Sharonda Amamilo
Nonpartisan · WA · Judge of the Thurston County Superior Court
Sharonda Amamilo is a judge of the Thurston County Superior Court who was elected in 2020. She previously spent 12 years with the Thurston County Office of Public Defense and served more than 25 years in U.S. Army military intelligence, retiring as a chief warrant officer. Her judicial work includes criminal and civil jury trials, family and juvenile matters, child-welfare cases, and administrative and lower-court appeals, and she has served as a judge pro tempore on the Washington Court of Appeals, Division II. She holds a J.D. from Seattle University, an MBA from Saint Martin's University, and a bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University. She is running for Washington Supreme Court Justice Position 5 in 2026.
Track record
Public Safety and Crime Control
· 2 records
Sharonda Amamilo described Thurston County's implementation of State v. Blake: judges coordinated with clerks, prosecutors, defense counsel, pretrial services, corrections, and the sheriff, prioritizing immediate releases, then fee refunds and sentence modifications. She said appellate decisions with broad operational effects should provide trial courts implementation guidance.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo said she likely would have joined the Washington Supreme Court majority in State v. Blake because the State should have to prove a knowing or intentional element before imposing criminal punishment and loss of liberty for drug possession.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Civil Rights
· 6 records
Sharonda Amamilo supported lower public-defense caseloads as improving rigorous, prepared representation and access to competent counsel, while warning that uneven county tax bases make the standards difficult to fund and suggesting the Legislature or executive consider a different statewide funding model.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo said she likely would have joined the Washington Supreme Court majority in State v. Blake because the State should have to prove a knowing or intentional element before imposing criminal punishment and loss of liberty for drug possession.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo described challenging an emergency agency removal that would have separated four siblings and a purported attempt to arrest parents immediately before a dependency trial. She said those experiences with what she viewed as agency overreach helped lead her to seek judicial office.
April 29, 2026For
Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo said she challenged an apparent bail disparity in open court after a white defendant facing a third felony DUI received a $10,000 recommendation while a younger Black defendant with a less severe record faced a $50,000 recommendation, calling the difference inequitable and unreasoned.
April 29, 2026For
Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026
Judge Sharonda Amamilo granted summary judgment to the Department of Corrections, ruling a Public Records Act lawsuit over records concerning a death in custody was time-barred. The Court of Appeals affirmed, but the Washington Supreme Court later reversed because the agency's earlier response was not a final, definitive closing letter.
February 4, 2022Against
Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
Judge Sharonda Amamilo suppressed drugs and a firearm found during a warrantless search of a probationer's car trunk and dismissed the charges without prejudice, finding no reasonable articulable suspicion supporting the trunk search. The Court of Appeals later reversed, holding the total circumstances supported the search.
August 5, 2021For
Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
General
· 4 records
Sharonda Amamilo began a term on the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission as one of its superior-court-judge members. The commission studies sentencing practices and the criminal code and recommends modifications and standard felony sentences.
September 17, 2024
Source: governor.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
Judge Sharonda Amamilo held that a Department of Ecology commitment concerning nitrogen-discharge limits was a rule adopted without required Administrative Procedure Act procedures and invalidated it. The Court of Appeals initially agreed in part, but the Washington Supreme Court later held the commitment was not a generally applicable rule and reversed.
January 13, 2022
Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
Judge Sharonda Amamilo granted summary judgment to a licensed engineer and enjoined Washington from using the title 'Engineer' for certain unlicensed state employees. The Court of Appeals later reversed because the plaintiff had not established injury-in-fact standing.
September 29, 2021
Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
Judge Sharonda Amamilo reversed a Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board order and restored a company's challenge to cancellation of its marijuana-retail license application. The Court of Appeals later held the board acted within its authority and reversed her superior-court order.
March 8, 2021
Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
Impartiality
· 4 records
Sharonda Amamilo said a justice's ideology must stop at the courtroom door and that judges must filter personal experiences out of decisions when those experiences do not belong, while recognizing that every judge brings a background to the work.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo said precedent is central to stability and trust in law and should be changed only after a very high bar is met, including examination of whether it has proved harmful, produced unintended consequences, or was clearly wrong.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo described her courtroom framework as Facts, Issues, Rules, and Exceptions and said judges must combine legal precision with dignity, avoiding dismissive or unkind treatment that adds trauma to a person's experience in court.
April 29, 2026For
Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo said she challenged an apparent bail disparity in open court after a white defendant facing a third felony DUI received a $10,000 recommendation while a younger Black defendant with a less severe record faced a $50,000 recommendation, calling the difference inequitable and unreasoned.
April 29, 2026For
Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026
Integrity and Ethics
· 2 records
Sharonda Amamilo said a justice's ideology must stop at the courtroom door and that judges must filter personal experiences out of decisions when those experiences do not belong, while recognizing that every judge brings a background to the work.
June 23, 2026
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Serving as a Washington Court of Appeals judge pro tempore, Sharonda Amamilo joined the unanimous Leishman v. Reynolds opinion holding that an executive-ethics official had discretion to reject complaints and that the complainant lacked standing to compel their acceptance by mandamus.
December 26, 2023
Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
Legal Competence
· 8 records
Sharonda Amamilo described Thurston County's implementation of State v. Blake: judges coordinated with clerks, prosecutors, defense counsel, pretrial services, corrections, and the sheriff, prioritizing immediate releases, then fee refunds and sentence modifications. She said appellate decisions with broad operational effects should provide trial courts implementation guidance.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo supported lower public-defense caseloads as improving rigorous, prepared representation and access to competent counsel, while warning that uneven county tax bases make the standards difficult to fund and suggesting the Legislature or executive consider a different statewide funding model.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo described a pragmatic judicial philosophy that begins with a clean factual record, matches issues to remedies available under current law, and closely applies statutory wording, exceptions, and grants of discretion.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo said precedent is central to stability and trust in law and should be changed only after a very high bar is met, including examination of whether it has proved harmful, produced unintended consequences, or was clearly wrong.
June 23, 2026For
Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo said judges must distinguish perceived wrongs from legally available remedies and clearly explain what they are ruling and why, using her Facts, Issues, Rules, and Exceptions framework to respect litigants, legal issues, and law.
April 29, 2026For
Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo described her courtroom framework as Facts, Issues, Rules, and Exceptions and said judges must combine legal precision with dignity, avoiding dismissive or unkind treatment that adds trauma to a person's experience in court.
April 29, 2026For
Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026
Sharonda Amamilo began a term on the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission as one of its superior-court-judge members. The commission studies sentencing practices and the criminal code and recommends modifications and standard felony sentences.
September 17, 2024For
Source: governor.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
Serving as a Washington Court of Appeals judge pro tempore, Sharonda Amamilo joined the unanimous Leishman v. Reynolds opinion holding that an executive-ethics official had discretion to reject complaints and that the complainant lacked standing to compel their acceptance by mandamus.
December 26, 2023For
Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026
Elections
- Justice of the Supreme Court, Position 5 · August 4, 2026 · Washington
Profile last researched July 13, 2026.