RCW 9A.48.080

Malicious mischief in the second degree.

Known as the Washington Criminal Code

The act spans §§ 9–9 (401 sections).

Applied in 40 court decisions — leading case Cuevas-Gaspar v. Gonzales (2005)

Most recently applied in State v. Abdi-Issa (February 2022)

2017 c 283 s 2; 2009 c 431 s 5; 1994 c 261 s 17; 1979 c 145 s 2; 1975 1st ex.s. c 260 s 9A.48.080.

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

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.

(1) A person is guilty of malicious mischief in the second degree if he or she knowingly and maliciously:

(a) Causes physical damage to the property of another in an amount exceeding seven hundred fifty dollars;

(b) Creates a substantial risk of interruption or impairment of service rendered to the public, by physically damaging or tampering with an emergency vehicle or property of the state, a political subdivision thereof, or a public utility or mode of public transportation, power, or communication; or

(c) Creates a substantial risk of interruption or impairment of service rendered to the public by, without lawful authority, physically damaging, destroying, or removing an official ballot deposit box or ballot drop box or, without lawful authority, damaging, destroying, removing, or tampering with the contents thereof.

(2) Malicious mischief in the second degree is a class C felony.

Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.