Summary
The Washington Supreme Court interpreted RCW 9.41.040(4), which governs restoration of firearm rights after a felony conviction. The opinion addressed whether a later misdemeanor conviction restarts the required five-year crime-free period. The dissent argues that the statute requires the petitioner to have remained crime-free for at least five consecutive years immediately before petitioning and that Dennis’s 2014 conviction restarted the waiting period.
Holdings
- For a petitioner with a qualifying prior class C felony conviction, any period of five or more consecutive years in the community without a conviction satisfies the statute; the five-year period need not immediately precede the petition.
Questions Presented
- Whether RCW 9.41.040(4)(a)(ii)(A) requires a petitioner to have been conviction-free for five consecutive years immediately preceding the filing of a petition for restoration of firearm rights, or whether any prior five-year conviction-free period satisfies the statutory eligibility requirement.
Disposition
reversed_and_remanded
Cases Cited (12)
- State v. Swanson, 116 Wash. App. 67, 78, 65 P.3d 343 (2003)(followed)
- Payseno v. Kitsap County, 186 Wash. App. 465, 473, 346 P.3d 784 (2015)(followed)
- State v. Dennis, 200 Wash. App. 654, 666, 402 P.3d 943 (2017)(reversed)
- State v. Moses, 145 Wash. 2d 370, 374, 37 P.3d 1216 (2002)(followed)
- Jenkins v. Bellingham Municipal Court, 95 Wash. 2d 574, 579, 627 P.2d 1316 (1981)(followed)
- Rivard, 168 Wash. 2d at 784, 231 P.3d 186(followed)
- In re Marriage of Schneider, 173 Wash. 2d 353, 363, 268 P.3d 215 (2011)(discussed)
- State v. Vela, 100 Wash. 2d 636, 641, 673 P.2d 185 (1983)(discussed)
- State v. Larson, 184 Wash. 2d 843, 851, 365 P.3d 740 (2015)(discussed)
- Columbia Riverkeeper v. Port of Vancouver USA, 188 Wash. 2d 421, 440, 395 P.3d 1031 (2017)(discussed)
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Cited In (0)
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