In its most recent opinion, the Washington State Supreme Court had to decide whether the trial court erred by instructing the jury that evidence includes everything that they (the jury) witness in the courtroom, including the defendant’s actions and demeanor.
Robert Barry stood trial for two counts of child molestation. During its deliberations, the jury sent the court a question asking…
In 2007 the Washington Legislature added another prong to the Assault Second Degree statute, defining “assault by strangulation or suffocation” as its own means of committing Assault 2, a “strike” offense under Washington law. Previously, an incident of strangulation would have to produce “substantial bodily harm” in order to meet the definition of Assault 2, but that is no longer the case. Instead, the…
The Washington State Supreme Court recently handed down a ruling on a pair of consolidated cases in Fuentes & Sandoz.. Each case involved whether there was a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity that would allow officers to conduct a Terry stop. A Terry stop is a legally justified search/seizure by the police that is based on a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity (note: the basis…
In State v. Wade, Division One of the Washington State Court of Appeals affirmed the second-degree murder conviction of Gary Wade for the December 2010 strangulation death of Michelle Thornton, finding that it was not error for the trial court to exclude proffered evidence that Ms. Thornton’s ex-boyfriend, not Mr. Wade, was a possible suspect in her death.
Ms. Thornton was strangled in her…
The Washington State Court of Appeals Division III recently handed down an opinion in State v Budd which has to do with the warnings a police officer gives to a resident of a home before entering that home for the purpose of it being searched. Ferrier warnings, as they are called (named after a 1998 Washington State Supreme Court case), inform someone, whose…
The Washington State Supreme Court recently handed down an opinion in the State of Washington v. Darcus Dwayne Allen, involving Mr. Allen’s appeal of his conviction for First Degree Murder as Maurice Clemmons’ alleged getaway driver in the notorious murder of four Lakewood police officers in November 2009.
Several spectators in the courtroom arrived wearing T-shirts that read “You will not be…
On February 26th the Washington Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 decision in State v. Henderson reversing a trial court’s decision to deny Mr. Henderson a lesser-included-offense instruction for First Degree Manslaughter as an alternative to First Degree Murder. Defendants are entitled to lesser-included offense instructions where the evidence could reasonably lead a juror to convict on a lesser offense…
Petitioner Odies Delanus Walker was convicted as an accomplice to first degree murder, first degree assault, first degree robbery, solicitation, and conspiracy on the trial level after it was alleged that he and another individual carried out a premeditated attack on an armored-car driver. In State v Walker the Washington State Supreme Court reversed Mr. Walker’s convictions because of unfairly prejudicial remarks made by the prosecuting attorney during…
Quentin met Uma[1] at a comic book convention in San Francisco. He had been kicking around the Bay Area after graduating college, taking an odd job here and there, and otherwise “failing to launch,” as his stepmother would put it. Uma was a free spirit, given to impulsive decisions. How much of her unpredictability was an innate to her personality…
Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice made news in March when he was indicted for domestic violence/aggravated assault against his girlfriend, Janay Palmer, and married her a day later. Observers speculated that this was a legal maneuver to make the prosecution more difficult by allowing Ms. Palmer to invoke the marital privilege and refuse to testify against Mr. Rice.
If so,…
The near ubiquitous use of smartphones in the digital age has introduced a wealth of new evidence into many types of criminal cases. Law enforcement routinely subpoenas cell phone records to obtain call records that might substantiate contact between a suspect and a victim or co-conspirator, obtain text messages which can be used as admissions or provide helpful context to…
The Washington State Insitute for Public Policy (WSIPP) recently released its January 2013 report entitled “What Works to Reduce Recidivism of Domestic Violence Offenders.” http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/13-01-1201.pdf
The report examines the effectiveness of the “Duluth Model” of domestic violence treatment, after which Washington State domestic violence treatment programs are patterned. The “Duluth Model” intervention is based on a model developed in Duluth, Minnesota, in…
It is considered stock advice in the criminal defense trade that you should not, under any circumstances, talk to the police. The reason is simple: under the Rules of Evidence anything harmful you say can be used against you, but your out of court statements can’t be used to help you. This is because Evidence Rule 801(d)(2) allows an exception to the…
The case of State v. Monday made front-page news in June when the Supreme Court reversed a murder conviction based on the misconduct of a King County prosecutor, Senior Deputy James Konat. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Supreme-Court-throws-out-Seattle-murder-1417103.php. Most of the ruling’s focus was on racially charged arguments made by Mr. Konat. In addition to using the pronunciation “po-leese” when cross-examining African-American witnesses (Mr. Konat…