In re Pers. Restraint of Scott
Annotate this Case
In September 2000, Joshua Dean Scott and his partner in crime, Douglas Sean James-Anderson, robbed a jewelry store in south Tacoma. They brought several guns, including an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. Alerted by a silent alarm, the police were waiting in the store’s parking lot when Scott and James-Anderson emerged. They both ran, and both were caught. Scott was charged with and convicted of multiple counts of first degree robbery, unlawful possession of firearms, possession of stolen property, and possession of stolen firearms. The jury also found by special verdict that Scott was armed with a deadly weapon while committing most of the counts. On direct review, the Court of Appeals reversed the possession of stolen firearms charges, finding insufficient evidence that Scott knew the guns used in the robbery had been stolen, and remanded for resentencing. Scott was ultimately sentenced to 213 months. The issue on appeal to the Supreme Court was whether a trial court may refer to verdict forms to determine whether a judgment and sentence is valid on its face and thus not subject to collateral attack under RCW 10.73.090 and whether "Washington v. Recuenco" (180 P.3d 1276 (2008)) applied retroactively to cases that were final when the case was announced. The Court concluded that a court may consult the verdict forms to illuminate whether a judgment and sentence is valid on its face but that "Receunco" is not retroactive. The Court reversed the Court of Appeals and dismissed this petition.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.