SEATTLE — Hundreds of fed-up neighbors marched along Aurora Avenue this weekend, demanding action on the gun violence, sex trafficking, and open prostitution that have transformed their North Seattle neighborhood. They didn’t march alone. King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion joined them, along with the senior prosecutors who handle Seattle sex trafficking cases every day.
It was one of the largest neighborhood protests Seattle has seen in years, according to Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, who walked the route with residents.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a march like that on Aurora where neighbors have said, ‘Hey, we’re fed up, and we need help,’” McNerthney said Monday on “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio, during the weekly Crime and Punishment segment. “We hear them, absolutely.”
Who showed up from the prosecutor’s office
McNerthney was joined on the march by Manion, Senior Deputy Prosecutors Alex Voorhees and Brynn MacGinnis, who handle King County’s human trafficking cases full-time, and Bridget Maryman, who leads the Gender-Based Violence and Prevention Division that oversees those cases.
As they walked, Voorhees pointed out building after building where she had prosecuted cases.
“She could highlight, ‘I had this case, and this is what happened here.’ She knew it better than any other prosecutor, I think, in the state, because she’s working on that every day,” McNerthney said.
The neighborhood’s message, McNerthney said, was unmistakable: residents want the shootings out of their streets, and they want to feel heard by city, county, and state leaders.
Why the King County Prosecutor isn’t charging ‘johns’
There’s a structural piece neighbors often miss, McNerthney said. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office only handles felonies. Misdemeanors, including the simple misdemeanor charge for buying sex from an adult, are handled by a completely separate agency: the Seattle City Attorney’s Office.
“The cases that we get are when it increases to a shooting or somebody who is trafficking someone else,” McNerthney said. “That’s when it comes to the King County Prosecutor’s Office level.”
In other words, the King County Prosecutor can’t charge a “john” with anything unless the case rises to a felony. The front-end enforcement, the part that could actually deter buyers and choke off the demand fueling the violence, sits entirely with the Seattle City Attorney’s Office. And right now, neighbors said it’s not happening.
Why buying sex from an adult is only a misdemeanor in Washington
The march follows months of escalating violence along Aurora Avenue, including drive-by shootings, a 40-shell-casing shootout near a daycare, and bullets that came within feet of a sleeping five-week-old in a bassinet.
Neighbors and prosecutors are increasingly pointing at the same root cause: the men buying sex. And they say Washington’s laws aren’t built to stop them.
In a clip Voorhees recorded for the segment, she laid out one of the starkest examples.
“We also have fairly robust laws in Washington State with respect to purchasing sex from minors. It is a class B felony to purchase sex from a minor,” Voorhees said. “Now, remember what I told you: the average age of entry is between 12 and 15 years old. Now, say a young woman is 17 and 364 days old. If you are a man that purchases sex from that person, you are subject to a class B felony. The day that young person turns 18, you are subject to a simple misdemeanor.”
She then delivered the line that’s been ricocheting through the neighborhood ever since.
“It is a greater crime in the state of Washington to steal a candy bar from the am/pm minimart than it is to purchase sex from someone that’s being exploited,” she said.
Why Washington’s bill to crack down on ‘johns’ failed
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office pushed lawmakers last session to stiffen penalties on the buyers driving the demand. The bill didn’t make it through.
“We’ll be back there again in the next session, trying to show — and there are some lawmakers who really get it,” McNerthney said.
The argument prosecutors are making is straightforward: the pimps are on Aurora because the buyers are on Aurora.
“It’s those buyers that are driving the demand. The demand is what’s driving the pimps in the area,” McNerthney said. “If you take care of that pretty rampant demand, it probably won’t go away totally, but it’ll be a whole lot better than what we see now.”
Why arresting pimps isn’t ending the violence
McNerthney pushed back on the idea that prosecutors aren’t acting. They are. The problem, he said, is the economics.
In another recorded clip, Voorhees explained.
“Every time we prosecute a pimp or trafficker, they’re replaced by another,” Voorhees said. “And the reason that they are replaced by another is because there is money to be made. Why is there money to be made? Because, let’s be honest, men are willing to pay to purchase another human being’s body for their own sexual gratification.”
Voorhees pointed to data the office has collected through undercover operations involving detectives posing online as minors selling sex.
“Seventy-one percent of the men arrested in those cases are white men, compared to the disproportionate numbers of people from marginalized communities in our city, state, and country that are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation,” she said.
Where the cases land matters
There’s a structural piece neighbors often miss, McNerthney said. Misdemeanor “john” cases don’t go to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. They go to the Seattle City Attorney’s Office.
“The cases that we get are when it increases to a shooting or somebody who is trafficking someone else,” McNerthney said. “That’s when it comes to the King County Prosecutor’s Office level.”
That means the front-end enforcement, the part that could actually deter buyers, sits with the city. And right now, neighbors say it’s not happening.
‘The world’s oldest profession’ argument
McNerthney addressed the pushback he hears whenever this topic comes up: that prostitution is consensual, victimless, and shouldn’t be policed.
“Leaving the status quo on Aurora isn’t reform. Leaving the neighbors to kind of fend for themselves and all of these shootings, that’s not reforming the system,” he said. “Anybody who’s driven to Lowe’s or Home Depot or the O’Reilly there, or the Oak Tree Cinemas, they see the human misery.”
He challenged anyone making the “oldest profession” argument to read the actual case files.
“Read any one of the human trafficking cases that our office has filed, and any one of those investigations that Seattle Police has done. You’ll have a very different take,” McNerthney said.
Neighbors launch GoFundMe for security cameras, vehicle repairs
North Aurora residents have launched a GoFundMe to pay for neighborhood safety projects, including security cameras and repairs for vehicles damaged by gunfire.
Organizers said the campaign is focused on vehicular safety, with money going to help neighbors fix cars hit by stray rounds and to invest in broader public safety improvements along the corridor.
“I invite you to help us retake our neighborhood by fixing the community and improving public safety,” organizers wrote on the fundraiser page. “Your support will make a real difference for victims and help restore hope in North Aurora.”
The question neighbors want answered
McNerthney said the message from residents goes beyond safety. It’s about whether Aurora can ever be a place people want to live.
“If you were telling somebody why they should move into our neighborhood, how would you explain it to them? How would you sell it to them?” McNerthney said. “When city, state, and county leaders can answer that and say, ‘Here’s exactly why we would feel safe to move in there,’ that’s when I think you’ll know that the problem has been addressed.
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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