State v. Thiefault

¶1 Petitioner Gaylon Lee Thiefault is an inmate sentenced to life with no possibility of parole or early release under Washington’s Persistent Offender Accountability Act (POAA) of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1981, chapter 9.94A RCW. Thiefault contends that his sentencing counsel was ineffective by failing to object to the superior court’s comparability analysis regarding a prior Montana conviction. We hold that the trial court’s comparability analysis was erroneous. We further hold that the failure of Thiefault’s counsel to object to the erroneous comparability analysis constitutes…