Supreme Court:

State v. Morgan, ___ Wn.3d ___, No. 102,643-9 (Jan. 23, 2025): Restitution: A trial court lacks discretion to modify the restitution amount which is paid to L&I for the Crime Victim’s Compensation Act under RCW 9.94A.753(7) and (3)(b). The statute is not ambiguous, and the trial court still has discretion over other kinds of restitution.
**NOTE: There is a longer version of this case summary at the end of the document because there is an important analysis in the concurrence by Pro-Tem Knodell recommending arguments not preserved in this case re the harsh use of unbridled prosecutor discretion, which needs a check and balance due to the Prosecutor’s overcharging; and that restitution for the Crime Victim’s Fund was improperly granted because it was not causally related to the conspiracy of murder charge for which the defendant plead guilty. Knodell noted that in a conspiracy to commit murder charge, no one died. Therefore, that defendant was not adjudicated for a murder and imposing funeral and medical expenses of the victim to this defendant should have been objected to at sentencing.
The trial court’s obligation to accurately follow the law could have been raised sua sponte by the Appellate Court. However, Judge Knodell was the only judge who cited the issue, in a concurrence, as a Pro-Tem, i.e. these arguments need to be argued and get to the higher courts to rule upon.

Court of Appeals:

State v. Howard, ___ Wn.App.2d ___, No. 39665-7, Div. 3 (Jan. 28, 2025): Search and Seizure/Warrantless Search of Unoccupied Vehicle: A warrantless frisk of an unoccupied vehicle is permissible as part of a Terry Stop if, under the totality of circumstances, reasonable officer safety concerns exist.

State v. Sindars, ___ Wn.App.2d ___, No. 58839-1, Div. 2 (Jan. 22, 2025): Blake: Trial court did not err when it denied refund of the cash equivalent of community service hours performed in lieu of LFOs.

State v. Phillips, ___ Wn.App.2d ___, No. 39857-9, Div. 3 (Jan. 30, 2025): NGRI/Pretrial Credit for Time Served: A person committed based on an NGRI acquittal is only entitled to credit for time spent detained pretrial while awaiting a competency evaluation and report, not the entire pretrial detention time.

State v. MIller, ___ Wn.App.2d ___, No. 84870-4, Div. 1 (Feb. 3, 2025): ER 404(b): Evidence of acts allegedly committed during the charging period that the State uses to meet the elements of the crime charged is not ER 404(b) propensity evidence.