No Charges Filed in Fatal Yakima Shooting

The Yakima County Prosecutors Office has decided to not file criminal charges against a woman accused of killing her husband at a Yakima home last Wednesday. Yakima Police Officers were called to a home in the 1000 block of South 19th Avenue early last Wednesday morning after they say Kimberly Hansen called 911 to say she had killed her husband. Officers found 51-year-old Walter Hansen in a bedroom of the home with a gunshot wound to his head. He died at a Yakima Hospital. Prosecutors say there was a long history of domestic abuse by Walter Hansen against Kimberly including one report of strangulation. Police say Kimberly had a no-contact order against Walter but police say that didn't stop him from contacting her. Police say he entered her home last Sunday and held her against her will until the shooting on Wednesday.
On Monday, August 24 the Yakima County Prosecutors Office released a statement saying no charges will be filed in the case at this time.

In part the letter from the prosecutors office reads;
"RCW 9.94A.a1l(2)(a) states the following regarding a decision to prosecute: Crimes against persons will be filed if sufficient admissible evidence exists, which, when considered with the most plausible, reasonably foreseeable defense that could be raised under the evidence, would justify conviction by a reasonable and objective fact finder.
Under this standard, we, as prosecutors, must look at all the facts in every case, especially when considering crimes against persons, and that necessarily involves full consideration of any and all valid defenses. That is an ethical obligation that we must fulfill. In this particular case, the evidence currently garnered would make prosecution and our ability to prove this allegation of murder beyond a reasonable doubt against Ms. Hansen highly unlikely. After a full and fair consideration of all the current facts and analysis of their relationship as well as the familial history, it is clear that the decedent's volatility would lead a reasonable juror to conclude that Ms. Hansen acted in self-defense. The State of Washington must prove the absence of self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. It is my belief that, at this time, we would be unable to do so."