On the front page of today’s Whidbey News-Times is an article about an Oak Harbor man, Daniel Raavel, who was hit so hard in the head while he slept it literally left him with an gaping, oozing hole. One has to wonder how he survived.

After a deputy prosecutor decided that charges wouldn’t be filed against the suspect identified by the victim, Daniel’s mother, Luanne Raavel, embarked on a personal crusade for justice.

Raavel, to say the least, was not a great fan of the newspaper in the past, but she came to my office and asked for help. She shared gory photos of her son’s injuries and said she didn’t know where else to turn.

During our conversation, Luanne conceded her children made mistakes. She suspected the attack on her son wasn’t of much interest to prosecutors because of Daniel’s less-than-spotless background, and because his alleged attacker claimed to be related to an Island County judge.

Shocked by the photos she showed me, I told Luanne that it was surprising to me as well that no charges would be filed. Her story left me with many questions of my own.

I recommended that Luanne talk to our criminal justice reporter, Jessie Stensland, whom I consider one of best crime reporters in journalism.

Because of her history with Jessie, Luanne was hesitant, but finally acquiesced. Jessie contacted Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks and asked what he knew about the Daniel Raavel case. Turned out Banks wasn’t aware of it and quickly reopened it.

And that set in motion a sequence of events that resulted in charges being filed this week against the suspect, Troy Hilkey.

Hilkey, 32, is charged with second-degree assault.

Banks said the original decision by the deputy prosecutor not to charge was “hasty” and issued without the benefit of a full investigation.

Banks said he used the Raavel case as an opportunity to remind the criminal prosecutors that charging standards for crimes against people are based on a lower quantity of evidence than for property crimes.

Being in the newspaper business, it’s not our job to decide who is deserving of justice and who is not. It’s our responsibility to shine a light on the judicial process and cases like Daniel Raavel’s.

Lady Justice wears a blindfold for a reason, and fairness is one of them.

Now that charges are filed in this case, it’s up to the courts to render the final verdict.

And you can be assured, we’ll be watching.