Washington

Charges Dropped Against Lawyer Who Wouldn’t Show ID

A Washington judge dismissed charges this week against a lawyer who was arrested at an anti-war protest when he refused to produce identification for police to review. Legrand Jones, of Olympia, Wash., was jailed in July during a protest held at the Port of Tacoma, the News Tribune reports. William…

Oct 24, 2008 8:45 PM CDT

Perkins Coie, Davis Wright Expecting Big Revenues From Heller Hires

Perkins Coie wooed Heller Ehrman’s entire Madison, Wis. office, including 16 intellectual property litigators and 10 staffers, with its winning bid in an auction-style process the Am Law Daily reports. Three lawyers have delayed start dates because of conflicts. In an unusual move, the former Heller partners entertained bids from…

Oct 20, 2008 8:37 PM CDT

WaMu is Being Investigated by FBI

Add Washington Mutual Bank to a list of major corporate failures that are being investigated by the FBI. The FBI had been secretly looking into the bank’s operations for months. However, it went public yesterday with the investigation because WaMu depositors, having already seen the institution become the biggest bank…

Oct 16, 2008 9:12 PM CDT

Wash. State to Monitor All Violent Sex Offenders When Released, via GPS

The state of Washington plans to monitor electronically all newly released sex offenders considered potentially violent, for at least the first 30 days. The Global Positioning System tracking bracelets that the “Level 3” convicted sex offenders will wear on their ankles allow state Department of Corrections employees to keep an…

Oct 1, 2008 7:26 PM CDT

Wash. High Court Allows Brain Harvesting Claim to Move Forward

The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday revived a suit brought by a mother who objected to the removal of her deceased son’s brain for medical research. Nancy Adams’ son Jesse Smith was an organ donor. But when Adams gave permission for a pathologist to take a sample of Smith’s brain…

Sep 26, 2008 1:21 PM CDT

Seattle Police Uniform Won’t Include Wearable Video Cameras

It seemed like a good idea to some: Police in Seattle would wear small video cameras to record crime scenes and their interactions with suspects during arrests. However, the idea, which was briefly tested late last month, raised privacy concerns—both for suspects, and for police, whose every work-shift word and…

Sep 18, 2008 9:14 PM CDT

Jurors Read Newspaper in Jury Room; Judge Voids Verdict

Jurors in a medical malpractice case against a prominent Washington state physician accused of abusing his minor patients weren’t told at trial about an important issue concerning the plaintiffs’ damages. If they determined that he had communicated with minors for immoral purposes, the plaintiffs could get attorney fees. But they…

Sep 17, 2008 8:57 PM CDT

Woman Who Registered Pooch to Vote is Out of Legal Doghouse

It started out as a protest of what Jan Balogh thought were lax voter registration standards. But it turned into a drawn-out legal ordeal that finally ended this week when a judge dismissed misdemeanor false statement charges against her. So what was the alleged crime? Balogh used an old utility…

Aug 26, 2008 9:37 PM CDT

Judge Under Fire for Drunken Driving Rulings Says Transfer was Punishment

A judge under fire for his handling of drunken driving cases says he was moved to Seattle from another King County court as punishment. Judge Peter Nault will hear only civil cases in his new post, the Seattle Times reports. The change was made after prosecutors in Redmond challenged Nault’s…

Aug 25, 2008 5:55 PM CDT

New Law Allows Prior-Act Evidence in Wash. Child Molestation Trial

Roger Alan Scherner, 79, allegedly molested multiple relatives over a period of decades, according to court records. But he was never prosecuted, until now, after being charged with molesting a 7-year-old relative during a family vacation in 2002. And his case, which is now at trial in King County, is…

Aug 20, 2008 5:15 PM CDT

Gov’t. Puts Car in Court in Murder Trial

In an unusual effort to prove a murder case, prosecutors in Washington state have persuaded a judge to let them bring a car into the courtroom. The 2000 Ford Mustang in which victim Ronald Whitehead, 61, allegedly was shot to death “was hauled into the King County courtroom of Judge…

Aug 8, 2008 12:26 AM CDT

Ex-Judge Who Blabbed About Alleged Affair With PD is Censured

A former municipal judge in Washington state who announced at a holiday party that she was having an affair with a public defender who frequently appeared in her Federal Way courtroom has been censured by a disciplinary panel. Colleen Hartl, 46, also was ordered by the Commission on Judicial Conduct…

Aug 4, 2008 6:25 PM CDT

DOJ Seeks to Oust Alleged Ex-Nazi From United States

Department of Justice officials have asked a federal court in Washington state to revoke the citizenship status of a man who the DOJ now believes was a Nazi police officer in German-occupied Belgrade, Serbia, during World War II. The government claims Peter Enger, 86 of Bellevue, Wash., was a member…

Jul 15, 2008 10:40 PM CDT

8 Victims Get $11M for Delayed Reporting in Foster Child Sex Abuse Case

Eight foster children, aged 5 to 12, who were sexually abused for an additional 18 months because of delayed follow-up by authorities are to get an $11 million settlement from three government agencies and the convicted abuser’s wife. Although Wendy Young wasn’t charged (her husband, Ronald, was sentenced in 2005…

Jul 10, 2008 9:42 PM CDT

Firm Pays Associates Less and Partners Equally, Requires Fewer Hours

California intellectual property firm Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear is looking to expand without changing its unusual business model. All of the firm’s partners share equally in profits, the National Law Journal reports in an article reprinted in the New York Lawyer. Associates make below-market pay of $150,000, but the…

Jul 9, 2008 11:52 AM CDT