Washington Supreme Court

The Washington Supreme Court held that a plaintiff may plead both a vicarious liability claim and a negligent retention claim against a city employer, even when the employer concedes the employee acted within the scope of employment, and reversed the Court of Appeals, remanding for further proceedings.

The Washington Supreme Court affirmed orders allowing three recall petitions to proceed on charges alleging retaliation against Port employees, and allowing an additional nondisclosure charge against one commissioner.

The court held that the State established prima facie admissibility of Sliger’s Draeger breath-test results because expert testimony showed that the tiny tobacco strands in his teeth did not affect the test’s reliability or accuracy.

The Washington Supreme Court, en banc, held that when determining whether the Child Relocation Act's rebuttable presumption in favor of relocation applies, courts must calculate residential time under a phased-in parenting plan at the phase in effect when the relocating parent serves notice of intent to relocate, not…

The Washington Supreme Court held that the state's strict-liability felony drug-possession statute violates the state and federal Due Process Clauses because it criminalizes wholly innocent, passive possession without proof of mens rea while imposing severe felony consequences.

The Washington Supreme Court held that a trial court's compliance with the Blazina requirement of an individualized, on-the-record inquiry into a defendant's current and future ability to pay discretionary legal financial obligations (LFOs) is reviewed de novo, and that the trial court here failed to conduct an…

The court held that juvenile defendants sentenced in adult court must receive an individualized sentencing process that accounts for youth and gives the sentencing judge complete discretion to depart below otherwise applicable sentencing ranges and firearm enhancements.

The Washington Supreme Court held that proof of DUI alone, or speeding alone, does not establish reckless endangerment, because each offense lacks the recklessness mens rea of knowing disregard of a substantial risk combined with gross deviation from reasonable conduct.

The court held that the prosecutor committed multiple forms of misconduct, including denigrating defense counsel, misstating the reasonable-doubt standard, expressing a personal opinion about a defendant's credibility, and speaking inaudibly to the jury.

The Washington Supreme Court dismissed Robert Yates's first personal restraint petition challenging his Pierce County aggravated first degree murder convictions and death sentence, rejecting all 25 grounds for relief, including jury-selection and juror-pay claims, a death-qualification challenge, public trial claims…

The Washington Supreme Court affirmed the convictions of Michael Sublett and Christopher Olsen in this consolidated appeal. The court held that the trial court did not err in denying Sublett's motion to sever because the defendants' defenses, though irreconcilable, were not so prejudicially in conflict that the jury…

The Washington Supreme Court, reviewing a personal restraint petition granted on limited issues, held that the prosecutor's closing-argument PowerPoint — which superimposed 'GUILTY' three times over Glasmann's battered booking photograph and challenged his veracity with captions like 'DO YOU BELIEVE HIM?' —…

The court held that a personal restraint petitioner who establishes ineffective assistance of counsel under the applicable constitutional prejudice standard need not make an additional showing of actual and substantial prejudice.

The Washington Supreme Court, sitting en banc, affirmed the Court of Appeals and the convictions of Anthony Marquise Emery Jr. and Aaron Edward Olson for first degree kidnapping, robbery, rape, and accomplice rape arising from a 2006 joint trial.

The court affirmed Schemer’s convictions because evidence of his prior molestations was admissible to show a common scheme or plan, although the trial court’s failure to provide a requested limiting instruction was harmless.

The Washington Supreme Court denied Jeffrey Coats's untimely personal restraint petition challenging his 1995 guilty-plea convictions. The court held that his judgment and sentence, though it erroneously stated a life maximum for conspiracy to commit first degree robbery (actual maximum 10 years), was valid on its…

The Washington Supreme Court, sitting en banc, affirmed the Court of Appeals and upheld Kenneth Thorgerson's four child-molestation convictions against claims of prosecutorial misconduct.

The court held that the prosecutor committed misconduct by repeatedly asserting that African American witnesses followed a racialized code of silence and by using personal opinions to attack witness and defendant credibility.

The court held that the prosecutor deprived Monday of a fair trial by repeatedly invoking a purported racialized code of silence to discredit African American witnesses and by making other improper credibility arguments.

The Washington Supreme Court held that Grier's agreement to withdraw lesser included offense instructions did not waive her ability to claim ineffective assistance of counsel because the decision requires consultation but ultimately falls within defense counsel's tactical authority.

