Facts: After fatally shooting a man during a drug transaction, petitioner Oliver Wright was convicted of second degree murder in the Superior Court for King County. Upon appeal, Wright’s conviction was vacated by the Washington Court of Appeals on grounds that second degree murder cannot be predicated upon assault. The respondent state of Washington subsequently moved to retry Wright on a charge of second degree intentional murder. Wright moved for dismissal of the charge, asserting that retrying him on a different charge would subject him to double jeopardy. The Washington Court of Appeals remanded the case to the trial court for retrial, ruling that retrying Wright on a charge of second degree intentional murder would not subject him to double jeopardy. Wright appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Washington.

Question(s): Would retrying Wright on a different charge after his initial conviction was vacated subject him to double jeopardy?

Conclusion: Justice Madsen’s opinion for the Court affirmed the Washington Court of Appeals, concluding that retrying Wright on a charge of second degree intentional murder after his initial conviction for second degree murder had been vacated would not subject him to double jeopardy as Wright had not been impliedly acquitted of second degree intentional murder at his initial trial as the jury had no opportunity to consider the charge and as Wright’s conviction had been vacated due to legal error rather than insufficient evidence. Thus, the Court remanded the case to the trial court for retrial.

Docket No. 78465-5 (from Court of Appeals Division I Case No. 55745-9)

Petitioner: Wright

Respondent: State

Other Parties: State (respondent) v. Garrett & Bryant (petitioners)

Briefs:

Argument: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 10:00am

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

Decided: Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Prevailing Party: State (Respondent)

Vote: 6-3

Citation: Pending

Alexander

Johnson

Madsen
(Majority)

Sanders
(Dissent)

Chambers

Owens

Fairhurst

Johnson

Bridge
(Pro Tem)