OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Governor Chris Gregoire has signed into a law a bill to help victims of online impersonation pursue lawsuits in civil court.

A man sentenced to 184 1/2 years in prison for a shooting that injured one person declined a plea deal that would have given him 10 to 12 years in prison.

Gregory Sharkey, Jr., 27, had three attorneys over the course of nearly two years before Spokane County Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt convicted him of 10 counts of first-degree assault, said his public defender, Terence Ryan.

State law requires that sentences for violent felonies be served consecutively. The first count of first-degree assault carried a standard range of 24 to 29 years, including enhancements because he used a firearm and because a co-defendant used a firearm. The remaining nine counts each brought a standard range of about 17 to 20 years.

The result was an eye-opening sentence of 2,215 months - the low end of the standard range. Imposed by Sypolt late last month, Sharkey's sentence is an example of what can happen under strong gun sentencing laws enacted by the Washington state Legislature.

“We made him an offer of much less than that and he chose to go to trial,” said Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Mark Cipolla, who handled the case. “I don't have any direction at sentencing once somebody goes to trial.”

Sharkey chose to take his case to a bench trial instead of a jury trial, Ryan said.

“I told him it might be wiser to go in front of a jury,” Ryan said. “That's 12 people who have to make a decision, with a judge it's just one person.”

Sharkey declined an interview Monday at the Spokane County Jail, where is awaiting transport to prison after his sentencing late last month. Ryan said Sharkey didn't seem surprised by the sentence.

“He was surprised that the judge found him guilty, but he wasn't surprised at the length of the sentence,” Ryan said. “He knew all abut the sentencing, the possible worst-case scenario.”

Sharkey was arrested in December 2009 after a two-day crime spree in which shots were fired at a Spokane police officer and at a group of young people outside a home. Sharkey fired indiscriminately into the group while co-defendant Tony E. Dawson shot one person.

Later, after passing by the shooting scene, Dawson opened fire on a Spokane police patrol car; no one was injured.

Sharkey “supplied both guns,” Cipolla said last week.

“The legislature, which I agree with, is tough on people using multiple guns in violent crimes,” Cipolla continued. “Ten people could have ended up dead here.”

Dawson is serving about 21 years for the crimes. Margaret Shults, who was in the stolen SUV when Dawson fired shots, is serving 77 months.

Both did what Sharkey did not: accept a plea deal.

Sypolt's decision to convict him of 10 violent felonies left himself no choice at sentencing.

“It's apparently what the Legislature wanted when they passed what's called 'hard time for armed crime,'” Ryan said.

Sharkey's convictions have already been appealed.

Ryan filed a motion for arrest of judgment after the verdict, saying it was based on the testimony of Shults, who has a lengthy criminal history and omitted any mention of the defendants when first interviewed by detectives. The motion was denied.

Sharkey had a previous felony conviction for first-degree robbery. He was shot while committing that crime in February 2006.

Cipolla said he's “had a couple” of 100-plus-year sentences while a deputy prosecutor, including Anthony L. Wright, who's serving 134 years for a drive-by shooting that killed a 3-year-old girl in 2001. “Few and far between, but they're there.”

“That's the way it goes sometimes, I guess,” Cipolla said. “Not much I can say about it.”

Robert Christopher is possibly pictured fourth from left at the bill signing April 13.

OLYMPIA – One of the bikers gathered around the table as Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill outlawing “motorcycle profiling” may have been a member of an outlaw gang whose conviction for killing a Portland police officer in 1979 was overturned.

A photo of the bill-signing, first published in The Spokesman-Review, has law enforcement officials studying the faces and patches on some motorcyclists who applauded as the bill was signed, then posed with Gregoire and several legislators.

Read the rest of Jim Camden's story here.

SEATTLE (AP) — Gov. Chris Gregoire says she won't sign legislation to create licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Washington state after the Justice Department warned it could result in a federal crackdown.

OLYMPIA – Rules for growing, processing and selling medical marijuana passed the Washington state House of Representatives after heated debate Monday on whether the proposed law has enough safeguards to prevent sales to children.

Read the rest of Jim Camden's story here.

The bill passed the House without an amendment proposed as a joke by Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City (pictured).

 The amendment would require the state to reimburse medical marijuana patients for the cost of pizza they ate while high on legal pot.

The Department of Health would reimburse the patient “no later than five business days after the patient submits a receipt for the pizza,” according to the amendment, which Anderson withdrew on Monday.

The department would not reimburse for delivery charges, tips or more than three toppings.

“For purposes of this section, “pizza” means a pie with a bread crust topped with tomato sauce, cheese, and various toppings,” according to the amendment. “”Pizza” includes Chicago style deep dish, New York style thin crust, and stuffed crust.”

