Early plea negotiations process

As of October 15, 2026, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office revised its policy regarding the process for Early Plea negotiations.  This document outlines the changes to these processes and explains how defense attorneys and defendants may engage in negotiations.

The Early Plea process (formerly referred to as “EPU”) is where the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (PAO) negotiates the majority of its cases.[1] This is the “pre-trial track” where the KCPAO will consider:

• reductions,
  
  
• alternative programs (such as Drug Diversion Court and Regional Mental Health Court),
  
  
• mitigation information,
  
  
• equitable considerations, etc.

An early plea is a significant mitigating factor that provides certainty and avoids the risks and adverse impact of further hearings and a trial upon the victim and witnesses and reduces the impact upon the criminal justice system with its limited resources. Furthermore, the PAO starts with the assumption that for every defendant there is mitigating information related to how they came to commit the charged crime.  As always, the PAO will consider any specific mitigating information related to the charged offenses provided by defense.  However, this information does not need to be in the form of a formal “mitigation report.”  

[1]Pre-Assigned cases, such as homicides, will continue to be negotiated by the pre-assigned DPA, as they have in the past.

Once a case moves from the “Pre-Trial Track” to the “Trial Track,” a decision by a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney (DPA) to reduce or dismiss charges will generally be limited to circumstances where there are concerns with the sufficiency of the evidence to prove the charge(s), and such reductions must also be approved by a supervisor. 

Moving to trial

All of the State's outstanding plea recommendation offers will be rescinded and Early Plea negotiations will end when a case is moved from “Pre-Trial Track” to the “Trial Track”[2], an offer expiration date passes without the offer being accepted, and/or the case is transferred to a trial supervisor or trial DPA, as follows:

1.)  At arraignment, cases are initially set for a Pre-Trial Track Omnibus hearing at 1:00 PM (Monday through Thursday) four weeks (28 days) prior to the trial date. Cases may remain on the “Pre-Trial Track” by continuing the trial date with a new Pre-Trial Track Omnibus hearing six weeks (42 days) prior to the new trial date.

1. All cases with a Pre-Trial Track Omnibus hearings are presumed to be “pre-trial” and are presumed to be eligible for Early Plea negotiations.
   

2.)    Early Plea DPAs will generally reach out to defense within 60 days of arraignment to provide a plea offer or other communication regarding what is needed for negotiations.

1. All plea offers extended will come with an expiration date.
   
   
2. When a defendant wishes to accept an offer, the PAO expects that defense will coordinate with the assigned Early Plea DPA to set a plea hearing.
   
   
   
   1. The PAO acknowledges that sometimes the setting of a plea can take time. As such, if the defense clearly communicates to the Early Plea DPA that the defendant would like to take the offer, the Early Plea DPA may extend the expiration date to accommodate the time it takes to set the plea hearing.
      
      
3. If a plea offer’s expiration date passes without the case being set for a plea or defense clearly communicating that the offer was accepted to the assigned Early Plea DPA, the offer is automatically rescinded and the PAO will transfer the case to a trial DPA and move for the court to set the case on the “Trial Track.”
   

3.)    A case is considered to have moved to the “Trial Track” when it is set for a trial track Omnibus Hearing. At that point, the case will be transferred to a trial supervisor or trial DPA.

1. ADDITIONALLY, regardless of whether the case is set for a “Pre-Trial” or “Trial Track” Omnibus, an Early Plea DPA may decide to terminate negotiations and transfer the case to a trial supervisor or trial DPA.     

When a case is moved to the “trial track”, a plea offer’s expiration date passes, or the Early Plea DPA terminates negotiations, the case will be transferred to a trial supervisor or trial deputy.  All Early Plea offers expire upon transfer of the case to a trial supervisor or trial DPA unless the supervisor of the trial DPA approved otherwise.

Discovery

We try to provide all discovery for the defense that is available at the time of filing or that becomes available thereafter. We are unable to provide redacted discovery with our limited early plea staff. If the defendant requests a copy of redacted discovery, the early plea negotiator stops negotiations. A trial deputy receives the case to continue.