In re the Personal Restraint of Coats

¶28 (concurring) — This case presents an ideal opportunity to clarify the meaning of RCW 10.73-.090(1). The statute’s plain language, “valid on its face,” and the historical meaning of those words, which I discuss below, lead to one conclusion: in order to avoid the one year bar on collateral attack, the claimed defect must be a defect in the judgment and sentence and it must appear on the face of the judgment and sentence itself.

¶29 In some recent cases, this court has relied on ad hoc determinations of what RCW 10.73.090(1) means, and in each case the meaning has been dependent on the…