New Deschutes DA Hummel sworn in, settles in

Deschutes County District Attorney-Elect John Hummel took office Monday morning, settling into his new office and the new role that he’s spent most of his career on the opposite side of.

“It absolutely is unusual for a defense attorney to jump to being a district attorney,” Hummel said Friday.

Also unusual: the location Hummel chose to be sworn in: La Pine High School. Hummel said the choice was about much more than being different — he wants to show his commitment to serving all of Deschutes County.

Hummel’s background includes being a criminal defense attorney, a Bend city Councilor and working in Liberia for two years helping the war-torn country rebuild its justice system.

Hummel said the experience in policy-making will be crucial to his term as district attorney, but don’t expect him to make any major changes right away. The first few months of his term will be spent getting organized.

“My number one priority is going to be ensure that all pending criminal cases that are handed over from (outgoing D.A.) Patrick Flaherty, that there’s a seamless handover and you’re not going to see a glitch in the system,” Hummel said.

Monday morning Hummel was sworn in at La Pine High School — a place he chose in an effort to be different and show his commitment to all of Deschutes County.

In his term, he’ll welcome a new deputy district attorney. It’s an added position recently approved by county commissioners.

Hummel said he’s not worried about leading a team whose shoes he’s never walked in.

“It’s not daunting,” Hummel said. “My skills as a leader, as a leader of teams, as someone who can create a vision and policies and procedures to drive that vision.”

Part of that vision is his determination to make progress on a Veteran’s Court. A program outgoing D.A. Patrick Flaherty started working on, but never saw through.

“I’m going to look to work with the chief judge, the other judges to figure out a way to continue to stand up for veterans, whether that will be a veteran’s court or something else because we owe it to them,” Hummel said.

He says he’ll also take a fresh look at unresolved cases, like last year’s slaying of Bend resident Pivoyne Castro-Luna. A person of interest in the investigation is still missing. There’s also the case of Shane Munoz, a Bend man shot and killed two and a half years ago. The shooter has never been charged or cleared in the case.

“I’m going to review all cases, all pending cases, all cold cases, and I”ll have an opinion after I do that,” Hummel said.

Hummel said another major goal of the term will be increasing efforts to connect and engage with the public. He said that’s where he sees himself most differently from Flaherty.

“You are going to see me out in the community. At rotary meetings, at chamber of commence, at parades, meeting people, shaking hands, hearing your input all around this county.”