Washington Court of Appeals Upholds Dismissal of Case Due to Police Misconduct

The Washington Court of Appeals upheld a trial judge’s decision to dismiss felony sex crimes charges against a defendant who was the victim of police entrapment.

Bellevue, United States – July 2, 2018 /PressCable/ —

Detective Spent Weeks Harassing Defendant Into Committing Alleged Sex Crimes

Washington State law enforcement officers frequently conduct Internet “stings” designed to identify and stop individuals who illegally prey upon children for sex. Unfortunately, in some cases this zeal to catch a predator goes too far, and officers manage to entrap a person who had no intention of committing a sex crime. According to the Washington Supreme Court, such misconduct is “contrary to public policy and to basic principles of human decency,” and provides grounds for dismissing any criminal charge against the targeted defendant.

Applying these principles, on March 29, 2018, the Washington Court of Appeals, Division I, affirmed a trial judge’s decision to dismiss felony sex crimes charges against a defendant entrapped by a police officer’s online sting.

The case began in 2014, when a female detective with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office published an advertisement on Craigslist identifying herself as a “young female looking for sex with either a man or woman.” Although the ad did not identify the poster’s age, Craigslist policy limits sexual advertisements to users 18 years of age or older.

Two days after the detective posted the ad, the defendant replied. When he did not receive an immediate response, he wrote back to say he would not “bug” the poster any further. But four days after that, the detective replied and initiated a series of email exchanges with the defendant.

When the detective told the defendant she was a 15-year-old girl, the defendant expressly rejected her sexual advances, citing the fact she was underage. Nevertheless, the detective continued to send sexually explicit messages to the defendant in an attempt to change his mind. The defendant continued to reject the advances, at one point stating he believed the “underage” girl was an undercover law enforcement officer.

The detective persisted, however, and after about three weeks the defendant relented and agreed to meet the “underage” girl in person. When the defendant arrived, he was arrested and charged with attempted child rape in the third degree, commercial sex abuse of a minor, and communicating with a minor for “immoral purposes.”

The trial judge granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss all charged, citing the outrageous conduct of the detective. While acknowledging the detective was an “extremely capable and confident detective,” the judge said she “went over the top on this one.” More to the point, the court said the detective “controlled the criminal conduct” alleged by not only “initiating” contact with the defendant in the first place, but then by “stringing him along” for several days even after he expressly rejected multiple initial advances.

Prosecutors appealed the dismissal ruling, but the Court of Appeals held the trial court “did not abuse its discretion.” Under the facts of this case, the appeals court said the trial judge was entitled to conclude the detective’s actions were “repugnant” to the “community’s sense of justice” and a violation of the defendant’s due process rights.

Bellevue criminal defense attorney Lennard A. Nahajski said the Court of Appeals’ opinion sends a strong message to all Washington State law enforcement. “Everyone recognizes the importance of protecting our children from sexual predators online. But the ends do not justify the means. Police cannot be allowed to manufacture sex crimes out of whole cloth simply to justify an undercover operation. And detectives should know better than to browbeat and harass someone with no criminal intentions into committing a felony that could send them to prison.”

Contact Info:
Name: Lennard Nahajksi
Email: len@nahajski.com
Organization: The Nahajski Firm
Address: 601 108th Ave NE Suite 1900, Bellevue, WA 98004, United States
Phone: +1-206-621-0500

For more information, please visit http://www.nahajskifirm.com/

Source: PressCable

Release ID: 370515