Washington State has officially launched an online portal that people can use to request reimbursement of their legal fees if they were prosecuted under drug criminalization laws that the state Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional in 2021.
The state Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) launched the Blake Refund Bureau website on Saturday to facilitate the relief in coordination with courts, county clerks, public defenders, prosecutors, advocates and other stakeholders.
“If you have a Blake-impacted criminal record, you must first have your Blake-related convictions vacated and refund eligibility determined by the court or courts where your convictions were issued,” AOC said. “Once your convictions have been vacated, you can apply for reimbursements on your paid Blake-related [legal financial obligations].”
The novel reimbursement fund is being created following the state Supreme Court’s landmark 2021 ruling in Washington v. Blake that found the state’s criminal code for drug possession crimes was unconstitutionally flawed because it didn’t take require proof that a person “knowingly” committed the offense—creating a situation where people could be criminalized for inadvertent possession.
The ruling effectively nullified the state’s drug possession criminalization law, though the governor has since signed a bill passed by the legislature that reinstates prohibition, with statutory language fixes to
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