Court overturns woman鈥檚 conviction for soliciting to kill ex
Oct 12, 2022, 6:41 AM | Updated: 7:01 am
(Flickr)
(Flickr)
An appeals court has overturned a Mount Vernon woman鈥檚 conviction for soliciting to kill her former husband.
The Washington Court of Appeals on Monday overturned Vanessa Valdiglesias LaValle鈥檚 conviction, The Seattle Times聽.
She had been found guilty in 2021 for trying to persuade her son to kill his father with rat poison. Valdiglesias LaValle was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the conviction, which will now be sent back to trial court.
Valdiglesias LaValle in 2020 told her then 10-year-old son that if he put rat poison in her ex-husband鈥檚 food, the boy鈥檚 dad would die, and she and the children could live together forever, according to a secretly recorded conversation mentioned in court documents.
The three Court of Appeals Division 1 judges ruled Valdiglesias LaValle鈥檚 desire to be with her two children forever doesn鈥檛 equate to a 鈥渢hing of value鈥� necessary to support a criminal solicitation conviction. In Washington, a person is guilty of criminal solicitation when the person 鈥渙ffers to give or gives money or other thing of value鈥� with intent to promote or facilitate the commission of a crime.
Valdiglesias LaValle鈥檚 son testified during her trial in Skagit County Superior Court that his mother never spoke of offering to give him something.
Valdiglesias LaValle鈥檚 attorney, Suzanne Lee Elliott of the Washington Appellate Project, said she was pleased with the judges鈥� opinion.
Valdiglesias LaValle鈥檚 father had suggested that his son secretly record the conversation using a phone hidden under a blanket, court documents said.
