Court of appeals agrees that threatening to kill a witness is intimidation

The Washington State Court of Appeals recently decided that a man threatening to kill a witness (in front of a police officer) and arranging for his brother to beat up the witness was, in fact, witness intimidation.

Justin Ryan Graham had appealed his conviction for intimidating a witness, arguing that there wasn’t sufficient evidence that he intended to influence the witnesses’ testimony.

Graham was originally arrested for assaulting his girlfriend in June 2015 after his neighbors called police. As he was being led away, he said “You’re dead” to one of the witnesses, according to court documents. After that his brother, Brandon Graham, reportedly tried to attack the witness with brass knuckles but backed off when he realized he was being recorded.

A recorded telephone call from the Spokane County Jail revealed that Justin Graham told his brother that “they need to get their faces smashed in” while referring to the witness. His brother replied that he “tried to run them over” and tried to “break his face” but he had to take off because of the camera, according to court documents.

The witness told police that Brandon Graham later punched him in the face and said “This is for snitching on my brother,” court documents state.