City of Seattle v. Klein

*556¶1 The “right to appeal in all cases” is expressly guaranteed by our Washington Constitution. Wash. Const. art. I, § 22.1 The only means by which such an individual constitutional right in Washington may be relinquished is by a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver. In this case, the city of Seattle (City) claims the fugitive disentitlement doctrine (FDD) serves to abrogate the respondents’ constitutionally guaranteed right to appeal. The FDD is a doctrine that presumes forfeiture rather than requiring a knowing waiver of the important right of appeal. We reject this doctrine insofar as…