State of Washington v. Earl Lee Ford A/K/A Robert Johnson

Summary

The court held that a defendant may raise for the first time on direct appeal a challenge to the classification of out-of-state convictions used in calculating the offender score. Because the State introduced no evidence establishing that the California convictions were comparable to Washington felonies, the offender score and resulting exceptional sentence were unlawful. The court reversed and remanded for resentencing with an evidentiary hearing, while declining to decide whether civil commitment affects whether an out-of-state offense constitutes a conviction. The dissent would have enforced waiver and affirmed, reasoning that Ford failed to make a specific comparability objection at sentencing.