Washington v. Olsen (Majority)
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This case arose out of an incident of domestic violence committed by petitioner Edward Olsen against the mother of his children, Bonnie Devenny. Olsen broke into Devenny's house, poured gasoline on her while she was sleeping, and told her that she was going to die. Olsen had a history of threatening and committing acts of domestic violence against Devenny, including a California conviction for terrorist threats for which he pleaded no contest. During the California incident, Olsen allegedly wrapped duct tape around Devenny's legs and told her that he was going to kill her, cut her up into little pieces, and put the pieces in a plastic storage container. The issue this case presented to the Washington Supreme Court was Washington's treatment of foreign convictions for sentencing purposes in light of "Descamps v. United States" (133 S. Ct. 2276) (2013)). Olsen's offender score at sentencing was six and he received an exceptional sentence of 360 months. Olsen claimed that a foreign conviction for terrorist threats was not comparable to Washington's felony harassment and should not have been included in his offender score. The Court of Appeals affirmed Olsen's convictions and sentence. The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals.
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