Other LanguagesOpinion reverses 2013 Court of Appeals decision
OLYMPIA — At the urging of Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the Washington State Supreme Court today reinstated the attempted murder conviction of a Pacific County man who shot a Washington State Patrol trooper in the head in February 2010.
Martin A. Jones shot then-Trooper Scott Johnson at point-blank range while Johnson was impounding a van belonging to Jones’ wife, who had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Johnson, remarkably, survived and recovered, and currently serves as Pacific County Sheriff.
A Pierce County Superior Court jury convicted Jones of first degree attempted murder in 2011. The verdict included a firearm sentencing enhancement and the aggravating circumstance that the defendant knew the victim was a police officer who was performing his official duties at the time of the commission of the crime. Superior Court Judge Vicki Hogan sentenced Jones to 50 years in prison.
In 2013, the Court of Appeals vacated Jones’ conviction, concluding that his right to a public trial had been violated when a random drawing to select alternate jurors was conducted during a court recess.
The Attorney General’s Office, which handled the criminal prosecution and the appeal, filed a petition for review with the state Supreme Court. The high court accepted the petition and heard oral arguments Feb. 23, 2016.
In its decision released this morning, the high court concluded that the trial court had not violated Jones’ right to a public trial or his right to be present at all “critical stages” of his trial.
“Neither experience nor logic indicates that the public trial right was implicated by the judicial assistant’s randomly drawing the alternate jurors in this case,” the court wrote.
“I am committed to keeping dangerous criminals off the streets,” Attorney General Ferguson said. “I am proud of the work our office did to ensure that the defendant must face the consequences of his egregious actions against a law enforcement officer who put his life on the line.”
The decision outlines some of the numerous discussions held in open court regarding the method for selecting alternate jurors, including questions from attorneys on both sides, repeated explanations from the court on how the names would be drawn, from which box and by whom. Ultimately, Jones himself decided on the random drawing method.
“The only event that did not occur in open court was the judicial assistant’s physical act of randomly drawing the alternate jurors according to the agreed-on procedure,” the Supreme Court wrote.
In previous rulings, the high court has confirmed that certain tasks related to the jury selection process, such as reviewing jury questionnaires or work sessions to review hardship excusals, “may be done outside open court without running afoul of the public trial right.”
“Jones has not provided any historical or legal resources showing that the press and general public have traditionally been able to observe the specific, nondiscretionary, ministerial task of physically drawing the alternate jurors according to a procedure chosen by the defendant that was described both before and after the fact on the record in open court,” the decision read.
Jones also argued that his right to be present at all critical stages of his trial had been violated because he was not present at the moment of the drawing. The appeals court had rejected this argument, and today’s Supreme Court ruling agreed, concluding that Jones had waived his right “by failing to raise a timely objection.” Jones did not raise any concerns until after his conviction.
The Supreme Court case was handled by Deputy Solicitor General Jay Geck together with Assistant Attorneys General John Hillman and Melanie Tratnik, who handled the original trial.
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The Office of the Attorney General is the chief legal office for the state of Washington with attorneys and staff in 27 divisions across the state providing legal services to roughly 200 state agencies, boards and commissions. Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.
Contact:
Peter Lavallee, Communications Director, (360) 586-0725; PeterL@atg.wa.gov