Superior Court v. Coville

Petitioner, John Melvin Coville, asked this court to review an order of the superior court denying his motion to vacate a previous order which had committed him to Rainier State Hospital as a criminally insane person. We issued the writ and reviewed the matter. Following review, we now dissolve the writ previously issued.

The essential issue presented is whether a court, once having entered a judgment of acquittal on the grounds of *870insanity pursuant to RCW 10.77.080, may subsequently vacate that acquittal—even upon the defendant’s own motion —on the grounds that at the time the acquittal was…