By Erica C. Barnett
UPDATE: On Thursday afternoon, King County District Court Judge Jill Klinge released King County Assessor and County Executive candidate John Arthur Wilson on $50,000 bail and issuing a new domestic-violence no-contact order against him.
Wilson, who was arrested and jailed for violating an existing no-contact order by showing up at Keller’s home repeatedly on Wednesday night, did not appear in court on Thursday. His attorney, John Polito, argued Wilson should be released without bail because he was unlikely to flee, given his age (71) and longstanding ties to the local community. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office asked for $100,000 bail, arguing that Wilson had repeatedly violated an existing order prohibiting him from coming within 1,000 feet of his ex-partner, Lee Keller.
Polito suggested Wilson was being targeted because he’s a public figure who has recentlybeen the subject of significant media attention. “If my client’s name was John Smith, your honor, I don’t think we’d be here with the request for $100,000 bail,” he said. “There’s no doubt that these two are involved in a publicly rancorous dispute in a relationship that’s lasted for a long time,” he continued, but “there’s never been any threats of physical assault.”
Speaking in court on her own behalf, Keller said she was “very concerned” for her safety, given Wilson’s ongoing violations of her restraining order. “His violations have increased. They’ve become more bold and aggressive this week,” Keller said. “Last night, I was inside having dinner with my mother, and thank goodness for my neighbors who saw him behind the trees watching my home, where I couldn’t see him.”
“It seems as though he doesn’t feel like pertains to him, and that’s what’s so troubling to me. I’m afraid to leave my home. I’m afraid in grocery stores. I’m afraid when I attend events for business. I go out of my way to avoid places that I think he might be but I can’t get away from him.”
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Keller said it was “an awful feeling to feel sort of trapped in your home and scared about what’s going to happen next. … To find out that he was in jail last night was horrifying, and then also just an incredible relief, like I actually could rest and not worry about him coming to my door.”
Casey McNerthney, a spokesman for the King County Prosecutor’s Office, said that if the Seattle Police Department refers Wilson’s case to prosecutors for a charging decision, it will fall to Snohomish County District Court to decide whether to file charges against Wilson, in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest stemming from the fact that Wilson works for King County.
ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS:
On Wednesday night, Seattle police officers arrested King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson for stalking and violating a restraining order obtained by his ex, Lee Keller. Wilson reportedly showed up at Keller’s house repeatedly on Wednesday. He was arrested when he returned to her home while police were present to take a report after Wilson drove to her home earlier in the evening.
PubliCola broke the news about Wilson’s arrest exclusively on Bluesky at 11:00 Wednesday night.
Keller obtained a restraining order against Wilson in May. Since then, Wilson has been seeking to have the restraining order lifted, arguing that he does not pose any threat to Keller.
The two briefly reconciled in May, a fact that Wilson has used to argue that there is no reason for the restraining order. In June, Wilson posted a photo of himself and Keller together shortly after the restraining order took effect, saying that she looked “happy and not at all afraid” of him as evidence that her restraining order was frivolous. In a post on LinkedIn, Wilson posted intimate information about Keller that he later removed from the post.
In a recent court declaration, Keller acknowledged reconciling with Wilson briefly in May. “I have been in a cycle of leave and return from a coercive and abusive relationship,” the declaration says. “It is not unexpected that I would have doubts and return to the cycle. But this time I realized very quickly that this is what was happening and chose to break the cycle. The law anticipates this and puts the burden on the restrained party to stay away.”
Shortly before his arrest, and after he showed up at Keller’s home the first time, Wilson posted a photo of himself at Daniel’s Broiler on Facebook with the caption, “Been a busy but great day. Came to one of my favorite places to have a great celebration. Yay!”
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Wilson has never publicly denied any of Keller’s specific allegations about his behavior, much of which is documented in text messages entered into the official record at King County District Court. In addition to showing up at Keller’s house repeatedly when she has asked him not to do so, Wilson called the workplace of a man Keller had been seeing and falsely accused him of sexual assault in an attempt to get him fired.
In a statement, Keller’s attorney Paula Kurtz-Kreshel said Keller “will not be commenting on the unfortunate turn of events in this case other than to thank Seattle Police for their quick response last night, and to express gratitude for the protections afforded to her by the court.”
Wilson has portrayed criticism of his actions as a witch hunt, condemning the King County Council for a unanimous resolution calling for his resignation. In his post claiming Keller’s restraining order was baseless, Wilson praised the Seattle Times, which ran an editorial arguing it was unfair to condemn him for his actions and that he deserved “due process” instead of demands to resign.
In recent court records seeking to have Keller’s restraining order dismissed, Wilson has claimed she is waging a political battle against him, using the fact that she “liked” a Facebook post from one of his opponents, Claudia Balducci, as evidence.
Wilson’s first appearance in court is scheduled for this afternoon.
The Seattle Police Department would not provide a copy of the police report, telling PubliCola to file a public disclosure request—a process that, as we’ve reported previously, takes months or years because of SPD’s practice of “grouping” multiple requests and fulfilling each one in full before moving to the next one.
A vote of no confidence, along with police involvement, should trigger a resignation or removal, I think. I have had interactions with him and his professional demeanor gave no hint of this.
Glad this jerk couldn’t help but demonstrate his unfitness for his public role. I hope he is fired. Buy I hope he’s jailed for a nice long stretch first so he can think about his lack of entitlement to the woman’s attention when she has demonstrated her lack of interest with a protection order.
How is it that so many men, like this one, seem unable to understand that no means no?
5 words: Andrew tate and Charley kirk
He is an elected official; he can’t be fired. There is a possibility of a voter recall. It would be better for all concerned if he would just resign. But clearly, there is some mental illness going on here that is preventing him from any rational behavior.