RCW 9A.76.120

Escape in the second degree.

Known as the Washington Criminal Code

The act spans §§ 9A.04.010 to 9A.98.020 (401 sections).

Applied in 24 court decisions — leading case State v. Ammons (1998)

Most recently applied in State Of Washington, V. Christopher Lee Shelley (October 2021)

2001 c 287 s 2; 2001 c 264 s 2; 1995 c 216 s 15; 1982 1st ex.s. c 47 s 24; 1975 1st ex.s. c 260 s 9A.76.120.

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 escape in the second degree if:

(a) He or she knowingly escapes from a detention facility; or

(b) Having been charged with a felony or an equivalent juvenile offense, he or she knowingly escapes from custody; or

(c) Having been committed under chapter 10.77 RCW for a sex, violent, or felony harassment offense and being under an order of conditional release, he or she knowingly leaves or remains absent from the state of Washington without prior court authorization.

(2) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this section that uncontrollable circumstances prevented the person from remaining in custody or in the detention facility or from returning to custody or to the detention facility, and that the person did not contribute to the creation of such circumstances in reckless disregard of the requirement to remain or return, and that the person returned to custody or the detention facility as soon as such circumstances ceased to exist.

(3) Escape 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.