion said one of her deputy prosecutors is handling 136 cases involving adults accused of targeting and grooming children online. One person, 136 predators.

Meanwhile, under new statewide standards taking effect in 2026, public defenders handling similar cases will be limited to approximately 10 cases per year.

One prosecutor has 136. Public defenders get 10.

Those are real children being groomed. Real families waiting for justice. One exhausted prosecutor standing between 136 predators and their next victim.

It’s not just child predators. Elder abuse. Wage theft. Small businesses getting vandalized repeatedly with no consequences. These aren’t statistics, they’re your neighbors.

In her budget request earlier this year, Manion laid out exactly what her office needs: 21 prosecutors, 21 paralegals, and 16 victim advocates. The interim executive reviewed that request and said no — zero new prosecutors. Somehow, there was money for 17 new public defenders.

So the defense side grows again, while those handling the most serious crimes are told to do more with the same resources.

Everyone deserves a fair and adequate defense

That is part of justice. But fairness does not mean forgetting the victims.

When the county council approved a sales tax increase in July, Manion supported it because they had promised balanced funding for prosecutors, police, and defenders. Now look what they’re doing with it. That revenue is being routed mostly to public defense and public health programs, while the prosecutor’s office gets told to maintain, not expand.

So the side already better staffed and carrying lighter caseloads gets more help. The office handling the worst crimes gets told to make do.

How does that make sense?

Families of murder victims are still waiting for their day in court. Survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence are trapped in a system that keeps reopening old wounds. Victims of robbery and assault see their cases delayed again and again until they stop believing anyone cares.

They don’t see justice. They see a government that has moved on.

Public comment is set for Nov. 12. Things can still change before the final vote on Nov. 18.

If the County Council wants voters to believe it cares about public safety, this is where it proves it.

Here’s what bothers me. We’re so focused on protecting defendants’ rights, which we absolutely should, that we’ve forgotten victims have rights too. Constitutional rights. To timely justice. To have their cases heard. When child predator cases stack up 136 to one prosecutor, that’s not balance. It’s telling victims they matter less.

And it’s telling criminals something too: The system is too overwhelmed to hold you accountable.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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