Allegations of domestic violence can affect a Washington custody case.  A Washington appeals court recently considered whether a child could pursue a Domestic Violence Protection Order (“DVPO”) against his mother after another court denied his father’s petition to modify custody based on the same domestic violence allegations. Walla Walla County Proceedings When the parents divorced in 2016 or 2017, the parenting plan named the mother as primary parent and gave the father visitation. According to the unpublished opinion of the appeals court, the father petitioned for an immediate restrain ..read more

To convict a defendant of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, the state must prove the defendant possessed the controlled substance and had an intent to deliver it to someone else.  Whether the defendant actually possessed the controlled substances is often an issue.  A defendant recently appealed his convictions for possession with intent to deliver because the drugs were found in his wife’s purse. According to the unpublished opinion of the appeals court, the police saw the defendant put a backpack in a vehicle registered to his father-in-law and his wife p ..read more

The Department of Education has finally released the final rule on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance (“Final Rule”).  The Final Rule makes significant changes to the Title IX regulations that were previously amended under the Trump administration in 2020. The Final Rule specifically provides that sex-based discrimination includes discrimination based on “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”  A number of lawsuits have already been f ..read more

In 2023, the legislature amended RCW 9.94A.535(1)(b) to prohibit the inclusion of most prior juvenile adjudications in an offender score.  A defendant recently challenged a sentence imposed in October 2022 because the court had included juvenile adjudications in his offender score. Following an incident in May 2022, the defendant was found guilty of third degree theft and residential burglary.  According to the appeals court’s opinion, the court included six juvenile adjudications in calculating the defendant’s offender score.  He was sentenced in October 2022 to 364 days of con ..read more

Pursuant to RCW 26.09.191(5), a court in a Washington custody case may not draw presumptions from the provisions of the temporary parenting plan when it enters a permanent parenting plan.  The court must instead base the permanent residential custody on the child’s best interest as determined at trial.  The court generally must consider the factors set forth in RCW 26.09.187(3)(a), which relate to the child’s relationship with each parent, knowing and voluntary agreements between the parties, each parent’s performance of parenting functions, the child’s developmental level and emotio ..read more

Washington felony violation of a court order occurs when a person, who has at least two previous convictions for violating a court order, knows a no-contact order exists and knowing violates a provision of it.  Willful violation of a court order occurs when a person has willful contact with another that is prohibited by a valid court order and the person has knowledge of the order.  Accidental contact is not willful.  A person must both know of the no-contact order and intend the contact. Washington case law has held that proof that the defendant acted knowingly constitutes proo ..read more

In a recent Washington custody case, a mother challenged a parenting plan that required her to undergo a particular form of therapy to receive equal residential time with the child.  An appeals court reviews the provisions of a parenting plan under a manifest abuse of discretion standard, meaning the trial’s decision is manifestly unreasonable or based on untenable grounds or reasons. The parents were in a committed intimate relationship from the middle of 2015 to late 2018.  They had a child in September 2017.  Each party had alleged intimate partner violence against the other ..read more

Under Washington criminal law, a defendant commits residential burglary if they enter or unlawfully remain in a dwelling, other than a vehicle, with the intent to commit a crime against a person or property inside.  RCW 9A.52.025.  To convict a defendant of residential burglary, the state must prove that the defendant entered a dwelling, while other forms of burglary only require the state to prove the defendant entered a building.  A defendant recently challenged his conviction of residential burglary, arguing a fenced back yard was not a dwelling. According to the opinion of t ..read more

The Department of Education submitted the “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance” final rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (“OIRA”) for review on February 2, 2024, according to a government website. The final rule is expected to undo many of the changes made in the 2020 final rule.  The new final rule has been delayed multiple times since the publication of the draft rule in July 2022.  The final rule was originally expected to be published in May 2023, but the Department of Education pus ..read more

During the COVID-19 pandemic, courts adopted a number of policies and procedures to prevent infection.  A defendant recently appealed his convictions for violation of a no contact order, challenging whether the state proved he had knowledge of the order when he had not signed it during COVID-19 protocols. According to the appeals court’s opinion, a 2020 domestic violence no-contact order prohibited the defendant from contacting the ex-girlfriend until 2025. In October 2021, the two got into an argument.  The ex-girlfriend called 911 and reported that the defendant had strangled her ..read more