Federal court dismisses double murderer’s lawsuit against Island County

By Jessie Stensland • January 17, 2017 1:30 am

A double murderer’s lawsuit against Island County and the former jail chief was permanently dismissed recently.

Former Oak Harbor resident Joshua Lambert is currently serving a 100-year sentence at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla for the 2011 murders of his two 80-year-old grandfathers and the kidnapping of his great aunt.

Lambert has kept himself busy in prison with litigation. He filed pro se arguments in the appeal of his conviction. The appeals court heard arguments from Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks and Lambert’s defense attorney in November but hasn’t yet filed a decision.

Lambert filed a series of lawsuits in federal court last July, including one against the former jail chief. Island County defended against the lawsuit as the jail chief’s employer. Lambert alleged that he was improperly held in solitary confinement, his legal paperwork was confiscated, he didn’t receive medication to control the voices in his head and he was punished in retaliation for assaulting people, according to court documents.

Lambert also filed lawsuits in federal court against the court reporter from his trial, claiming that she falsified a transcript. The U.S. District Court judge dismissed the case. Lambert appealed, but the appeal was dismissed as frivolous.

He filed federal lawsuits against two mental health experts who testified at his trial in Island County Superior Court, claiming that they fabricated and altered evidence against him. Those cases were stayed pending the outcome of the appeal in his criminal case.

In addition, Lambert filed two lawsuits in Walla Walla Superior Court last year.

In the case against Island County, the judge granted the county’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the case with prejudice, which means he can’t file the claim again. Lambert’s objection to the ruling was stricken because he missed the filing deadline.

Lambert was likely in a methamphetamine-induced psychosis when he killed his two grandfathers, George Lambert and August Eisner, at two different homes while he was searching for guns to fight government agents he thought were after his son, according to court records and evidence from the trial. He also assaulted his great aunt and tied her up with packing tape.