Kirk Rishor v. Bob Ferguson

OPINION

TALLMAN, Circuit Judge:

Kirk Rishor waived counsel and represented himself during his 2004 trial in Washington’s Whatcom County Superior Court on charges of first degree assault, second degree assault, and unlawful possession of a firearm. The jury convicted him on the unlawful possession charge but acquitted him on the two charged counts of second degree assault. The jury, however, impliedly acquitted Rishor on first degree assault, and convicted him instead of the lesser-included offense of second degree assault.

Rishor’s conviction was reversed by the Washington Court of Appeals, and…