Definitions.
Known as the Washington Criminal Code
The act spans §§ 9–9 (401 sections).
Applied in 10 court decisions — leading case State v. Brightman (2005)
Most recently applied in Snaza v. State (September 2023)
1986 c 209 s 1; 1975 1st ex.s. c 260 s 9A.16.010.
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
In this chapter, unless a different meaning is plainly required:
(1) "Necessary" means that no reasonably effective alternative to the use of force appeared to exist and that the amount of force used was reasonable to effect the lawful purpose intended.
(2) "Deadly force" means the intentional application of force through the use of firearms or any other means reasonably likely to cause death or serious physical injury.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.