High court rules convict was wrongly committed

OLYMPIA – In a ruling that could affect other sex-offender cases, a sharply divided Washington Supreme Court on Thursday said a Vancouver man was wrongly committed as a sexually violent predator.

Several dissenters on the court agreed that there was a technical mistake in the case but said it didn’t merit freeing the man.

The court challenge came from Sheldon Martin, a kidnapper and sex offender arrested in 1992 in Portland and sentenced to a year in prison. He was also sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for a Vancouver, Wash., burglary and indecent exposure. Only the Oregon crimes fall under Washington’s sexually violent predator law, which allows the state to continue to hold dangerous predators even after they’ve served their sentences.

When Martin neared the end of his Washington sentence, a state review board concluded that Martin remained dangerous.

The next step in such cases is for a county prosecutor to ask the state attorney general to try to civilly commit the person as a sex predator at a trial-like proceeding. If a jury agrees, the person is held – indefinitely – at a secure compound on a prison island near Tacoma.

For reasons that remain unclear, the request in Martin’s case came from the prosecutor’s office in Thurston County.

The problem: The law clearly says that such a request must come from a county prosecutor where Martin was charged or convicted, Justice Richard Sanders wrote for the majority. And Martin’s burglary was in Clark County, not Thurston County.

“Before the State can commit a person for what may arguably be the remainder of his life, the State must be put through the inconvenience of fully complying with the statute,” Sanders wrote for the court’s 5-4 majority.

About a dozen of the 204 people committed as sex offenders committed their crimes in other states, according to assistant attorney general Malcolm Ross. Another 84, including infamous Spokane rapist Kevin Coe, are awaiting commitment hearings.

Ross and other state attorneys were unsure Thursday about the ruling’s impact – if any – on those dozen cases.

The ruling also highlights what seems like a significant loophole in the law: It makes no mention of how to commit a Washington predator whose only sex crimes are from other states.

Sanders noted this “legislative omission” makes the law “less effective.” But he said it’s not the court’s place to try to perfect laws passed by the Legislature.

In a dissent, Justice Tom Chambers suggested that it makes little difference whether Thurston County or Vancouver-area officials requested continued confinement for Martin. The mistake, he said, was merely a “highly technical statutory error.”

“I see no cause to dismiss the petition merely because the ‘wrong’ prosecutor asked the attorney general to file it,” wrote Chambers.

Ross said the ruling doesn’t mean Martin will immediately be freed. It will take at least 30 days for the court to issue an order in the case, he said, and Vancouver officials could ask for another commitment attempt. The state may also ask the court to reconsider its ruling.

“So he won’t be walking out today,” Ross said.

An attorney for Martin didn’t respond to a call seeking comment.