The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Seeking her third term as Columbia County Prosecutor, Rea Culwell points to the strong record her office has in bringing criminals to justice.

In her 11-plus years as a prosecutor - more than three as a deputy prosecutor in Benton County and nearly eight as Columbia County Prosecutor - Culwell has prosecuted over 1,500 cases. She has been successful in more than 80% of all adult felony cases and has a misdemeanor conviction rate of 57%. Both statistics are above the Washington state average.

"In the last four years, I have had a 93% success rate when taking felony cases to trial, well above the state average of 86%," Culwell said. "I have successfully prosecuted all types of crime, from murder to cyberstalking to illegally cutting down a tree along our river."

As Coroner for the past eight years, Culwell has also investigated more than 65 deaths. She has taken extensive death investigation training.

If re-elected, Culwell says that in the next four years she plans to work with the Dayton School District and the Sheriff's Office to set up a truancy board to deal with juvenile offenders. "We need to have better communication, so we know what disciplinary action the school has taken if a student gets into legal trouble," she said.

Culwell also plans to implement an electronic case management system for her office early next year.

Culwell grew up in Kennewick, the daughter and granddaughter of teachers. She received her bachelor's degree in 1994 from Whitman College and then got her law degree in 1997 from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

After working in private practice for three years in Atlanta, Culwell moved back to Washington in 2000. She worked for Whitman College's fundraising office for two years and then took a job as deputy prosecutor in Benton County in 2002. That year, she also married her husband, Todd Tucker, and moved to his family's farm in northwest Columbia County.

In 2006, when prosecutor Colleen Fenn decided not to seek reelection, Culwell was approached about running for the position. She ran unopposed, and took office in January 2007.

In 2010, Culwell was challenged for reelection by Randy O. Lewis. She defeated him by 134 votes.

This year, Culwell was the only filer for the position. But in the primary, Lewis received 18 write-in votes. By state law, since he received more than one percent of the total votes cast in the race, his name was placed on general election ballot.

Culwell says she loves her job and hopes continue for at least four more years. Of her tenure so far, she said, "I have held criminals accountable, given crime victims a voice and worked with amazing law enforcement officers, elected officials and employees."