Helen Whitener

Grace Helen Whitener (born 1964 ), known professionally as G. Helen Whitener, is a Trinidadian-American attorney serving as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court. Whitener was nominated by Governor Jay Inslee on April 13, 2020, to fill the seat of retiring justice Charles K. Wiggins.

Early life and education Whitener was born and raised in Trinidad. She moved to the United States when she was 16 to receive medical care. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in international marketing and trade from Baruch College, followed by a Juris Doctor from the Seattle University School of Law.

Legal Career After graduating from law school, Whitener worked as a public defender, prosecutor, and private defense attorney.

She served as a judge on the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals for two years and then as a pro-temp judge on Pierce County District Court as well as on the Pierce County Superior Court from 2015 to 2020, having been appointed by Governor Inslee and elected unopposed in 2015 and 2016.

On April 13, 2020, she was appointed to the Washington Supreme Court by Governor Jay Inslee. She successfully ran for election in 2020 for the remaining two years of Wiggins's term, winning 66% of the vote. Outside of strictly judicial positions, Justice Whitener has served as the co-chair of the Minority and Justice Commission since 2018 , the co-chair of the Supreme Court's Disability and Justice Task Force in 2022 , and is chair of the state's Annual Judicial Conference Committee , the American Judges Association , Washington Women Lawyers , and the Advisory Council of the QLaw Association of Washington . The case ultimately sides with the Defendant John Jackson Sr., that his due process rights had been violated by being forced to be shackled in court without an “individualized inquiry" for needing such shackles. The decision upheld the decision from the Court of Appeals that “the shackling of Jackson without an individualized inquiry into whether shackles were necessary violated his constitutional rights.” She is disabled, having a hereditary degenerative back condition that she had reconstructive back surgery for in 2023 . Whitener is co-chair of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission Rainy was a part of the U.S. Army medical Service until 2004 where she would go on to obtain her legal degree from Seattle University a few years later in 2007 .