Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AG’s sex predator unit seeks to prevent release of Stevens County sex offender

Offender will remain confined pending commitment proceedings

COLVILLE — The Washington Attorney General’s Office has filed a petition in Stevens County Superior Court seeking to civilly commit a sex offender and prevent his release into the community.

Joseph Griffith, 34, will remain confined pending civil commitment proceedings. He was convicted in Snohomish County in 2000 of two counts of second-degree rape of a child, a sexually violent offense, and was sentenced to 14 years, two months in prison.  He was released from confinement in 2012.

AG Ferguson criticizes Feds’ attempt to prolong Hanford cleanup

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today criticized the recent attempt by the U.S. Department of Energy to extend the schedule for part of its Hanford cleanup.

For more than a year, the Attorney General’s Office, on behalf of the State of Washington, and the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of Energy, have advocated competing proposals to modify the consent decree governing part of the Hanford cleanup process.  The dispute is now being litigated in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington.

AG’s position in “friend of the court” brief prevails at US Supreme Court

OLYMPIA — The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday ruled that out-of-court statements made to non-law enforcement individuals can potentially be used in criminal prosecutions, endorsing the position advocated by Attorney General Bob Ferguson in a “friend of the court” brief that was joined by 41 other state Attorneys General.