State v. Newton

The State appeals a decision of the Snohomish County Superior Court, on defendant’s application for post-conviction relief, ordering defendant’s judgment and sentence vacated because defendant’s plea of guilty was accepted by the trial court without an admission of guilt and in the face of his protestations of innocence.

The facts are these. On January 16, 1973, defendant Edwin Donald Newton was charged by information in Snohomish County Superior Court with one count of first-degree murder (premeditated) for the killing of Robert L. Campbell on or about December 15, 1972, and two counts of…