Supreme Court to Hear Appeal in Seattle Drive-By Shooting Case

The Supreme Court announced today its decision to hear a case with Seattle ties. The Court will be considering reinstating a murder charge against a driver involved in a drive-by shooting outside Seattle's Ballard High School in 1994.

This fall, the Court will hear the case of Cesar Sarausad II, who was convicted of murder for his role in the shooting. Sarausad was the driver of the vehicle involved in the shooting, which killed 16-year-old Melissa Fernandes and injured another Ballard High student. The shooting was the first fatal school shooting in Seattle, during a time at which the city was panicked about drive-by shootings and gang violence. The shooting was even more shocking to Seattle residents, because it happened outside of Ballard High School--located in a middle-class, predominantly white neighborhood. It wasn't a drive-by outside a high school in the Central District--where everyone assumed such a crime would be more likely to happen.

The 9th US District Court in San Francisco overturned Sarasaud's conviction, based on faulty jury instructions. Washington State asked the Supreme Court to reconsider the case, which had been previously upheld in the state's Court of Appeals.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Contributor andifeelfine