Local News

Two men accused of stealing more than $600,000 worth of wine from a Sodo wine storage business during an elaborate Thanksgiving Day heist pleaded guilty this afternoon in King County Superior Court. Samuel Harris, 35, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree arson, second-degree burglary and 10 counts of first-degree theft.  Co-defendant Luke Thesing, 36, pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and nine counts…

Ricky Lee Lewis, a Level III sex offender who was scheduled to face trial this month for two alleged sexual assaults, was sentenced this afternoon to seven years in prison under a plea deal in King County Superior Court. Lewis had faced a potential life sentence as a “persistent offender” under the state’s two-strikes law for…

A man who was recently linked by DNA to the slaying of a 19-year-old Bellevue woman in 1980 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder this morning in King County Superior Court. Michael Halgren, 58, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for strangling Susan Lowe in her apartment with a pair of pantyhose. Despite a reward, the case went cold until 2012, when…

A 69-year-old man who shot a stranger in the back outside a West Seattle bar has been sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison, according to the West Seattle Blog. Lovett “Cid” Chambers fatally shot Michael “Travis” Hood, who had moved to Seattle from Jacksonville, Fla., soon before his January 2012 death. Hood was out celebrating…

The case against Danford Grant, a Seattle attorney charged with four counts of first-degree rape, will proceed under King County Superior Court Judge William Downing. The change was announced at a hearing today by Judge Mary Yu, who had been presiding over the case before she was appointed this week to the state Supreme Court by…

Update at 3:58 p.m.: Turns out jury selection will go forward on Monday in the rape case against Seattle attorney Danford Grant. “Judge Yu has informed the parties that she has a contingency plan in place for the case to go forward as scheduled, under a different judge,” Ian Goodhew, deputy chief of staff for Dan…

Gov. Jay Inslee announced Wednesday he is appointing Tanya Thorp, a 12-year veteran of the state Attorney General’s Office, to the King County Superior Court to replace Judge Joan DuBuque, who is retiring after serving more than 30 years on the bench. Thorp, 35, of Seattle, received her law degree cum laude from Seattle University in 2002;…

A 36-year-old man who fatally shot a student outside Ballard High School in 1994 was sentenced for a second time in the drive-by slaying, again to slightly more than 51 years in prison. Brian Ronquillo, who was 16 at the time, fired eight times as the car he was in passed students on the More

Gov. Jay Inslee today announced the appointments of two new Superior Court judges, one for King County and one for Pierce County. Seattle attorney John Ruhl will join the King County Superior Court bench, and Deputy Prosecutor Phil Sorensen the Pierce County Superior Court bench. Both appointments become effective April 1. Ruhl, a past president of the King…

A former Seattle Public Utilities employee who embezzled $1.1 million from the utility was ordered today to repay more than $500,000 to the city’s insurance company to fully cover what he stole from taxpayers. Joseph Phan, 47, pleaded guilty last year to 67 counts of first-degree theft for depositing into his own personal account checks that had…