The King County prosecuting attorney’s office was recently sanctioned $10,000 because of inexcusable discovery violations in four felony cases filed in juvenile court. The Judge noted that the prosecutor’s office’s mismanagement of juvenile cases and failure to disclose evidence was not an isolated incident and had reached systemic levels. The judge denied a defense motion to dismiss the case over the discovery violations, given the severity of the allegations and risk to the community — and ruled against the state’s suggestion to suppress the evidence because it would have been wholly inappropriate given it could have benefited the boy’s defense. The King County prosecuting attorney has claimed that her office is taking the judge’s concerns seriously but also noted that an audit found issues in only four out of 315 pending juvenile cases. Some have disputed the prosecutor’s minimized claim and allege it is more than just four juvenile matters.

The prosecuting attorney for King County has said that she is working to address staffing challenges and the way the juvenile division is structured comparatively to the adult division of her office. In the adult division, attorneys are typically assigned to units — prosecuting, for instance, homicides, sexual assaults or domestic-violence cases, and thereby becoming subject-matter experts in those kinds of cases. On the juvenile side, individual deputy prosecutors are responsible for prosecuting misdemeanors all the way up to Class A felonies. Thus, they don’t have the same expertise in every kind of case, obviously. At this time the prosecutor’s office has elected to offer additional training to everyone in the juvenile division, so as to hopefully ensure compliance with deadlines, improve collaboration between attorneys in the adult and juvenile divisions and update instructions for police officers to submit case materials. How well the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office resolves its internal discovery process will dictate how efficient the discovery process becomes and whether further penalties will need to be imposed.

If you or a loved one is in a bind as a result of a criminal allegation, immediately contact a Seattle Criminal Attorney. A Seattle Criminal Defense Attorney is not going to judge you and understands that everyone makes mistakes. Hiring a Seattle Criminal Lawyer to help can – at a minimum – reduce penalties and can help direct people on how to best deal with their criminal charge, and sometimes even get them dismissed. So, it should go without saying that someone cited for a crime should hire a qualified Seattle criminal lawyer as soon as possible. Criminal charges can cause havoc on a person’s personal and professional life. Anyone charged with a criminal case in Washington State should immediately seek the assistance of a seasoned Seattle Criminal Lawyer. SQ Attorneys can be reached at (425) 359-3791 and/or (206) 441-0900.