Legal Question in Criminal Law in Washington

Re: Reciprocity Re: Motions

In prima facie motion practice, you are correct. Defense counsel files his or her motion and the prosecutor files a reply in written from with the court and a copy is served on the defense. However, there is no requirement at the trial court level for the prosecution to reply in writing to a defense motion. If the prosecutor does not respond, he or she can still argue against your motion at the hearing.

In my experience, on routine motions, it�s rare for the prosecutor to respond formally. And especially on motions to rescind no contact orders � most prosecutors have five to ten of these to deal with each court day, so it�s difficult to impossible to reply at all to these.

If you want to know what the prosecution is likely to argue in your case, I recommend calling the deputy prosecutor handling the case. If he or she is busy, ask to speak with the office�s victim-witness coordinator. Typically in the situation of a domestic violence no contact order, the coordinator will be making a strong recommendation to the prosecutor about whether the order should be lifted, so touching base with that person in a productive and convincing way can be helpful to your case.