Docket No. 78362-4 (from Court of Appeals Division I Case No. 54805-1)  Facts:  Petitioner Keith George was convicted on two counts of violating a no-contact order from which the charges originated separately in Renton and Kent municipal courts, but were tried together in King County Superior Court. George argued that the Renton court erred in resetting the time for trial after he failed to appear to two pretrial hearings because he was detained by the city of Kent and King County Disctict Court on unrelated charges. Continue reading →

Docket No. 78463-9 (from Court of Appeals Division I Case No. 53250-2)  Facts:

While depositions of the charges against petitioners Chhom and Steever were pending under separate prosecutions, they were transported to a jail in Yakima County to serve sentences for misdemeanor convictions in municipal courts located in King County where the charges were filed. Continue reading →

Docket No. 78739-5 (from Court of Appeals Division I Case No. 53250-2)  Facts:  Petitioner Jacob Bowman was convicted of second degree felony murder with the predicate crime of drive-by shooting.  Bowman subsequently filed a personal restraint petition in the Washington Court of Appeals.  It asserted that just as assault cannot serve as a predicate crime to second degree felony murder insofar as the assault is not independent of the murder, drive-by shooting cannot serve as a predicate crime to second degree felony murder insofar as the drive-by shooting is inextricably intertwined with the murder. Continue reading →

Docket No. 78043-9 (from Court of Appeals Division III Case No. 23041-4)  Facts:  Petitioner Daniel Posey was charged with first degree assault and second degree rape.  Although Posey was a minor at the time, the juvenile court was required to decline jurisdiction because first degree assault is a “serious violent offense” under Washington Revised Code §13.04.030.  Following a trial in adult criminal court, Posey was acquitted of first degree assault but convicted of second degree rape and sentenced.  Posey appealed, asserting that the trial court lacked the authority to sentence him insofar as he had been acquitted of the charge upon which its jurisdiction was based.  Posey also asserted that the trial court erred in excluding from evidence an email written by the alleged victim in which she indicated that she would enjoy being subjected to sexual violence.  The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed Posey’s conviction and sentence. Continue reading →