State v. Blake

On February 25, 2021, the Washington State Supreme Court vacated the felony possession of controlled substance statute in State v. Blake, affecting possession of controlled substance cases dating back to 1971. While this decision is currently being challenged by Spokane County, the origin of the litigation, our office is gathering information to assist Defendants who may be entitled to relief as a result of this court decision. If you believe you are entitled to relief under this court decision, please complete all the information fields in the form. If you are eligible, cases will be reviewed and processed in the order in which they were received. Failure to provide complete information will delay or prevent completion of processing. A valid email address is required as any completed forms or documents filed with the court will be sent to the email address provided.

There are still many unknowns at present time. There has been no guidance or determination as to how the State of Washington intends to process refunds for any applicable court costs, fines, and fees. If a drug charge was included with other criminal charges on the same cause number, this will likely affect eligibility for a refund. You may either be eligible for a lesser amount or no refund at all depending on the assessed charges. Our focus at present time will be to assist with vacating the eligible offenses from conviction history. Our office will file a request with the court to vacate the applicable charge(s) from a prior plea of guilty and judgment and sentence.

Please be aware that on older offenses, such charges may not appear in computer databases or other sources of publicly available information due to the age of the charge(s). When new documents are filed with the court, these documents will become either a public record or a court record.

If you would like the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office to look into your case, please fill out the State v. Blake form to submit the request.

Further information can also be found on the Clerk's Office State v. Blake page.