State of Washington v. John Cameron Ira Young

¶ 1 John Young appeals his conviction for first degree murder, arguing that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his trial lawyer stipulated to the admission of his confession. He contends that in order to establish the corpus delicti of the crime, the State was required to present independent evidence of each of the crime’s elements, and his confession was not admissible until it did. He argues that the State would not have been able to offer independent evidence of premeditation.

¶2 To establish the corpus delicti of first degree murder, the State need not present independent…