In brief: Two men charged in bank robbery
King County prosecutors have charged two men with first-degree robbery and attempting to elude police in the wake of a West Seattle bank robbery that ended with a cross-city car chase and gunfire.
One of the men, 50-year-old Douglas Michael Cox, was wounded by police gunfire. He was listed in satisfactory condition Monday at Harborview Medical Center, where he remained under guard.
If convicted in the July 1 robbery of a Wells Fargo branch, Cox could face life in prison under the state’s three strikes law for repeat offenders. He has been convicted of other bank robberies, including in Spokane.
Forty-three-year-old Kevin Vernett Palmer was also charged Monday.
Property owners win land battle
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a King County law preventing property owners from clearing or grading parts of their land amounts to an illegal tax, or fee, on development.
The Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights and five landowners had sued to overturn the ordinance.
The law, passed in 2004, prohibits landowners from removing vegetation from large parts of properties that are at least 1 1/4 acres in size.
Supporters said it was needed to protect streams and threatened salmon from excessive clearing of forests.
But Monday’s Appeals Court ruling says the state Supreme Court held in a previous case that such restrictions must be tied to the impact of a specific, proposed development.
East Wenatchee, Wash.
Woman shot dead, boy hurt on trail
A woman was shot and killed and a young boy shot in the head Monday along the Apple Capital Recreational Loop Trail, according to police.
Detective Darin Darnell said the woman had a 9 mm gun in her hand when police arrived at the scene Monday morning.
The boy was taken to Central Washington Hospital shortly after 9 a.m., and then transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, but information on his condition was not immediately available.
Darnell said the shootings appeared to be intentional. Police did not release identities or say whether the victims are related, except that the woman had ties to East Wenatchee.
Police said a handwritten note and identification were found.
Tacoma
Judge waxes poetic in chiding lawyer
A federal judge in Tacoma has told a Vancouver lawyer his lawsuit is too long at 465 pages.
Judge Ronald Leighton invoked a rarely used rule that requires a “short and plain statement” of allegations.
The title alone took eight pages for attorney Dean Browning Webb’s lawsuit against a mortgage company.
The judge issued this order:
“Plaintiff has a great deal to say,
But it seems he skipped Rule 8(a).
His Complaint is too long,
Which renders it wrong,
Please rewrite and refile today.”
From wire reports