Opinion ID: 2499996
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Triggering Event

Text: ¶ 17 None of the principles mentioned above suggest that the statute's application to a person in Mr. Flint's position is a retroactive application. First, the triggering event for application of RCW 9.94A.737(2) is when a defendant is found to have committed violation(s) of conditions of community custody at a third violation hearing. It is at this point that the statute directs that the department shall return the offender to total confinement in a state correctional facility to serve up to the remaining portion of his or her sentence. RCW 9.94A.737(2). In this case this triggering event has its origins in a situation that existed before RCW 9.94A.737(2) was enacted, in that Flint was convicted, sentenced, and imprisoned for first degree robbery and possession of a controlled substance at the time the legislature amended RCW 9.94A.737(2) to add the challenged provision. But as explained, a law is not retroactive merely because some of the requisites for its application `are drawn from a time antecedent to its passage.' Belgarde, 119 Wash.2d at 722, 837 P.2d 599 (quoting Scheffel, 82 Wash.2d at 879, 514 P.2d 1052); see Pillatos, 159 Wash.2d at 471, 150 P.3d 1130.