Anthony Tomashefsky
Investigative journalist covering Washington courts, judicial conduct, and local government. Member, Society of Professional Journalists.
A Clallam County Superior Court judge set bail at a combined $500,000 on Thursday for a 30-year-old Port Angeles man whose arrest this week ended a two-day search, finding that the presumption favoring release had been overcome. Aaron J. Hatfield was taken into custody at about
A divided Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that breath test results are admissible in a vehicular homicide prosecution even though the arresting deputy saw tiny strands of chewing tobacco stuck between the driver's teeth before administering the test. The 5-4 decision filed Thursday morning, affirms the Court
A 30-year-old Port Angeles man sought by law enforcement since Monday afternoon was arrested Tuesday after he collided with a deputy and was stopped with a Taser, according to the Clallam County Sheriff's Office. Aaron J. Hatfield was taken into custody at about 12:21 p.
Law enforcement is searching for a 30-year-old Port Angeles man who reportedly fled into a wooded area armed with a knife Monday afternoon following a reported domestic violence incident at a residence on South Bay View Avenue, according to the Clallam County Sheriff's Office. Deputies were
The Olympic Herald has taken the Clallam County Superior Court to court.
A Washington appellate court has thrown out a restitution order requiring a Spokane man to pay a hospital $14,563.49 for a new eye examination device he broke, ruling that the State never proved what the hospital actually lost when its aging machine was broken. In an opinion filed
The Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that when parents share a phased-in parenting plan, courts deciding a child relocation dispute must measure each parent's residential time based on the phase in effect when the relocating parent serves notice of the intended move, not on the plan as
A state appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a Sequim man who alleged that Washington State Ferries and the Washington State Department of Transportation discriminated against him on the basis of disability and age when they terminated his probationary employment in 2023. In an unpublished
Nine years ago, Lindy Clevenger stepped down as Superior Court administrator after 43 years with the county, having started as a clerk in 1974 and taken the top administrative job in 1997. The detail worth remembering is what the judges said about her on the way out. Then-Presiding Judge
Johnny F. Watts, Jr., the former Clallam County Drug Court coordinator now facing a federal drug charge, tested positive for methamphetamine and for fentanyl on two later dates while on pretrial release, according to a violation report filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. The report, submitted by
A former Wenatchee health care executive has pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge and agreed to a restitution order of more than $24 million, according to records filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. Patrick Alan Bucknum entered the plea on June 24
The Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II, has warned counsel in Aaron Fisher's manslaughter appeal that a $250 sanction may follow unless a missed filing, or a request for more time, reaches the Tacoma court by Thursday. A July 27 letter signed by Court Clerk/Administrator Derek
The federal case built out of the two-day March operation in Clallam County that ended at the 7 Cedars Casino is on track to slip past the end of the year. On July 28, Jonathan E. Karns signed a written waiver of his right to a speedy trial and
A Clallam County man sent to state prison last week after a judge declined to grant an agreed mental health sentencing alternative has appealed, and the trial court has already ordered that his appeal proceed at public expense. James R. Lundstrom filed a notice of appeal on July 28, the
A state appeals court has thrown out a Kitsap County housing authority's eviction case, ruling that the smoking policy behind it contradicted itself so thoroughly the tenant gets the benefit of the doubt. In an unpublished opinion filed July 28, 2026, Division II of the Washington State Court
July was a busy month for The Olympic Herald. It began with a school district demanding 90 business days to release the records behind a censure, and it ended with a state Supreme Court ruling that a public university owed a duty of care to a student who died pledging
Spokane County Superior Court, Spokane County District Court and the City of Spokane Municipal Court have continued nearly all civil and criminal matters set for Monday and Tuesday and called off summoned jurors, under an emergency order signed Sunday as the Spokane Complex fire burned into neighborhoods of Washington'
A 25-year-old Poulsbo man who admitted to collecting child sexual abuse material over a three-year period was sentenced Monday in Kitsap County Superior Court to 34 months in state prison, a fraction of the 10-year statutory maximum the offense carries. Judge Cadine Ferguson-Brown imposed the
The Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Washington State University owed a legal duty of care to Sam Martinez, the 19-year-old Bellevue freshman who died of acute alcohol intoxication during a 2019 fraternity hazing ritual, sending his parents' wrongful death case back to King County Superior Court.
The Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that a judge who grants a mental health sentencing alternative may also waive the mandatory confinement that normally comes with a deadly weapon finding, a decision that now binds every superior court in the state. The opinion in State v. Perrin was Thursday
A Clallam County Superior Court judge refused Tuesday to grant a mental health sentencing alternative that prosecutors and defense counsel had agreed on, and sent a 34-year-old man to state prison for 23.25 months instead. Judge Brent Basden found that James R. Lundstrom had expressed a willingness