State Of Washington, V Sierra Noel Wall, 76731-3

Background

On Nov. 9, 2015, writing on a Centralia High School desk said "Ima shoot up the school - 11/10" and "Sir Kills-a-lot." Investigation tied the handwriting to juvenile S.W.
S.W. initially denied, then confessed, saying she intended to erase the writing but forgot.
S.W. was charged in juvenile court with harassment—threat to kill; the parties agreed to a deferred disposition at a pretrial hearing.
The trial court sua sponte concluded the proffered facts (declaration of probable cause) did not show a threat to a specific person or intent to threaten, and declined to enter the deferred disposition.
The court dismissed the charge without prejudice, denied the State’s request for a continuance and its motion for reconsideration.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court abused its discretion by dismissing the charge without prejudice	The State argued the court improperly dismissed the case on its own motion	Respondent argued the court correctly found insufficient facts to support an adjudication and dismissed	Court held dismissal without prejudice is not appealable and declined review
Whether a dismissal without prejudice is a final, appealable decision by the State	State contended the dismissal should be appealable as effectively terminating the case	Respondent contended dismissal without prejudice allows refiling, so not final or appealable	Court held general rule: dismissal without prejudice is not appealable because it does not discontinue or abate the case
Whether exceptions (statute of limitations or Knapstad) render this dismissal appealable	State pointed to exceptions where dismissal without prejudice can be effectively final	Respondent noted statute of limitations not expired and case was not dismissed with prejudice under Knapstad	Court held no exception applies here—the statute of limitations still permits refiling and the dismissal was not with prejudice
Whether dismissal could be treated as under CrR 8.3(b)/(c) to permit appeal	State attempted to characterize the order as a CrR 8.3 dismissal	Respondent noted court did not follow CrR 8.3 procedures or cite the rule	Court held the order was not a CrR 8.3 dismissal and those procedural requirements were not met; not appealable

Key Cases Cited

State v. Kiliona-Garramone, 166 Wn. App. 16 (court recognized dismissal without prejudice generally not appealable but allowed exception where statute of limitations precludes refiling)
State v. Taylor, 150 Wn.2d 599 (establishes limitation on State appeals from non-final criminal rulings)
State v. Knapstad, 107 Wn.2d 346 (addresses appealability of certain pretrial dismissals with prejudice)