By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Former Chehalis family practice physician David Wooten has lost his appeal of a 2010 conviction for felony malicious mischief, even though his wife recently won her appeal on essentially the same issue.
Dr. Wooten and his wife Janna Wooten were found guilty in separate trials in Lewis County Superior Court when they were accused of trashing the house they lived in at Mayfield Lake. They contended it was simply a remodeling project they left unfinished when they moved out of the home they were purchasing.
They relocated to Texas in May 2008 after finding a foreclosure notice posted on the property, and learning the man selling it to them had taken out a second mortgage and lost the house.
The decision filed in May by the state of Washington Court of Appeals Division II on Janna Wooten’s case tossed out her conviction saying prosecutors failed to show any damage to a person other than the Wootens. Prosecutor’s arguments and theory were based on a misunderstanding of real property law, according to that decision.
However, the same appeals court ruled just the opposite in David Wooten’s case late last month. His conviction for first-degree malicious mischief stands, unless he petitions the state Supreme Court for a review.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh said yes it was the same court and similar cases with different outcomes. It was a different panel of three judges, Beigh said by way of explaining the contradiction.
The appeals court has seven judges.
Dr. Wooten’s move away from Lewis County came after state health officials reinstated his physician’s license with strict conditions that prevented him from prescribing narcotics and restricted his dealings with female patients. His practice was in Chehalis.
Beigh vacated Janna Wooten’s conviction last month, as the appeals court ordered her to do.
Both the Wootens already served their 60-day sentences, under so-called electronic home monitoring in the summer of 2010.
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For background, read “Conviction vacated for trashing of Mossyrock house” from Wednesday May 23, 2012, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter