Actual Case Results

The Meryhew Law Group LLP, Criminal Defense Lawyers based in Seattle Washington litigating cases throughout Western Washington. These results represent a small percentage of the cases we have negotiated and litigated. These results are not predictions of outcomes as every case’s result is subject to the facts of that particular case.

Sex Offenses

• Charge: Rape of a Child
  Court: Clallam County Superior
  Result: Our client had been convicted of these charges after a trial and sentenced to prison. His appeal was successful after being in prison for two years in prison because of mistakes by the court and his former attorney, and a family member hired us. After our client’s testimony and the cross examination of his teen age daughter it was clear that her complaints were about issues other than sexual abuse. It took the jury just 30 minutes to find our client not guilty.
• Charge: Investigation of Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse We regularly represent people accused of sexually abusing a child during the investigation of those allegations, and prior to the filing of charges. In many cases we make the bold decision to talk with the Police directly, though not in every case. We believe in directly addressing the allegations and employing polygraph examinations and our own investigation of witnesses that should be included in the investigation.
  Result: We have several cases each year where after the investigation is completed no charges are filed against our clients and the matter is closed.
• Charge: Investigation of Child Pornography, Voyeurism or Other Technology Based Offenses.
  Result: When our clients are investigated for possession of child pornography or any offense that involves the forensic analysis of a piece of technology we know the investigation will take months to complete. During this time we have our clients who admit their offenses get involved in a psychosexual evaluation and sex offender treatment. Results: When the charges are eventually filed we are able to get very good results for our clients as a result of this hard work. We have had many of these cases reduced to misdemeanor offenses with minimal to no jail time.
• Crime Alleged: Communicating with a Minor for Immoral Purposes.
  Facing: Up to five years in prison, sex offender registration.
  Result: Charges reduced to non-sex offense misdemeanor due to problems with the State’s evidence and after psychosexual evaluation finds no deviance.
• Charge: Child Molestation
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: Our client was accused of inappropriately touching a 15 year old female co-worker at an adult family home. The owner of the home and other co-workers supported our client in this case, and testified on his behalf. Our client was found not guilty at a third trial after two mistrials.
• Charge: Rape of a Child
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: Our client’s nine year old stepdaughter accused him of sexually assaulting her. These vague and inconsistent accusations were made after he had disciplined her and refused to buy her a pet frog. The jury found our client not guilty.
• Charge: Rape
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: Our client had been accused of sexually assaulting a co-worker after a long night of drinking. The alleged victim claimed that she was too drunk to fight back and that she did not remember the incident. Our client testified that this was consensual, and that she was an active participant. The jury believed that it was reasonable for him to infer consent from her behavior, whether she remembered it the next day or not, and found our client not guilty.
• Crime Alleged: Possession of Child Pornography
  Facing: Up to 10 years in prison, sex offender registration.
  Result: After forensic analysis of the computer by our expert and presenting proof of another person placing they files on our clients hard drive the charges were dismissed.
• Charge: Patronizing a Prostitute
  Court: Seattle Municipal Court, Everett Municipal Court, Seatac Municipal Court, King County District Court, Snohomish County District Court, Renton Municipal Court,
  Result: Through negotiations and mitigation our client’s avoided a conviction for this charge on their record. It should be noted most of our clients had little or no criminal history.
• Charges: Rape 2 with a Deadly Weapon, Assault 2 with a Deadly Weapon, Felony Harassment with a Deadly Weapon
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: The alleged victim in this case had run out of her apartment carrying her 3-month-old baby and screaming, “I’ve been raped.” The trial turned on her credibility, and the argument that she had fabricated this as revenge for a break up in the relationship. Careful cross-examination helped the jury understand the problems in the relationship and with the State’s case. Our client faced life in prison for these charges. A jury found our client not guilty of the Rape 2, Assault, and Harassment Charges, and hung 11 to 1 in favor of acquittal on the lesser charge of Rape 3. The State subsequently dismissed that charge.
• Charge: Sexual Assault Protection Order, SAPO
  Result: Our teenage client had a Sexual Assault Protection Order entered against him for allegedly engaging in unwanted sexual contact with a young woman at her parent’s home. We briefed and argued a motion to reconsider this order and convinced the court to dismiss the matter as it was improperly based on hearsay evidence the court should not have considered.
• Charge: Sexual Assault Protection Order, SAPO
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: A young person claimed that our client sexually assaulted her repeatedly and without her consent while at school. Our client insisted that everything that took place was consensual. We resolved this matter by convincing the young woman’s parents to dismiss their Sexual Assault Protection Order petition in exchange for a short anti-harassment order that did not have the same devastating consequences to our client as a finding that he had committed a sexual assault would have had.
• Charge: Rape
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: Our client had been accused of sexually assaulting a co-worker after a long night of drinking. The alleged victim claimed that she was too drunk to fight back and that she did not remember the incident. Our client testified that this was consensual, and that she was an active participant. The jury believed that it was reasonable for him to infer consent from her behavior, whether she remembered it the next day or not, and found our client not guilty.
• Charge: Rape of a Child
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: A young girl accused our client of sexually assaulting her after he spent the night at her mother’s home. This report was made to the police only after several attempts to obtain money from our client. The jury found our client not guilty.
• Charge: Rape of a Child
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: Our client was accused of molesting his then 18 year old daughter many years before that when she was in elementary school. These accusations were only made after our client had brought a custody action to get his children away from a neglectful mother. We traveled with a Prosecutor to Wyoming to interview the young lady, her mother and her siblings, and it became clear this was a vendetta. The State dismissed the charges after those interviews. Our client got visitation and eventually full custody of his children.
