Temple of Justice » Petition

In re Pers. Restraint of Scott v. State

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Synopsis: Whether a criminal judgment and sentence is invalid on its face, and thus may be challenged beyond the one-year time limit on collateral attack, when the judgment and sentence states that the jury found that the defendant was armed with a firearm, and the judgment imposes a firearm sentence enhancement, but the jury in its special verdict form found only that the defendant was armed with a deadly weapon.

In re Det. of Hawkins v. State

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:30:00 +0000

Synopsis: Whether under chapter 71.09 RCW a person alleged to be a sexually violent predator may be required to submit to a polygraph examination as part of his initial evaluation.

In re personal restraint of Clark

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Facts: Petitioner Steven Clark was convicted of two counts of bank robbery in the Superior Court for King County and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole as a persistent offender on the basis of earlier convictions for bank robbery and delivery of a controlled substance. Clark subsequently filed a personal restraint petition challenging his sentence, asserting that his earlier conviction and sentence for bank robbery was invalid on its face insofar as it had been based upon a plea agreement in which he had been erroneously informed that he would be sentenced to community placement (for which he did not meet the statutory criteria) prior to being sentenced to prison after pleading guilty. The Washington Court of Appeals ruled that Clark’s petition, despite being filed more than nine years after judgment and sentence was imposed with regard to the first bank robbery charges, was not time barred by Washington Revised Code §10.73.090(1), which requires that such petitions be filed within a year after final judgment, as the judgment and sentence were invalid on their face due to their deviation from the terms of the plea bargain Clark agreed to. Thus, the Court of Appeals vacated Clark’s conviction and remanded the case to the trial court to allow Clark to choose whether to withdraw his guilty plea. The state of Washington appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Washington.

Question(s): Is Clark’s personal restraint petition time barred by §10.73.090(1)?

If not, was Clark’s guilty plea involuntary?

Conclusion: Justice Fairhurst’s opinion for the Court held that there was no need to reach the question of whether Clark’s guilty plea was involuntary as his petition was time barred by §10.73.090(1). In particular, the Court ruled that although petitions challenging convictions and sentences invalid on their face are not subject to the one year statute of limitations, Clark’s conviction and sentence was not invalid on its face despite the fact that the sentence imposed differed from the sentence stipulated in the plea bargain as the sentence correctly reflected the law, which forbade granting community placement to offenders such as Clark.

In re Pers. Restraint of McKiearnan v. State

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Synopsis: May a defendant collaterally challenge a conviction more than one year after the judgment becomes final when the defendant’s maximum possible sentence was misstated on the judgment and sentence form?

In re Pers. Restraint of Bonds v. State

admin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Synopsis: Whether equitable tolling permits Bonds to submit an otherwise untimely amended PRP.

In re Detention of Martin; Sheldon Martin v. State

admin — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:30:00 +0000

Synopsis: The Thurston County prosecutor committed Sheldon Martin as a sexually violent predator based on an offense he committed in Oregon. The court must decide if the sexually violent predator law permits a county prosecutor to commit a person who never committed any offense in that prosecutor’s county.