In 1997, Shawn Swenson was convicted as an accomplice to First-Degree Felony Murder and sentenced to 666 months in prison. However, the actual murderer, Joseph Adam Gardner, who confessed to brutally strangling the victim, David Loucks, only received a sentence of 360 months. In 2005, Swenson's conviction was reversed by the Washington State Supreme Court in a unanimous 9-0 decision. The High Court even declared that they were "struck" by how the prosecution (Lisa Marchese and Kerry Keefe) violated Swenson's Constitutional Rights and unfairly convicted him by continually arguing to the jury that Swenson could and should be convicted of Murder without intending to assist in the crime charged. Upon returning to King County in late 2005, Swenson was appointed absolutely horrible lawyers to defend him. The first attorney, Brian J. Todd -- who had never obtained an acquittal or even taken a murder case to trial -- had Swenson's case for 10 months and didn't even know what he was charged with. The next lawyer, Michael Danko, is probably the most hated-by-his-clients-lawyer in Seattle, and for good reason. He lies to his clients, he's called his clients racial slurs, he's been accused of giving prosecutors privileged information, he's handled major cases without talking to a single witness or doing any investigating, he's been disciplined by the Bar Association numerous times, and he's even represented a defendant that he had a financial interest in convicting. It was then discovered that David Loucks' father, attorney Allan D. Loucks, is friends with the person at the Office of Public Defense who had appointed Swenson's lawyers. (It should be remembered that Mr. Loucks engaged in an extensive illegal investigation which he broke State and Federal laws and violated numerous people's Rights. He also bribed people and put extensive political pressure on the police, prosecutors, and elected officials, and he made clear that he will do anything to help capture and convict those he felt were responsible for his son's accidental death. Loucks has never been prosecuted for his criminal violations). But despite this serious conflict, and despite the fact that Danko had done no investigation, he had not interviewed a single witness, he lied to Swenson, he gave the State privileged information, he wasn't interested in listening to any of Swenson's ideas about the case, he was willing to go to trial without being thoroughly familiar with Swenson's case, he failed to inform Swenson of a plea offer cut-off date until after it had expired, and he just sat back and allowed the State to amend Swenson's charge to aggravated felony murder -- even though he could have easily prevented that -- the Judge felt that none of that mattered and she told Swenson that he must go to trial with Danko or no lawyer at all. Shawn Swenson was thus forced to defend himself against the charge of aggravated felony murder. But not only that, Swenson was up against two prosecutors -- James Konat and Adrienne McEntee -- who were even worse than the prior prosecutors. Konat -- a senior deputy prosecutor who has been chastized by the Higher Courts for committing serious acts of misconduct -- was training McEntee for her first big case, and together they continually lied to the Court, withheld discovery until the last minute, refused to turn over discovery relating to Loucks' illegal investigation, violated court orders to stop obstructing defense interviews, and flat out lied to the jury and continually misled them. Shawn, however, was unable to present any witnesses for his defense due to scheduling problems and because he wasn't aware of certain "technical" rules for laying the foundation for almost all of his witnesses. Nor did Shawn testify due to his conflict with Michael Danko -- whom the Court ordered would be the person to present Shawn's testimony, yet Danko made it clear to Shawn that he was not there to help him. But despite not calling a single witness and putting on a defense, Shawn Swenson was acquitted of aggravated felony murder. He was, however, convicted as an accomplice to the lesser felony murder charge. Thankfully, this means Shawn will not die in prison, as he now has a release date that he can actually make. Shawn is also appealing his conviction. But sadly, despite clearly ineffective and reprehensible defense lawyers which forced Shawn to defend himself, and despite the continued underhanded acts of the State, Shawn is skeptical about an appeal. We will be conducting an in-depth interview with Shawn, discussing the trial and why he holds little hope for a successful appeal. The interview will be posted online immediately upon completion. Shawn and the members of The Coalition Against Injustice would like to thank all of the people world-wide for their support. "You have been a Light of hope, in this sea of despair".