Law And Courts

570 Stories

Government

Washington state and counties square off over juvenile rehabilitation closures

One issue: DCYF’s transfer of 43 men in their early 20s from Green Hill to an adult prison.
Ann Dornfeld
Politics

Washington nonprofit goes public with claims against state lawmaker and founder

The board of the nonprofit Civil Survival is now speaking publicly about its alleged reasons for firing Washington state Rep. Tarra Simmons. Simmons is the founding director of the legal aid and advocacy organization but as KUOW reported this week, Simmons was placed on administrative leave in August 2023 and received a notice of termination two weeks ago on July 15, 2024.
Amy Radil
Law & Courts

'They canceled me': Rep. Tarra Simmons fired by nonprofit she helped found

Tarra Simmons, the first formerly incarcerated person elected to the Washington state Legislature, was recently ousted from the criminal justice nonprofit she founded. She is now battling the organization’s leadership over that decision.
Amy Radil
Law & Courts

King County judge finds state agency in contempt for keeping teen in adult jail

A King County Superior Court judge held the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) in contempt of court Friday for failing to transfer an 18-year-old convicted of robbery to a state juvenile rehabilitation facility.
Ann Dornfeld
Law & Courts

Garfield County pledges to keep jail shuttered after suicide went undetected

Family members of a man whose suicide went undiscovered in Garfield County jail for 18 hours have settled their claim, in an agreement approved by a superior court judge on Monday. Kyle Lara’s parents say the most important part of the agreement has already occurred: the closure of the jail where he died.
Amy Radil
Law & Courts

No juveniles in adult prisons, Washington court orders

A Thurston County Superior Court judge told the state it has two weeks to return 43 young men it suddenly moved last Friday from the Green Hill School juvenile rehabilitation center to an adult prison in Shelton unless it can convince the court that the emergency move was necessary to reduce dangerous overcrowding.
Ann Dornfeld
Sex abuse survivors ask Vatican to investigate Seattle Archdiocese as Washington's lawsuit fails

On Friday, officials at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C., and in Rome received a letter from Seattle area survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates. They’re asking top officials to investigate leadership at the Archdiocese of Seattle for allegedly failing to comply with the Washington State Attorney General’s investigation into the sexual abuse allegations against its clergy members.
Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez
Environment

Home Depot fined $1.6M for selling banned super-pollutant in Washington

Washington state has fined Home Depot $1.6 million for selling canisters of a banned substance that harms the climate.
John Ryan
Mysterious posters in courthouse garage could have jeopardized Auburn police killing case, judge says

The case of the first police officer charged under a new state standard for misuse of deadly force is now before a jury in King County Superior Court. Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson faces charges of second-degree murder and first-degree assault for twice shooting Jesse Sarey on May 31, 2019.
Amy Radil
Week in Review: Timothy Rankin, Tanya Woo, and OSPI

Guest host Mike Lewis discusses the week’s news with The Needling’s Lex Vaughn, Republican strategist Randy Pepple, and Seattle Times columnist Claudia Rowe.
Kevin Kniestedt

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