OLYMPIA — The Washington Supreme Court has restored an attempted-murder conviction for a man authorities say shot a State Patrol trooper in the head in 2010.
The high court on Thursday overturned a 2013 decision by a state appellate court to vacate the first-degree attempted murder conviction of Martin A. Jones. The appellate court said his right to a public trial had been violated, but the Supreme Court disagreed.
In 2010, authorities say, Jones shot Scott Johnson at “point-blank range” while Johnson was impounding the van of Jones’ wife in Long Beach. She had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Jones was sentenced to 50 years in prison before his appeal. Johnson, who survived, is now the Pacific County sheriff.
