Docket No. 77693-8  Facts:  Petitioner Dan Stockwell was tried and convicted in Kitsap County Superior Court of first-degree child molestation and attempted child molestation of two of his wife’s granddaughters. Stockwell was previously convicted of first degree statutory rape in 1986, Continue reading →

Docket No. 77769-1  Facts:  During her unsuccessful campaign against Senator Tim Sheldon, respondent Marilou Rickert sponsored a mailing that contained several false statements regarding Sheldon’s record.  Sheldon subsequently filed a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission that asserted that Rickert violated Washington Revised Code §42.17.530(1), which prohibits the sponsorship with actual malice of political advertising or electioneering communication that contains a false statement of material fact about a candidate for public office.  Following a hearing, the Public Disclosure Commission fined Rickert $1,000, concluding that the mailing contained false statements that were material and that Rickert sponsored the mailing with actual malice.  Rickert appealed the Public Disclosure Commission’s decision on grounds that §42.17.530(1) infringes the right to freedom of speech and expression conferred by the 1^st Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I §5 of the Washington State Constitution. Continue reading →

Docket No. 77587-7  Synopsis: May a defendant withdraw his guilty plea when the actual sentence he faces turns out to be lower than what the parties believed when the defendant entered the plea? Continue reading →