A False Report by T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong

Author:T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2018-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

11

A GROSS MISDEMEANOR

The last week of August, 2008

* * *

Lynnwood, Washington

It looked like a traffic ticket. It was even on the same form used for traffic offenses—a one-page, fill-in-the-blank citation, with one box at the top labeled “Traffic,” another labeled “Non-Traffic.” On the page Marie held in her hand, the Non-Traffic box was marked with an X.

The envelope came in the mail in late August, less than three weeks after she had reported being raped. When she opened it, she discovered she was being charged with a crime. “False Reporting,” the citation said, the two words written by hand in all capital letters. The form didn’t say what kind of charge this was—a misdemeanor? a felony?—nor what the penalty might be. But the citation listed the state statute she stood accused of violating, RCW 9A.84.040. With that and Google, she could answer her questions. False reporting was a gross misdemeanor, the most serious charge short of a felony. A conviction could land her in jail for up to a year.

The text of the statute reads:

A person is guilty of false reporting if with knowledge that the information reported, conveyed, or circulated is false, he or she initiates or circulates a false report or warning of an alleged occurrence or impending occurrence of a fire, explosion, crime, catastrophe, or emergency knowing that such false report is likely to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or transportation facility, or to cause public inconvenience or alarm.

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