Simmons v. Dalsheim

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“based upon his previous conviction for rape and the resulting conclusion that he could no longer contest the issue of consent. " The jury subsequently awarded Ms. Fahlen $140,000 in damages. Mr. Mounsey appealed the civil judgment, which was stayed pending the final outcome of his appeal from the criminal conviction. After this court affirmed the conviction on direct appeal, Mr. Mounsey filed a habeas corpus petition pro se in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, alleging his Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process had been denied in the criminal trial because of the State's failure to preserve potentially exculpatory evidence. Utilizing documents unavailable to this court, the federal court granted Mr. Mounsey habeas relief on the basis that he was denied access to evidence which could have had a direct bearing on his testimony that his relations with Ms. Fahlen were consensual. After the federal court granted habeas corpus relief, Mr. Mounsey filed a CR 60(b)(6) motion for relief from the civil judgment. The Superior Court denied the motion, concluding habeas relief did not void the underlying criminal judgment. Mr. Mounsey appeals the denial of this posttrial motion, together with his direct appeal from the civil judgment. First, with respect to his CR 60(b)(6) motion, Mr. Mounsey claims the federal court grant of habeas relief entitles him to relief from the civil judgment because it is void or "otherwise vacated.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 46 Wash. App. 45 - Fahlen v. Mounsey