Archives : 2011 : September

1. Youngest Defendant Charged As Adult (Savoie) to Get New Trial

   Sep 30, 2011 —

   The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a public trial. Our founding fathers inserted that measure into the Constitution to ensure that anyone in America who was charged with a crime would not be tried behind closed doors, where due process and the rights of the accused could be ignored. That legal concept was the … [More]

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2. Hate Crime Laws in Washington State – Malicious Harassment

   Sep 26, 2011 —

   In the State of Washington, so-called “hate crimes” are covered under the malicious harassment statutes. The term malicious harassment is meant to describe behavior that is more than just threatening. According to the statute, malicious harassment occurs when a person intentionally threatens a specific individual and places that individual in reasonable fear of harm because … [More]

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3. Washington State Supreme Court Rules On “Deliberate Cruelty” and “Particular Vulnerability” For Increasing Prison Terms

   Sep 16, 2011 —

    This week the Supreme Court of Washington, in State v. Gordon and State v. Bukovsky, ruled that jurors can define aggravating factors themselves when deciding stiffer punishments. The state of Washington allows criminal juries to consider certain “aggravating sentencing factors” when deciding on the sentence for a convicted person. These are designed to give juries … [More]

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