Some advocates criticized the amendment has insensitive to medical cannabis patients; others found it humorous.

A proposal to end the statue of limitations on first- and second-degree rape unanimously passed the Washington House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The House voted 98-0 to send House Bill 1657 to the Senate, where it will first be considered by the judicial committee.

Current state law requires victims who were abused as children to report the sexual abuse by their 28th birthday.

“This legislation says that we won’t allow sexual predators to live their lives free of justice while their victims pay a life sentence,” bill sponsor Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, said in a prepared statement.

Spokane City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin recounted her own sexual abuse as a child while testifying in favor of the bill earlier this month.

“The victims who testified on this legislation told us it took them a very long time to heal from the crimes against them, to cope and recover from the mind control,” Ahern said. “We must not remove their ability to accuse their abusers simply because they’ve reached a certain age.”

Idaho lifted the statute of limitations on all child sex crimes in 2006.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A dozen years after voters approved Washington's medical marijuana system, state lawmakers are debating major changes that would give patients greater protection from arrest and bring the supply chain out of a legal gray area. Patients and advocates packed Thursday's meeting of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee, which was discussing a bill proposed by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle.

With a nod to federal policies that are now more tolerant of state medical marijuana laws, Kohl-Welles' bill would make sweeping changes while attempting to keep the supply chain from resembling the more wide-open markets seen in California.

“We don't want the big billboards. We don't want the neon lights in dispensaries,” Kohl-Welles said.

A major element of her bill would give patients protection from criminal arrest. Current law offers less protection, giving authorized medical marijuana patients the ability to offer a defense in court if they're charged with possession.

Patients and doctors could enter information into a voluntary, secure database that law enforcement could access to check someone's authorization.

The bill also would address a conundrum in Washington's system: It's technically legal for a patient to possess pot, but the proper ways of getting the drug can be unclear.

Current state law does not allow for marijuana sales, instead saying that patients must grow marijuana themselves or designate a caregiver to grow it for them. But growing marijuana can be expensive and difficult, particularly for very ill people.

That has prompted many patients to form groups that grow pot collectively, contributing dues to help cover costs. In the Seattle area, some collectives also have distribution sites — called dispensaries — that serve thousands of members.

Current state law is silent on such collectives, and prosecutors around the state have taken differing views of whether they're permissible. The state Health Department maintains they're not. At the same time, the state Revenue Department began seeking sales tax revenue last month from dispensaries around the state.

Kohl-Welles' bill would make medical marijuana supply vastly more mainstream, calling on various state agencies to license producers, processors and sellers of medical marijuana.

Dispensaries would have to be operated as nonprofits and patients would not be subject to sales tax. Producers and processors, however, would have to pay state's business and occupation tax under the bill. Collective gardens would be allowed, with restrictions.

Supporters of the bill offered personal stories of their experience with medical marijuana and the hassles they sometimes face in the current system. Tacoma Deputy Mayor Lauren Walker said her husband, Baptist minister Marcus Walker, has found great relief while battling melanoma.

“Picture this: Local minister and deputy mayor arrested for having marijuana in their possession,” she told the committee. “I don't want to go there.”

It was unclear Thursday whether there was major organized opposition to the measure, or what its chances were of becoming law in some form as lawmakers prepare to work on a major budget deficit.

Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee, said she hoped any concerns from law enforcement would be addressed in the bill. Parlette offered a list of recommendations from a sheriff in her district, including the idea that authorized patients register with local sheriffs and submit to inspections to ensure the law is being followed.

“If somebody legally is permitted to possess medical marijuana, then in my opinion, I don't know why they would object to all of these verifications,” said Parlette, a pharmacist by trade. “Law enforcement needs to know who legally has the permission.”

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Uniformed sheriffs, community activists and onetime gang members sporting facial tattoos were among a large crowd that assembled Wednesday to debate a legislative proposal aimed at restricting criminal gangs in Washington state.

From Jim Camden at Spin Control:

OLYMPIA — Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick was among law enforcement brass who told said they should be allowed to fire an officer who lies without fear of being overruled by an arbitrator.

Kirkpatrick joined sheriffs from King and Chelan counties who supported SB 6590, which was drafted to clarify a problem with state law raised in by a recent state Supreme Court ruling.

The ruling overturned the firing of an officer for lying, saying the there was no explicit state policy that requires an officer to be truthful, so firing him was arbitrary. An officer would have to be lying about a “material fact” in a case, Kirkpatrick said.

An arbitrator should be able to rule on whether the department meets all the standards set down in the disciplinary process, she added; but if that’s done, the decision to fire or not fire shouldn’t be overturned by the arbitrator.

Read more at Spin Control.