Project DNA: Washington

Washington

The pertinent portion of Washington’s postconviction DNA testing statute, Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 10.73.170(2)(b), states that a petition for postconviction DNA testing must

Explain why DNA evidence is material to the identity of the perpetrator of, or accomplice to, the crime, or to sentence enhancement

So, where does that leave pleading defendants? 

Courts in Washington have interpreted this statute as permitting pleading defendants to seek postconviction DNA testing. In 2005, 16 year-old Michael Washington was a suspect in a home invasion that resulted in a physical altercation. The police recovered duct tape from a windowsill that appeared to be connected to the crime. When the prosecution threatened to charge Washington as an adult with multiple counts of first-degree burglary, he pleaded no contest in juvenile court to the charge of burglary with sexual motivation. Washington later successfully moved for DNA testing on the duct tape; “[b]oth male and female DNA were found on the tape, and the analysis revealed that Washington’s DNA was not present.” Upon a motion by the Snohomish County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, the court subsequently dismissed Washington’s conviction.

-CM