Sharonda Amamilo

Set out her judicial approach in a campaign interview covering precedent, the State v. Blake drug-possession ruling, proposed court rules on bail and warrants, and public-defense caseload standards. She said she would have joined the Blake majority because the state should have to prove a knowing or intentional element before taking someone's liberty, and pointed to her service on the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, a jail standards task force and the state children and families oversight board.

June 23, 2026Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Judge Sharonda Amamilo suppressed drugs and a firearm found during a warrantless search of a probationer's car trunk and dismissed the charges without prejudice, finding no reasonable articulable suspicion supporting the trunk search. The Court of Appeals later reversed, holding the total circumstances supported the search.

August 5, 2021Opposes Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo supported lower public-defense caseloads as improving rigorous, prepared representation and access to competent counsel, while warning that uneven county tax bases make the standards difficult to fund and suggesting the Legislature or executive consider a different statewide funding model.

June 23, 2026Supports Civil Rights

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Set out her judicial approach in a campaign interview covering precedent, the State v. Blake drug-possession ruling, proposed court rules on bail and warrants, and public-defense caseload standards. She said she would have joined the Blake majority because the state should have to prove a knowing or intentional element before taking someone's liberty, and pointed to her service on the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, a jail standards task force and the state children and families oversight board.

June 23, 2026Supports Civil Rights

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo described challenging an emergency agency removal that would have separated four siblings and a purported attempt to arrest parents immediately before a dependency trial. She said those experiences with what she viewed as agency overreach helped lead her to seek judicial office.

April 29, 2026Supports Civil Rights

Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo said she challenged an apparent bail disparity in open court after a white defendant facing a third felony DUI received a $10,000 recommendation while a younger Black defendant with a less severe record faced a $50,000 recommendation, calling the difference inequitable and unreasoned.

April 29, 2026Supports Civil Rights

Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026

Judge Sharonda Amamilo suppressed drugs and a firearm found during a warrantless search of a probationer's car trunk and dismissed the charges without prejudice, finding no reasonable articulable suspicion supporting the trunk search. The Court of Appeals later reversed, holding the total circumstances supported the search.

August 5, 2021Supports Civil Rights

Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo began a term on the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission as one of its superior-court-judge members. The commission studies sentencing practices and the criminal code and recommends modifications and standard felony sentences.

September 17, 2024

Source: governor.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026

Judge Sharonda Amamilo granted summary judgment to a licensed engineer and enjoined Washington from using the title 'Engineer' for certain unlicensed state employees. The Court of Appeals later reversed because the plaintiff had not established injury-in-fact standing.

September 29, 2021

Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026

Judge Sharonda Amamilo reversed a Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board order and restored a company's challenge to cancellation of its marijuana-retail license application. The Court of Appeals later held the board acted within its authority and reversed her superior-court order.

March 8, 2021

Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo said a justice's ideology must stop at the courtroom door and that judges must filter personal experiences out of decisions when those experiences do not belong, while recognizing that every judge brings a background to the work.

June 23, 2026Favorable on Impartiality

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo said precedent is central to stability and trust in law and should be changed only after a very high bar is met, including examination of whether it has proved harmful, produced unintended consequences, or was clearly wrong.

June 23, 2026Favorable on Impartiality

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo described her courtroom framework as Facts, Issues, Rules, and Exceptions and said judges must combine legal precision with dignity, avoiding dismissive or unkind treatment that adds trauma to a person's experience in court.

April 29, 2026Favorable on Impartiality

Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo said she challenged an apparent bail disparity in open court after a white defendant facing a third felony DUI received a $10,000 recommendation while a younger Black defendant with a less severe record faced a $50,000 recommendation, calling the difference inequitable and unreasoned.

April 29, 2026Favorable on Impartiality

Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo described Thurston County's implementation of State v. Blake: judges coordinated with clerks, prosecutors, defense counsel, pretrial services, corrections, and the sheriff, prioritizing immediate releases, then fee refunds and sentence modifications. She said appellate decisions with broad operational effects should provide trial courts implementation guidance.

June 23, 2026Favorable on Legal Competence

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo supported lower public-defense caseloads as improving rigorous, prepared representation and access to competent counsel, while warning that uneven county tax bases make the standards difficult to fund and suggesting the Legislature or executive consider a different statewide funding model.

June 23, 2026Favorable on Legal Competence

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo described a pragmatic judicial philosophy that begins with a clean factual record, matches issues to remedies available under current law, and closely applies statutory wording, exceptions, and grants of discretion.

June 23, 2026Favorable on Legal Competence

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo said precedent is central to stability and trust in law and should be changed only after a very high bar is met, including examination of whether it has proved harmful, produced unintended consequences, or was clearly wrong.

June 23, 2026Favorable on Legal Competence

Source: yournews.com · researched July 13, 2026

Amamilo described how she decides cases, working through the facts, the issues, the rules, and the exceptions. She said she tells people clearly what she is ruling on and why, and that not every wrong has a remedy in the law.

April 29, 2026Favorable on Legal Competence

Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026

Sharonda Amamilo described her courtroom framework as Facts, Issues, Rules, and Exceptions and said judges must combine legal precision with dignity, avoiding dismissive or unkind treatment that adds trauma to a person's experience in court.

April 29, 2026Favorable on Legal Competence

Source: seattlemedium.com · researched July 13, 2026

Serving as a Washington Court of Appeals judge pro tempore, Sharonda Amamilo joined the unanimous Leishman v. Reynolds opinion holding that an executive-ethics official had discretion to reject complaints and that the complainant lacked standing to compel their acceptance by mandamus.

December 26, 2023Favorable on Legal Competence

Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026

Judge Sharonda Amamilo granted summary judgment to the Department of Corrections, ruling a Public Records Act lawsuit over records concerning a death in custody was time-barred. The Court of Appeals affirmed, but the Washington Supreme Court later reversed because the agency's earlier response was not a final, definitive closing letter.

February 4, 2022Unfavorable on Legal Competence

Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026

Judge Sharonda Amamilo suppressed drugs and a firearm found during a warrantless search of a probationer's car trunk and dismissed the charges without prejudice, finding no reasonable articulable suspicion supporting the trunk search. The Court of Appeals later reversed, holding the total circumstances supported the search.

August 5, 2021Unfavorable on Legal Competence

Source: courts.wa.gov · researched July 13, 2026