Ruling: Offenders have no right to drug court

OLYMPIA – Drug offenders do not have a constitutional right to go through a drug court program to avoid a felony conviction, the state Supreme Court has ruled.

Katharine Keithley and Melody Harner each sued the state after they were separately convicted of drug possession. The counties in which they were arrested – Stevens and Grays Harbor, respectively – did not offer a drug court, which would have allowed the women to receive treatment instead of jail time.

Because some Washington counties, such as King, do offer drug programs, lawyers for the women argued that their equal protection and due process rights were violated; their ability to avoid felony conviction was subject to the county of their arrest.

The court unanimously rejected that argument Thursday.

Justice Charles Johnson noted in the decision that the Legislature did not require all counties to establish drug courts.

“Because establishment of a drug court could effectively promote frugal use of state and local resource in one county but drain local and state resource in another, the structure of (the law) achieves the Legislature’s purpose of allowing each county the choice of establishing a drug court program and structuring any such program,” the decision said.

The court also noted that the Legislature did not establish the drug courts as an entitlement for defendants. So drug offenders have no constitutional right to be tried in drug courts.

In a separate decision, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a defendant accused of killing four people in Des Moines could present evidence of insanity at trial though he declined to answer questions from the state’s medical experts.

The court also said that the prosecution could introduce evidence of the defendant’s refusal to answer at trial, but the state could not use that evidence to suggest the defendant is sane.

Leemah Carneh pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity after being charged in 2001 with four counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of Richard and Leola Larson; their 17-year-old grandson, Taelor Marks; and his girlfriend, Josie Peterson.