Tag Archives: courts

Seattle sues ALURE, LABRAT, and NOMAS — and makes them famous — over alleged illegal tagging

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From the city’s lawsuit against the man police say is the NOMAS tagger

“LABRAT”

Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison says her office has filed civil lawsuits against “three prolific taggers responsible for thousands of dollars in damage to private and public property in Seattle.”

The suits are the first under legislation from the city attorney’s office passed by the Seattle City Council this summer opening the way for Davison to pursue civil damages for “criminal graffiti.”

Davison says the ordinance could hit the defendants with a “civil penalty of up to $1,500 per graffiti violation.” Continue reading →

‘Full control of police practices’ — 15 years after an officer killed John T. Williams, feds lift oversight of the Seattle Police Department

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A mural dedicated to Williams was created on 11th Ave (Image: Wooster Collective)

SPD in the summer of 2020

Future Seattle generations may be surprised that 13 years of federal oversight of their city’s police force stemmed from the death of an Indigenous wood carver and not the department’s heavy handed response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

This week, the United States Department of Justice announced it has returned “full control of police practices to the City of Seattle” — Continue reading →

Suspect charged in violent Volunteer Park attack

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Police images of the large bloodied stick recovered from a nearby yard

A suspect police say surrendered at the East Precinct and admitted he severely beat a woman in a random attack in Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park last week has been charged in the crime.

The King County Prosecutor has charged Eric Moody, 52, with first degree assault, calling the attack “a random and senseless” act. Continue reading →

One year later, Madison Park remembering slain dogwalker with memorial plaque

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Last fall’s memorial and march for Dalton

Seattle officials, loved ones, and neighbors will gather in Madison Park Wednesday night to remember Ruth Dalton and celebrate a new plaque honoring her installed overlooking the beach of Lake Washington.

“Join us in remembering Ruth Dalton and her little Prince on the one-year anniversary of their senseless and violent murders,” organizers say. “We are asking the community she loved so dearly to come together to honor her legacy of love and kindness.”

“Family, friends and city officials will talk about the loss, update on the case and what has been done to make our communities safer,” according to neighborhood pub McGilvra’s. Continue reading →

In court-embattled Denny Blaine Park, a show of defiance, nudity… and puppets

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While the battle to keep Denny Blaine nude is playing out in court, members of the queer and nudist communities that love and utilize the park have continued to visit the popular beach this summer.

In a city where developers and wealthy NIMBYs seem to be nearly constantly scheming to carve up public space for private gain, revolutionary energy is also bubbling up at Denny Blaine in the form of puppets, nudity, and unapologetic queer defiance.

This weekend, guerrilla performances transformed the lakeside park into a stage for radical satire, bodily liberation, and a middle finger to privatization. The shows were part absurdist comedy, part scathing political critique, and directed their ire at figures like Stuart Sloan, the wealthy neighbor who has spent years trying to sanitize Denny Blaine, and Mayor Bruce Harrell’s laughably inept attempts to placate the NIMBYs.

One performance swung between nostalgia for freer times and biting commentary on whose bodies get to take up space. “These are my boobies!” declared an actor, fully nude except for a top hat. It was cheeky but the message hit home. Freedom has some rough edges — and the battle isn’t done. Continue reading →

Group proposes plan including park rangers and new signs to keep Denny Blaine open — and nude

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The Friends of Denny Blaine community group is calling on the city to adopt its proposed “abatement plan” for meeting a court ordered-deadline to address complaints of nudity and sexual activity at the popular LGBTQ nude beach.

The proposal includes a plan that would add Seattle Park Rangers to Denny Blaine as well as new signage and a ban on “repeat offenders” who have violated public sex laws.

“The appearance of neglect, or the perception that Denny Blaine is a secret place far from the public eye, contributes to a handful of bad actors who behave as though the park exists in the City’s blind spot,” the group’s proposed plan reads. “Stating clearly that the City is aware of nudity and has expectations for how it can occur in the Park rejects those ideas, and deters the behavior that stems from them.” Continue reading →

For first time since pandemic, King County Superior Court handled more than 5,000 criminal cases last year

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(Image: King County Superior Court)

The King County Superior Court is still recovering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a presentation scheduled to take place at Tuesday’s meeting of the Seattle City Council public safety committee.

According to the presentation (PDF) from Ketu Shah, Presiding Judge, King County Superior Court, the court saw more than 5,000 criminal cases filed in 2024 — the highest total since numbers plunged during the pandemic due to closures, restrictions, and staffing issues.

Meanwhile, the bloated backlog of pending cases that surged above 6,000 in 2020, came in at just over 4,000 last year, up slightly from 2023. Continue reading →

‘Plan of abatement’ — Judge orders city to address reported criminal activity he says makes nudity in Denny Blaine Park ‘a public nuisance’

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(Image: Seattle Parks)

A King County judge won’t close Denny Blaine Park but he does want the city to come up with a “plan of abatement” to address complaints of drug use, masturbation, and sex at the popular nude beach on the shores of Lake Washington east of Capitol Hill.

Superior Court Judge Samuel Chung issued the order Monday in a hearing over a bid from the Denny Blaine for All neighbor group to immediately close the park to the public. The group has mounted an ongoing legal fight over the park that is being defended as an important gathering space by queer and nudist communities. Continue reading →

To end 13 years of oversight, feds asked to sign off on Seattle Police Department’s new crowd control policies

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Police make an arrest during a counter-protest against a rally of anti-trans Christian groups in Cal Anderson Park

With revised crowd control policies and a new chief in place, Seattle has filed to formally end more than a decade of federal oversight of its police force. Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the filing Tuesday.

“An end to the consent decree does not mean the work is done – we are committed to being a learning, growing organization,” Harrell said in the announcement. “What it does mean is that it is time to fully restore local control of our police department to our community.” Continue reading →

Seattle defends queer nude beach against legal bid to close Denny Blaine Park — ‘Nudity alone at Denny Blaine is also not a nuisance’

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Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison is a champion of nudity in Denny Blaine Park.

In the city’s response to a June legal thrust from the Denny Blaine for All neighbor group to immediately close the park to the public, Davis has told the King County Superior Court that the popular hangout on the shores of Lake Washington east of Capitol Hill should remain open and free.

“Allowing Denny Blaine Park to continue as a nude queer space has social utility,” Davison writes.

“Nudity is subject to City regulation, and the City has determined that not regulating public nudity at Denny Blaine is in the public interest. Based on this decision, nudity alone at Denny Blaine is also not a nuisance.” Continue reading →