A new report compiled by the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center found the majority of victims’ 2021 sexual assault cases resulted in defendants pleading down to lesser charges.
The findings follow those from a 2021 report, “The Long Wait,” which tracked over 400 sexual assault victims who waited an average of nearly 19 months from arraignment for defendants in their cases to be sentenced. That timeline aligns with nationwide norms during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which said it’s still working to conclude cases more quickly.
For 60% of victims in the report, the defendants they accused pleaded down to lesser crimes, including misdemeanors and offenses other than sexual assault. Of nearly 250 such cases, about one-third of defendants pleaded guilty to crimes other than sexual assault, and another third of defendants pleaded down from a felony to a misdemeanor.
“When we’re looking at this, especially that 60% in those plea downs, we see it as a real missed opportunity, not only for the victim’s voice to be heard, but also for any meaningful interventions or rehabilitation to be offered to the offender,” said KCSARC CEO Kate Krug, whose organization provides services to most sexual assault survivors in King County Superior Court.
KCSARC expressed concerns that pleas to lesser offenses render victims ineligible for criminal sexual-assault protection orders, which require defendants to have no further contact with them and stay away from their home, school or work.
Maggi Qerimi, special assault unit chair for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said most reductions “are based on evidence reasons for the most part, or because the victim wanted the reduction, even if we felt the case was strong.”
“In that case,” she said, “we try to give the victim what we can, balancing community safety.”
Qerimi said many cases will be pleaded down to communication with a minor for immoral purposes, fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation or third-degree attempted rape.
About 57 people who alleged sexual assault also had their cases dismissed. But because many defendants referenced in the report are accused of sexually assaulting multiple people, one count may be dismissed while another proceeds to trial, Qerimi said.
“We understand KCSARC’s point of view and understand that they are representing victims and victims only,” Qerimi said. “We have the community at large to keep in mind. … We need to keep in mind the rights of the defendants. That is our obligation as prosecutors. So when we balance all of those things out these numbers that you are seeing in this report make sense to us.”
In October, the state cleared a decades-old backlog of more than 10,000 forensic kits collected from sexual assault victims, after the pandemic slowed activity across the court system.
The prosecutor’s office had 425 adult felony sexual assault and child abuse cases open as of last month. That’s about 26% above the office’s pre-COVID average but 22% lower than its April 2021 peak. Qerimi said the office is “working diligently” to reduce the time to trial.
Other findings from the report include:
- 14% of people alleging sexual assault had their cases dismissed
- 16% of victims’ cases went to trial
- 5% of victims’ defendants pleaded guilty as charged
- 6% of cases remain open, either because defendants have failed to appear or are awaiting trial
Of those who went to trial:
- 76% of the victims had cases result in a guilty verdict
- 19% were acquitted
- 5% were dismissed or there was a hung jury