§ 24.3 Prerequisites for Relief: Unlawful Restraint

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§24.3 PREREQUISITES FOR RELIEF: UNLAWFUL RESTRAINT

RAP 16.4(a) establishes the two substantive prerequisites for relief through a personal restraint petition: the petitioner must be under a "restraint," and the restraint must be "unlawful for one or more of the reasons defined in [RAP 16.4](c)]."

(1) The meaning of "restraint"

"Restraint" under the personal restraint rules encompasses confinement or imprisonment, but also includes other limitations on liberty:

A petitioner is under a "restraint" if the petitioner has limited freedom because of a court decision in a civil or criminal proceeding, the petitioner is confined, the petitioner is subject to imminent confinement, or the petitioner is under some other disability resulting from a judgment or sentence in a criminal case.

RAP 16.4(b). The Washington Supreme Court has read this provision broadly. In re Powell, 92 Wn.2d 882, 887-88, 602 P.2d 711 (1979) (finding the following to be cognizable restraints flowing from a conviction: "collateral consequences" of conviction being counted in recidivist prosecutions; effect on the parole process and "future minimum sentences and actual time served"; and stigma and other "difficulties for a former prisoner trying to reestablish himself or herself with society upon release"); see also In re Richardson, 100 Wn.2d 669, 670, 675 P.2d 209 (1983) (murder defendant had "completely served" his sentence, but relief was available to...