Character witness. Silent no more

• Author: Miriam Aroni Krinsky
• Pages: 12-13

Inter Alia | CHARACTER WITNESS

Hawk and Chinook helicopter units as

part of the 66th Theater Aviation Com-

mand at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

I traveled to South Korea and Germa-

ny during my time with the unit, and

with their encouragement I returned to

training and was commissioned as an

intelligence ofcer.

I enjoyed the work, but life inter-

vened to change my path. After about

ve years in the military, I started hav-

ing some health problems that eventu-

ally manifested into a seizure disorder.

It became obvious I would be medically

separated, and I faced a choice of what

to do next. The law seemed like a very

natural career progression to me—a

new way to continue my mission to

serve and protect the community.

Law school is difcult no matter

who you are, but it can be particular-

ly rough when you have a disability.

During law school, I struggled with

countless seizures, numerous medication

changes, and having my license to drive

rescinded. But I was fortunate to be in

a school that cared about my disability

with an administration that made sure

I had the resources I needed to succeed.

Because of that, I not only graduated on

time, but I also worked with other stu-

dents to create a new veterans club for

the school and participated in a Rule

9 internship with a prosecutor’s ofce

that led to a full-time job offer.

I delayed taking the bar six months

because of a medication change, but the

prosecutor’s ofce held my position for

me, and I was nally licensed May 1,

2014. I worked in a fast-paced ofce,

quickly gaining experience in trials and

criminal motion practice. Less than a

year after passing the bar, I was asked

to speak at a state conference for pros-

ecutors because of work I had done on

cases involving expert witnesses. This

led to invitations to speak at several

other state trainings, and I began assist-

ing prosecutors both in Washington and

nationally with trial preparation for

cases involving specic expert witnesses.

Being a prosecutor with a disability

has certainly been challenging, and I’ve

had public seizures in the courthouse

more than once. But the rewards of

working in a job where the entire goal

is to “do justice” is worth the struggle.

I’m also fortunate to have found an

employer as supportive as the Pierce

County Prosecuting Attorney’s Ofce.

My colleagues accept my seizures as

a part of who I am and are happy to

assist with any accommodations I need.

Having a disability that signicantly

affects your life will always be a chal-

lenge, but I don’t think it has to be a

barrier. I’m grateful that I’ve been given

the tools I needed to succeed, from my

rst meeting with Gretchen to my posi-

tion with my current ofce. Q

Emily Cox is a deputy prosecuting

attorney with the Pierce County Pros-

ecuting Attorney’s Ofce in Washing-

ton state. Prior to her legal career, she

served in the Washington Army Nation-

al Guard as both an intelligence analyst

and an intelligence ofcer.

Character Witness explores legal and

societal issues through the rst-person

lens of attorneys in the trenches, who

are, inter alia, on a mission to defend

liberty and pursue justice.

In the summer of 1941, German

occupation devastated my father’s com-

munity, and Jews were segregated into a

walled ghetto. My father saw the rising

tide of hatred, the erosion of democratic

ideals and marginalization of individ-

uals who didn’t “t” amid an upsurge

of German nationalists. His pleas as a

14-year-old to ee fell on deaf ears, and

it wasn’t long before soldiers came to

arrest his family. He escaped with his

6-year-old brother in tow. Miraculously,

in a community where fewer than 100

Jews survived, my father’s entire imme-

diate family made it through the camps,

death marches and “work details”

where young boys were taken out to dig

their own graves.

My father traversed several conti-

nents and came to the U.S. when I was

a young girl. He arrived imbued with a

passion for American ideals of demo-

cratic opportunity and freedom. But in

recent years, my father has articulated

increasing unease as he watches our na-

tion grapple with familiar warning signs

he watched play out in an era he had

hoped to forget—white supremacy, a

rising tide of hate crimes and anti-Sem-

itism, efforts to erode and undermine a

free press, marginalization and vilica-

tion of immigrants, and the prolifera-

tion of fear-based politics.

My father ingrained in me an abid-

ing commitment to serve the commu-

nity that led me to become a federal

prosecutor, yet too often I witnessed a

justice system that wasn’t always fair

or just. Those experiences ultimately

led me to found a nonprot dedicated

to prosecutorial reform and supporting

CHARACTER WITNESS

Silent

No More

A leadership retreat offers a stark

reminder to remain vigilant

BY MIRIAM ARONI KRINSKY

“This all feels too familiar.”

Those are words I’m

increasingly hearing from

my 92-year-old father, a

Holocaust survivor, as stories abound

of refugees fearing for their lives,

immigrants caged under bridges and

vigilante gangs hunting refugees along

the border.

Photo courtesy of Fair and Just Prosecution

Continued on page 14

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