• Charge: Child Molestation
  Court: Pierce County Superior Court
  Result: Our client was accused of “humping” his then 5-year-old relative with their clothes on four years prior. This report came after the boy was taught that boys touching boys was bad. His description was of a single incident that happened four years before the report when our client was 16 years old. The child said that he was half asleep, and that nothing was said by our client at the time. At trial the child denied that anything happened at all. The jury hung 8 – 4 in favor of acquittal, and the State offered a misdemeanor with no jail or probation to resolve the case.
• Charge: Indecent Liberties
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: Our client was accused of sexually assaulting a female after a night of drinking and flirting at a bar. The alleged victim was extremely intoxicated and believed she had been raped while passed out. She did not remember consenting, and therefore believed she had not consented. The jury was not convinced that she was passed out and unable to give consent, with many jurors concluding she had blacked out and just didn’t remember what happened. The jury hung, and the State offered a misdemeanor with no probation to resolve the case.
• Charge: Failure to Register as a Sex Offender
  Courts: Kitsap County Superior Court, Port Orchard; King County Superior Court, Seattle
  Result: Our client was accused of failing to register for a juvenile sex offense. We were able to get the underlying requirement that he register lifted in King County Superior Court and then Kitsap County agreed to dismiss the felony Failure to Register charge.
• Charge: Rape of a Child
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: A neighbor boy accused our 18-year-old female client of having sexual intercourse with him when he was 7 and she was 13. A lengthy investigation revealed that the boy had a serious mental health disorder and was very unreliable. The State dismissed these charges after being provided with our investigation.
• Charge: Child Molestation
  Court: Kitsap County Superior Court
  Result: Our client was accused of molesting his ex girlfriends son when he was staying with them several summers before the report was made. This accusation was made when our client asserted custody rights to the child he had in common with the boy’s mother. We traveled with a Prosecutor to Idaho where the boy and his family lived and interviewed them. Based on those interviews the Prosecutors office then dismissed these charges, and our client was able to get custody of his son.
• Charge: Rape
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: A woman accused our client of sexually assaulting her in an alleyway at knifepoint. The case was based on a very old DNA sample that identified our client as the perpetrator. Our client testified that the sexual contact was consensual. Our careful trial preparation and cross examination pointed out multiple inconsistencies in the complainant’s testimony at trial. The jury returned a not guilty verdict after deliberating for only 45 minutes.
• Charges: Child Molestation , Rape of a Child , multiple counts
  Court: Kitsap County Superior Court
  Result: Our client was accused of sexually abusing his nieces and nephews over a seven-year period. Several of the complainants’ stories were originally elicited using discredit recovered memory techniques. Our client had been diagnosed with a genetic degenerative disorder that affects mental functioning. After two years of extensive expert consultation with doctors, several competency evaluations by Western State Hospital, and litigation, the State finally agreed our client was incompetent and dismissed the charges.
• Charge: Child Molestation , Rape of a Child , Child Molestation
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: Our client pled guilty to molesting his two younger brothers over several years. Our client committed these offenses when he was still a juvenile, but the molestation wasn’t brought to the attention of the authorities until the children’s parents divorced and went through a contentious custody battle. We were able to get the client the Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA), to be completed in Utah so that he could live with his mother and have family support. Otherwise, he would have spent a minimum of ten years in prison. We assisted our client in obtaining an Interstate Transfer of his supervision through the Department of Corrections.
• Charge: Rape of a Child
  Court: King County Superior Court
  Result: Our client was an Ethiopian refugee granted asylum to live in the United States. He was accused of molesting his grandson. Our client had a contentious relationship with his son-in-law who drove these accusations. The charges were dismissed.
• Charge: Assault 4th Degree with Sexual Motivation
  Court: Skagit County District Court
  Result: Our client was charged with assaulting another person at a public facility: this assault was claimed to have been sexually motivated. Conviction of this charge would have been devastating to our client’s career. After a thorough investigation and professional evaluations, this case was resolved with a dismissal of the charge.
• Charges: Child Molestation
  Child Molestation Court: Snohomish County Superior Court
  Result: Our 25 year old client was charged with Child Molestation for behavior he admitted had happened when he was 13. Because he was over 18 he was charged as an adult in adult court. Because we were able to convince the Prosecutors that our client was deserving of a second chance here, through negotiations and professional evaluations, our client qualified for a diversion program that will result in dismissal of this charge when he is completed with those requirements. The victim supported this resolution. Unfortunately this kind of diversion program is not currently available in other counties, and is used only very selectively in this county.
• Charges: Child Molestation
  Child Molestation Court: Snohomish County Superior Court
  Result: Our 25 year old client was investigated for Child Molestation for allegedly assaulting another female family member over a number of years. Our investigation and discussion with the Snohomish County resulted in our client being charged and pleading to misdemeanor harassment, no jail and an evaluation.
• Charges: Petitions to Remove the Requirement of Sex Offender , Registration for Adults and Juveniles
  Court: We have brought these petitions with adult and juvenile offenders, and involving Washington state and out of state convictions, in several Superior Courts in western Washington, including King, Snohomish, Pierce, Thurston, and Kitsap counties.
  Result: We have had the registration requirements removed in the vast majority of these cases. Making the case that a person is no longer a risk requires collecting documents and supporting information to make a convincing argument that the client is living a crime free lifestyle, and is not a risk to the community. Many of our clients had been registering years after the time when they could have asked for this requirement to be lifted.