Clallam County Judge Faces State Probe Into Child Sex Abuse Case Bias

Last week, the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct officially opened an investigation into Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden.

The investigation follows a formal complaint alleging that Judge Basden has repeatedly endangered children and domestic violence victims by allowing his ecclesiastical role in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to heavily influence his judicial rulings.

Combined with mounting outcries from other Clallam citizens—who have expressed their own disturbing experiences—the allegations paint a disturbing picture of a family court system that places an abusive parent’s right to harm above a child’s safety, particularly when the abuser is a member of Judge Basden’s L.D.S. Stake.

A Culture of Concealment

According to the complaint, a mother reported in July 2023 that two of her children disclosed sexual abuse by their father, Benjamin Mavy.

The complaint alleges that almost immediately after the allegations surfaced, the father requested that Judge Basden take over the case. According to the Complaint, Judge Basden served as the Stake President of the L.D.S. Port Angeles Stake, of which Benjamin Mavy was a member.

Rather than recusing himself as mandated by the Judicial Code of Conduct, Judge Basden took jurisdiction and granted the father unsupervised visitation.

Unrevealed Conflicts of Interest

At the heart of the judicial complaint are allegations of severe, hidden conflicts of interest. Judge Basden served in an L.D.S. Bishopric with Matt Kiddle, a man who functioned as a primary social benefactor for Benjamin Mavy while the litigation was active.

A “Bishopric” is the highest local governing body of an LDS congregation. It consists of three men (a Bishop and two counselors) who work in lockstep to oversee the spiritual and temporal welfare of hundreds of members. They meet weekly in closed-door sessions, handle confidential confessions, determine the “worthiness” of members to enter temples, and manage church finances. This service creates a bond of brotherhood and confidentiality that far exceeds a typical friendship or professional acquaintance.

Their relationship was tight-knit enough that Kiddle frequently allowed Mavy to reside at his home. Mavy himself highlighted the extent of this back-channel connection, claiming in reference to Kiddle that he “shares a best friend with Judge Basden.”

Despite this intimate ecclesiastical connection, Judge Basden failed to recuse himself, effectively adjudicating the suitability of a household maintained by his own ecclesiastical partner.

The complaint further alleges that Basden took testimony from Matt Kiddle’s wife, Amanda Kiddle.

Basden admitted 16 months later that Kiddle is a “good friend” of his.

In October 2023, the Wyoming Department of Family Services investigated the situation and documented explicit concerns that the Washington custody arrangement allowed for overnight, unsupervised stays with the father. The Complaint further alleges that Matt Kiddle and Amanda Kiddle inserted themselves into the Wyoming DFS investigation.

Interfering With Law Enforcement

The complaint alleges this is part of a broader pattern where Basden utilizes his position to enforce an August 2020 directive from L.D.S. leadership to keep the Church from being “inappropriately implicated in legal matters.”

The judicial complaint further claims a broader pattern of Basden’s affiliates obstructing law enforcement investigations.

When the Port Angeles Police Department investigated Benjamin Mavy for neglecting a 9 year old child, who was left unattended in a camper trailer on a condemned property without running water or a functioning toilet, Mavy allegedly enlisted fellow L.D.S. stake members to retrieve and conceal the child from police.

Then, during a December 2025 trial, Basden was caught on video telling the protective mother that “law enforcement deepens the problem” and threatened her with retaliation if she cooperated with police and Child Protective Services.

At the conclusion of that same trial, Judge Basden allowed Benjamin Mavy to relocate the children to a Wyoming residence shared with or maintained by Jack Mavy, a registered sex offender and fellow L.D.S. member.

Intimidation and Stalking

The Complaint further alleges that Basden’s Port Angeles Stake have been involved in a campaign of stalking and harassment.

The Complaint states that in March 2025, the Clallam County Sheriff’s department trespassed Basden’s friends from the mother’s property.

A Pattern of Favoritism and Endangerment

The crisis in Clallam County Superior Court extends far beyond a single case. Local citizens have stepped forward to share their own horrifying outcomes stemming from Basden’s court’s decisions, revealing a systemic bias favoring L.D.S. members:

• Abusive Placements: A young adult disclosed that after her father died, she and her younger brother were improperly placed with an abusive L.D.S. family who were close friends with Judge Basden. Despite the siblings reporting that they were starved and routinely assaulted, Basden insisted the children remain in the home, allegedly influenced by his close relationship with the family.

• Lethal Despair: A man reported that his sister died by suicide after Judge Basden removed her six children and handed them over to her L.D.S. ex-husband, who had previously abandoned the family for three years. The mother was callously cut off from her children as soon as the father decided he wanted them back.

• Ongoing Terror: A mother currently litigating in front of Basden is terrified to come forward, reporting that her L.D.S. ex-husband—who has a documented history of violence, including breaking her nose in front of their children—continues to steadily win custody.

A Network of Flawed “Experts”

To support these rulings, Basden relies on a tight-knit network of controversial figures. In the Benjamin Mavy case, Basden appointed parenting evaluator Steve Tutty, who has an L.D.S. affiliation in a nearby stake.

The complaint alleges that when the mother objected and requested an impartial evaluator, Judge Basden responded with open hostility, calling her a “religious bigot” in open court.

Tutty was recently charged by the Washington Department of Health for allegedly altering a custody evaluation to favor a paying parent.

Court records show Judge Basden finally recused himself on February 23, 2026—long after the damage was done.

This cronyism echoes other appointments made by Basden. As previously reported, Basden awarded lucrative court contracts to his former business partner, Lane Wolfley, who was suspended from practicing law in the early 2000s for sexually assaulting a client and lying to the Bar Association. Concurrently, Basden collaborated with Lane Wolfley in an intense legal effort to conceal evidence regarding Wolfley’s extramarital affairs.

Basden also pushed to hire the recently terminated Family Law Commissioner Brian Parker, waiving a one-year probationary period despite Parker having been arrested for perjury by Everett police after lying under oath in a custody case.

With the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s investigation now active, the citizens of Clallam County are demanding accountability.

Advocates are pushing for new state legislation to regulate the family law “expert” industry and require domestic violence training for judges—an education that Clallam County judges reportedly admit they currently lack.

In addition, Judge Barnhart has the ability to immediately remove Judge Basden from all current and future case assignments, which many citizens are demanding.

A copy of the complaint is available here.