Commission votes to exclude Assault in the 4th degree (DV) from first-time offender waiver eligibility

The State of Washington Sentencing Guideline Commission on Sept. 11 voted to exclude Assault in the 4th degree (domestic violence) from the list of offenses eligible for the first-time offender waiver, a narrower motion that passed 13–4 with proxies counted.

Miss Atro, who moved the narrower exclusion, said the narrower motion aimed to capture the level of concern that commissioners shared about domestic-violence patterns while preserving other eligibility options. "I am somewhat new to this commission... I do like that we had the thumbs up, thumb sideways, and thumbs down," she told the body as she explained why this specific carve-out merited a standalone vote (Miss Atro, SEG 876–894). Representative Davis, who listened to the prior meeting's recording, said commissioners should present clear degrees of support so legislators can understand how broadly the commission agrees: "I personally, for one, am supportive of this idea of sending more information to the legislature…" (Representative Davis, SEG 440–446).

Judges and commissioners debated whether courts should retain discretion in cases that may be charged at different levels; Judge Ferreira (which appeared in the meeting as "Judge Ferrer/Ferreira") explained that assault 4 can range from very de minimis contact to more serious conduct and stressed the importance of judicial context when applying exclusions (Judge Ferreira, SEG 617–626; SEG 664–672). After debate, the chair counted hands and announced the motion carried 13–4 in favor of excluding Assault 4 (DV) from FTOW eligibility (vote tally announced at SEG 1262–1264).

The commission's staff will reflect this motion in its report and notes to the legislature, and commissioners said the report will include the sequence of motions and their vote counts so lawmakers can see varying levels of support for narrower and broader options. The chair said the group would return to other FTOW items, including Robbery 2 permutations, later in the meeting (Ty Menser, SEG 1266–1272).