Appellate court reverses Pierce County jailhouse lawyer’s gun-charge win

A jailhouse lawyer who skirted a conviction for unlawful gun possession in Pierce County must be sentenced for that charge, an appellate court said Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Gerald Lawrence Cole Jr. crashed his car Jan. 12, 2016 in Tacoma, tried to flee, struggled with police and pulled a gun, according to court records.

Cole, 34, represented himself at trial, and jurors acquitted him of second-degree assault, two counts of third-degree assault, and attempting to disarm an officer.

They convicted him of unlawful gun possession and driving with a suspended license.

Cole asked Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frank Cuthbertson to overturn the gun possession verdict. Cuthbertson did.

The state appealed, and a three-judge panel of Division II of the Washington State Court of Appeals overturned Cuthbertson’s decision Tuesday, sending the case back to Pierce County for sentencing.

“We vacate the trial court’s order dismissing Cole’s firearm conviction with prejudice because the State provided sufficient evidence that Cole knowingly possessed a firearm and we remand for sentencing in accordance with this opinion,” Judge Lisa Sutton wrote for the unanimous panel.

Judges Rich Melnick and Lisa Worswick signed the opinion.

“Here, although Cole denied possessing the firearm, the jury found the officers’ testimony that Cole knowingly possessed a firearm to be credible and that the firearm admitted into evidence was the firearm recovered at the scene that Cole had possessed when arrested,” Sutton wrote.

When Cuthbertson made his decision, he told Cole that he could have gone to law school or become a paralegal.

“I don’t want this to go to your head, but the pleadings were pretty well-researched,” the judge said, according to News Tribune archives. “Pretty well written.”

He also chastised Cole for his extensive criminal history.

“You just can’t control yourself for a second when you’re out there,” the judge said. “... I don’t know what to do with you, man.”

Cole has since returned to Pierce County Jail on separate charges.

He was arrested last month on suspicion of second-degree robbery, violating a protection order, fourth-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment, first-degree theft, resisting arrest, obstructing police and several counts of violating a no-contact order.

Cole allegedly violated court orders by showing up at the home and workplace of the mother of his children, and he allegedly robbed a man he accused of having a relationship with her.

He pleaded not guilty at arraignment.

This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 5:31 PM.