Court Unanimously Approves ‘Hard Time For Armed Crime’

The state Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a constitutional challenge to the two-year-old law requiring tougher sentences for people who commit crimes with deadly weapons.

The unanimous decision, written by Justice Barbara Madsen, said the “Hard Time for Armed Crime” law did not violate the state constitution.

But in so ruling, the court said the appellant in the case, convicted armed robber Nathaniel R. Broadaway, has a right to a new sentencing hearing because the Snohomish County Superior Court failed to include in the sentence a period of time in “community placement.”

He is currently serving a sentence of 99 months, or more than eight years.

In upholding the law’s constitutionality, the high court rejected Broadaway’s argument that the law’s legislative title was not relevant and that it did not fully reflect the content of the legislation.

Broadaway was convicted by a jury after robbing at gunpoint a Snohomish County gas station.

He was sentenced to more than three years for the robbery, and five additional years for using a handgun during the crime.