Docket No. 77753-5  Facts:  Petitioner Gaylon Thiefault was convicted of attempted second degree rape in the Superior Court for Snohomish County.  As Thiefault had three prior convictions, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole pursuant to Washington’s Persistent Offender Accountability Act (Washington Revised Code §9.94A).  Thiefault appealed his sentence, asserting that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel when his attorney failed to object to the comparability of a previous conviction in Montana to a Washington “strike” offense.  The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed Thiefault’s sentence. Continue reading →

Docket No. 77615-6  Facts:  Petitioners Randal Chenoweth and Barbara Wood motioned for the suppression of evidence used in their prosecution of unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine. Specifically, they argued the evidence of the crimes found on the property was obtained by a search warrant issued on the basis of uncorroborated information provided by a named informant. Continue reading →