Amy I. Muth, Lawyer

Amy Muth is an experienced and aggressive advocate for those accused of serious crimes. She has earned a reputation as an aggressive, creative, and passionate litigator who achieves outstanding results for her clients. Her practice focuses on defending those accused of sexual misconduct and domestic violence charges.  She also spent several years representing individuals facing civil commitment as sexually violent predators, which gave her a particular expertise in this complex area of litigation.

Amy is an experienced trial attorney who has a passion for trial work. She has extensive felony trial experience, including homicide, child rape, adult rape, child molestation, communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, incest, unlawful imprisonment, serious assault, burglary, drug possession, drug delivery, violation of court orders, and domestic violence assault. 

Amy's experience in defending those accused of sexual misconduct includes both trial and appellate work. She has written and argued several appellate briefs in Divisions I and II of the Washington Court Appeals, and has appealed several federal sex offense convictions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Amy brings a thorough understanding of the legal, socio-psychological, and forensic research to each of her sexual assault cases.

Amy is extremely active in the development of sex offender law and policy in Washington.  Since 2006 she has co-chaired the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (WACDL) and Washington Defender Association (WDA) Joint Legislative Committee.  In the 2006 and 2007 Legislative sessions she reviewed scores of bills and provided bill analysis and testimony for the defense bar Joint Committee.  Amy participated in the Governor's Task Force appointed to investigate the institutional response to the Terapon Adhahn case, and works with Brad Meryhew on his responsibilities as a member of the Sex Offender Policy Board.  Amy has served as a board member for WACDL since 2006 and received their Certificate of Appreciation in 2006 for her work on sex offender legislation.

Amy routinely lectures on legislative updates throughout the state of Washington and writes regularly about sex offense legislation for the criminal defense bar.

Successes

Amy has represented numerous individuals faced with sex and domestic violence charges.  Her representative successes include:

Not guilty verdict for individual charged with Rape in the Second Degree.  Client's DNA had been located as evidence.  Jury acquitted in forty minutes.

Dismissal of multiple counts of first degree child molestation and child rape on grounds that individual was incompetent to stand trial, after two years of litigation and extensive expert consultation.

Agreed sentence of six months, one count, felony violation of a court order-domestic violence, for individual charged with calling his wife continuously from the King County Jail.  Defense provided with 50 CD-ROMs of jail phone call recordings.  Presented extensive mitigation package to state which convinced state to recommend exceptional sentence downward instead of seeking convictions to place client in prison for 60 months.

Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative for client convicted of molesting younger brothers over a four-year period, to be completed out of state, in Utah.

Hung jury in sexually violent predator civil commitment trial in Pierce County.

Dismissal of multiple counts of first degree child molestation against an Ethiopian immigrant who had received asylum to live in the United States.

Dismissal of charges of first degree child molestation against a female client.  Investigation revealed that the accuser had extensive mental health issues which impacted his credibility.

Successfully litigated a challenge to the sexual assault advocate privilege statute.  First degree child molestation charges reduced to third-degree assault and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.  Original charges carried a penalty of 51-68 months in prison; client released from jail after serving eight months.

Reduction of first-degree child molestation charges to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault charges.  Client was mother of child.  Six months of expert consultation and investigation revealed that police had incorrectly reported that client failed a polygraph, daughter was improperly influenced by stepmother, and daughter had made accusation after attending a Girl Scout's four-hour retreat on Stranger Danger.  Client sentenced to 30 days of community service, not required to register as a sex offender.

Not guilty verdict in several assault in the fourth degree-domestic violence cases.