First woman to serve as Bonneville County prosecutor sworn in
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IDAHO FALLS – Managing growth is at the forefront of H. Alayne Bean’s mind as she takes on her new role as Bonneville County Prosecutor.
Bean, who formerly served as the chief deputy prosecutor, was appointed by the Bonneville County Commission earlier this month to fill the vacancy left by Daniel Clark. Clark was appointed in December as a magistrate judge in Jefferson County. Bean was officially sworn in Thursday morning.
In a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com, she spoke highly of her predecessor and says she’s excited to serve the county in this capacity.
“I sought out this position. I felt like I had the right kind of experience to continue to lead the prosecutor’s office in a positive way and work for the citizens of Bonneville County to get justice and look out for our victims of crime. I was excited to be chosen,” Bean says.
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Bean is the first woman to serve as the county’s prosecutor. Although many people consider that a milestone, Bean says that was not one of her reasons for accepting the position. She describes her male colleagues as good and honorable people, and she’s happy to follow in their footsteps and the legacy of “quality law” they left behind.
As the county prosecutor, Bean also serves as the county’s attorney, so there is a dual civil and criminal aspect of the job that is new territory for her. With an increase in population, Bean says there is potential for an increase in crime and she’s focused on effectively managing those two things.
Getting started in legal work
Bean, 49, got her start in the prosecutor’s office as a legal intern in May 2015 under then-Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney James Murdock. The single mother of four was fresh out of law school at the time but had not yet taken the bar exam.
She was sworn in as an attorney in October of that year and she says becoming an attorney has been a goal for as long as she can remember, but family obligations prevented her from getting started earlier in life.
“I applied and was accepted to the entering class of 2000 at (the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in Provo). I wasn’t able to go for family reasons. I deferred for a year and ultimately had to postpone that,” Bean explains.
She worked as a paralegal for a short time while serving as the PTO president at her children’s school before taking another job as a paralegal for a local firm in 2008.
Bean’s daily interaction with clients as a paralegal is what motivated her to finally attend law school, and in 2012, she enrolled at the University of Idaho as a 40-year-old student.
“I was the oldest woman in my class, although the class ahead of me had someone about 20 years older than me, and the class behind me had someone about 20 years older than me, so in my school, I wasn’t the oldest,” she says.
Her original plan was to go into family law. A pro bono externship with the prosecutor’s office in 2013 introduced her to criminal law, and she became hooked right away.
“Bruce Pickett was the prosecutor at the time, and he handed me a super-serious potential homicide case to review and give my opinion on. I’d known Bruce and Danny for (years prior to that),” she says. “(Bruce) knew my work prior to going to law school, so I appreciated his trust in me.”
Bean recalls a childhood memory that first drew her to a law career. She lived in Elk Ridge, Utah as a kid, where her dad served as mayor. He helped resolve a lot of disputes with people who filed lawsuits against the city.
“There were lawsuits about water rights,” she recalls. “We had people coming into our home who were angry and set in their ways. Through some of the things that (my dad) did, he enabled that community to double in size from what it was at the time. I think it had about 150 homes then.”
The population of Elk Ridge is now more than 4,900 people, according to the 2020 census.
Bean also speaks fondly of an attorney who defended her parents in a lawsuit when she started college and cites it as another experience that was instrumental in her decision to pursue a law career.
Seeking re-election
Though she’s had opportunities to go elsewhere, Bonneville County is where she wants to be. It’s the place she’s raised her kids.
She’s honored to finish Daniel Clark’s term and is planning to run for re-election in November. Clark was re-elected in November 2020 for his second full term. Though the prosecutor is a four-year position, Bean’s appointment during an election year is the reason it’s up for election sooner.
The primary is May 17, and the general election is Nov. 8.