Seattle Defendants Could Wait a Long Time Until Trial Anyone in Seattle facing criminal charges but is currently an out-of-custody defendant likely will not have a hearing anytime soon. According to a recent article in The Seattle Times, the state Supreme Court issued an emergency order for criminal hearings. Chief Justice Debra Stephens issued the emergency order, which postpones hearings for out-of-custody defendants in… Read More
Police Arrest Two Dozen Unruly Downtown Protestors Twenty-eight climate change protestors are in police custody after they refused to leave a Chase Bank building in downtown Seattle. Officers arrived at the building about noon, after some protestors allegedly refused to leave the bank’s lobby. Most of the group complied with the officer’s request to move onto the sidewalk, but thirteen men and… Read More
Crime Rate Dips in Seattle Some 2019 magazine headlines like “Left-coast Lawlessness” and “Seattle Under Siege” might have been a bit overblown. According to the official records, crime rates decreased across the board last year. Property crime rates, mostly theft, were at their lowest levels since the 1970s. Violent crime rates also dropped sharply. Seattle Police Department spokesperson Sergeant Sean… Read More
Sex Trafficking Sting Nabs Four Men A multi-agency effort, led by the Washington State Patrol, ended with the arrest of four individuals who thought they were to meet a minor for illicit purposes. “Detectives posed as the juveniles,” officials said in a statement announcing the arrests. So, “no juveniles were used or at risk during the operation.” “While DuPont is a… Read More
Prosecutors Decline to Retry Shooters at Milo Yiannopoulos Event After one jury deadlocked, King County prosecutors said they would not retry Marc and Elizabeth Hokoana, who were charged with assaulting protestor Joshua Dukes at a University of Washington event in January 2017. Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart editor and outspoken conservative, was scheduled to speak on campus on Inauguration Day 2017. Emotions were high, as… Read More
New Study: Hate Crimes Spike in Washington State Between 2013 and 2017, hate crimes increased 22 percent nationally. But in Washington, these incidents skyrocketed 78 percent. Race accounted for 60 percent of these offenses. Most of the rest were either religion (21 percent) and sexual orientation (16 percent). Almost all of the hate crimes in Washington over that period were aggravated assaults. These… Read More
Washington State Governor Signs a Bill to Erase Marijuana Misdemeanors Washington State legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, and criminal penalties finally are catching up. According to a recent article in The Seattle Times, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill pertaining to marijuana convictions. Once the new law takes effect, most people with misdemeanor marijuana convictions will be able to have those convictions erased. To… Read More
Hate Crimes Spiked in Washington During 2018 A recent report from the Anti-Defamation League confirmed what the FBI said last November. The number of hate crimes in Washington State increased dramatically in 2018. According to a national audit, anti-Semitic incidents in Washington increased 60 percent between 2017 and 2018. Hate crimes are up overall as well. According to the FBI report, race,… Read More
Washington State Bill Proposes Harsher Penalties for People Who “Patronize” Prostitutes In the coming months, there may be some changes coming to Washington state law regarding the penalties for solicitation of prostitution. Under current state law, the punishment for prostitution; the illicit sale of sex, and for solicitation; the illicit buying of sex; are largely similar. However, HB 1383, a bill that is making its way… Read More
King County Prosecutors Increase Bail In Homicide Case Citing risk of flight and the heinous nature of the allegations, prosecutors convinced a judge to increase Jeremy Shaw’s bail from $1 million to $2.5 million. According to court documents, Mr. Shaw bludgeoned a Boeing retiree to death in order to claim his house and land in an isolated area of King County. Prosecutors also… Read More