The Washington Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, which had overturned Kristina Grier's second degree murder conviction on the ground that counsel was ineffective for withdrawing requested lesser included manslaughter instructions in favor of an 'all or nothing' acquittal strategy.

The Washington Supreme Court held that a preenforcement vagueness challenge to a community custody condition barring possession of 'any paraphernalia' usable for controlled substances is ripe for review on direct appeal, that sentencing conditions carry no presumption of constitutionality and are reviewed for abuse of…

The Washington Supreme Court held that a preenforcement vagueness challenge to a community custody condition barring possession of 'any paraphernalia' usable for controlled substances was ripe for direct appellate review, disapproving State v. Motter to the extent of conflict.

The court held that the trial court violated Jones's Sixth Amendment right to present a defense by preventing him from testifying and cross-examining the alleged victim about his account that the sexual encounter occurred consensually during a sex party.

The court held that the trial court violated Jones's Sixth Amendment right to present a defense by preventing him from testifying and cross-examining the victim about his account of consensual sexual conduct on the night of the alleged rape.

The Washington Supreme Court held that the Horizontal Property Regimes Act and Woodcreek's declaration permitted the association to divide common area and combine it with a private apartment.

The Washington Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the preservation rule: Ryan O'Hara's unpreserved complaint that his self-defense instruction defined 'malice' using only the first sentence of RCW 9A.04.110(12) is neither an error of constitutional magnitude nor manifest error, so it could not…

The Washington Supreme Court held that Kenneth Kyllo's trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by proposing an 'act on appearances' self-defense instruction conditioning the defense on a reasonable belief of 'actual danger of great bodily harm,' when RCW 9A.16.020(3) requires only a reasonable belief of…

The Washington Supreme Court held that the evidence was insufficient to sustain Roger Engel's conviction for burglary in the second degree because Western Asphalt's seven-to-eight-acre business yard — only one-third fenced, with the remainder bordered by unfenced sloping terrain — was not a "fenced area" under RCW…

The court held that a “fenced area” under Washington’s burglary statute must be the curtilage of a qualifying building or structure and must be completely enclosed by fencing alone or by fencing combined with other structures.

The Washington Supreme Court held that a police officer exceeded the permissible scope of a Terry frisk when he continued squeezing a suspect's coin pocket after ascertaining it contained no weapon, discovering a small baggie of methamphetamine only through that manipulation.

The Washington Supreme Court held that a Union Gap police officer exceeded the permissible scope of a Terry frisk when he continued squeezing the contents of Garvin's coin pocket after ascertaining no weapon was present, discovering a small baggy of methamphetamine through manipulation.

The Washington Supreme Court held that the proper unit of prosecution for possession of child pornography under former RCW 9.68A.070 is one count per possession, not per image or per minor depicted, resolving the statute's ambiguity under the rule of lenity and ordering resentencing on a single count.

The court held that the Consumer Protection Act applies to allegedly deceptive efforts to collect an unadjudicated insurance subrogation claim, even when the plaintiff has no consumer or business relationship with the defendant and the parties' underlying relationship is adversarial.

The court reversed Fisher's convictions for four counts of child molestation and remanded for a new trial because the prosecutor introduced physical-abuse evidence before the defense made delayed reporting an issue and then used that evidence to argue propensity.

The court held that Fisher was denied a fair trial because the prosecutor introduced physical-abuse evidence before the defense made delayed reporting an issue and then used that evidence to argue that Fisher had a propensity to commit sexual abuse.

The Washington Supreme Court, sitting en banc, affirmed Richard Warren's convictions for first degree child molestation of his eight-year-old stepdaughter and three counts of second degree child rape of his fourteen-year-old stepdaughter, holding that although the prosecutor made several improper closing…

The Washington Supreme Court affirmed Richard Warren's convictions for first degree child molestation of his eight-year-old stepdaughter and three counts of second degree child rape of his fourteen-year-old stepdaughter, along with a lifetime no-contact sentencing condition barring contact with his wife.

The Washington Supreme Court held that vagueness challenges to community custody conditions may be raised for the first time on appeal and that sufficiently ripe preenforcement challenges to sentencing conditions are reviewable.

The court held that Bahl could raise preenforcement vagueness challenges to his community-custody conditions because the claims were ripe and sentencing illegality may be raised for the first time on appeal.