Facts:  Petitioner Ismael Armendariz was convicted of third degree assault and violating a no contact order in the Superior Court for King County and sentenced to five months in jail to be followed by one year of community custody.  The trial court also ordered that Armendariz have no contact with the victim for five years, the statutory maximum term for third degree assault.  Armendariz appealed the no contact order, asserting that the trial court lacked authority under Washington Revised Code §9.94A.505(8), which authorizes courts to impose crime-related prohibitions and affirmative conditions, to impose a no contact order effective for the statutory maximum term for his third degree assault conviction.  The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed Armendariz’s sentence.  Armendariz appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Washington.

Question(s):  Does §9.94A.505(8) authorize a court to impose a no contact order as a crime-related prohibition effective for the statutory maximum term for the predicate crime?

Conclusion:  Justice James M. Johnson’s opinion for a unanimous Court affirmed the Washington Court of Appeals, concluding that although §9.94A.505(8), unlike the provision that it replaced (former Washington Revised Code §9.94A.120(20)), does not expressly provide that a court may impose crime-related prohibitions effective for the statutory maximum term for the predicate crime, the legislative history of §9.94A.505(8) indicates that the legislature did not intend to effect any substantive changes to §9.94A.120(20).

Docket No. 78452-3

Petitioner: Ismael Armendariz

(Counsel: Elaine L. Winters)

Respondent: State of Washington

(Counsel: Scott Frederick Leist and James Morrissey Whisman)

Argument: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:00pm

[Source: TVW, http://tvw.org]

Decided: Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Prevailing Party: State of Washington (Respondent)

Vote: 9-0

Citation: Pending

Court: Alexander3 Court (2005-2007)

Alexander

Johnson

Madsen

Sanders

Bridge

Chambers

Owens

Fairhurst

Johnson