Washington General Rule (‘GR’) 37 was enacted in 2018 to address the danger of implicit racial bias in the use of peremptory challenges during jury selection at the beginning of trial. A “peremptory challenge” is when a party is permitted to exclude a prospective juror from being empaneled without justification. In contrast, a challenge “for Read More…
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Danger of Multiple Interviews of a Child
I practice primarily in King, Pierce and Snohomish county in Washington State. These counties have a similar policy when a report of child sexual abuse (‘CSA’) is made; it is routed to a professional interviewer for a ‘CFI’ (Child Forensic Interview). A very common scenario would be as follows: ‘Janie Doe’, an 8-year-old third grader, Read More…
TALES FROM THE TRENCHES WPIC 4.01 Burden Of Proof—Presumption Of Innocence—Reasonable Doubt State v. Jackson (Division Three #40192-8-111) Unpublished
[The] [Each] defendant has entered a plea of not guilty. That plea puts in issue every element of [the] [each] crime charged. The [State] [City] [County] is the plaintiff and has the burden of proving each element of [the] [each] crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant has no burden of proving that a reasonable Read More…