Campbell v. State

986 P.2d 771, 139 Wash. 2d 341
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 21, 1999
DocketNo. 63986-8
StatusPublished
Cited by81 cases

This text of 986 P.2d 771 (Campbell v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Campbell v. State, 986 P.2d 771, 139 Wash. 2d 341 (Wash. 1999).

Opinions

Johnson, J.

The petitioner in this case, Special Commitment Center detainee Elmer Campbell, raises a multitude of issues related to his commitment. We are asked to determine whether alleged deficiencies in the care and treatment of persons civilly committed at the Special Commitment Center render the Community Protection Act of 1990, RCW 71.09, unconstitutional. In addition, we must review several rulings issued by the trial court in response to Campbell’s pretrial motions, motions in limine, and post-trial motions.

FACTS

Elmer Campbell is currently a resident of the Special Commitment Center (SCC) at McNeil Island. Campbell was committed to prison in 1987 for first degree assault. Originally scheduled to be released from prison in 1993, Campbell was instead civilly committed by a superior court order to the SCC as a sexually violent predator (predator) under RCW 71.09. Campbell moved to dismiss his commitment petition based on his allegation that RCW 71.09 is unconstitutional. Among his several arguments, Campbell asserted that because conditions at the SCC are allegedly unconstitutional, the statute under which he was committed is also unconstitutional. Campbell’s motion was denied.

The trial court conducted a probable cause hearing in November 1993, finding probable cause to hold Campbell a predator as defined by RCW 71.09. A jury trial followed in 1994. At trial, victim testimony chronicling Campbell’s history of violence and sexual aggression was presented. A state-certified sex offender treatment provider also testified [345]*345that Campbell suffered from both a mental abnormality and personality disorder that made him likely to reengage in future sexually violent acts.

The jury issued its verdict, finding Campbell a predator as defined by RCW 71.09 and finding the State had proved a less restrictive alternative was not in the best interests of Campbell or the community. Campbell filed a supplemental memorandum, to which he appended United States District Court Judge William Dwyer’s order and injunction issued in Turay v. Weston, No. C91-664WD (W.D. Wash. 1994). Judge Dwyer, in his order, had found some conditions at the SCC unconstitutional. Judge Dwyer had, therefore, placed the SCC under a remedial injunction.1

Following the jury’s verdict, judgment was entered to commit Campbell. The trial court then held a hearing on another motion by Campbell to dismiss his commitment petition on the grounds that some of the SCC confinement conditions are unconstitutional. In its deliberation, the trial court relied upon the record of an evidentiary hearing issued by the superior court in In re Detention of Young, No. 90-2-21319-6 (King County Super. Ct., Wash. 1993), on remand from our decision in In re Personal Restraint of Young, 122 Wn.2d 1, 857 P.2d 989 (1993), as well as supplemental testimony. The trial court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law on Campbell’s motion. The court agreed with Campbell that certain conditions at the SCC were unconstitutional. The court, however, declined to release him. Instead, the court required the State to submit a proposal for remedying conditions at the SCC, setting a new deadline for compliance. The trial court also granted permission to the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to intervene in the case for the purpose of contesting personal jurisdiction.

The trial court issued its final order on Campbell’s mo[346]*346tion on March 7, 1995. The court again refused to grant Campbell’s motion to dismiss his commitment petition but did affirm Campbell’s motion that some of the conditions at the SCC violated both the state and federal constitutions. The court required the State join in the remediation program ordered by the United States District Court in Turay.

Campbell timely appealed to this court and we granted review. We affirm our 1993 decision in Young, 122 Wn.2d 1, upholding the constitutionality of RCW 71.09. We also affirm Campbell’s order of commitment.

ANALYSIS

I

RCW 71.09.060, in its present form, requires that whenever a court or a 12-person jury unanimously finds a person to be a sexually violent predator and a less restrictive alternative to total commitment is inappropriate, that person must be placed in the custody of DSHS. DSHS must provide that person with social and health services for control, care, and treatment at a secure facility operated by DSHS. This care and treatment must be adequate under the statute. RCW 71.09.060.

On appeal, Campbell raises the argument that because some of the SCC conditions of care are inadequate, his detention is criminal rather than civil in nature and, therefore, violates his right to substantive due process and protections against ex post facto laws or double jeopardy. Campbell reasons if some of the SCC conditions are unconstitutional, those unconstitutional conditions render RCW 71.09 unconstitutional as well.

At his 1994 trial, Campbell advanced this theory when he filed a motion requesting the trial court dismiss his commitment petition and release him from the SCC on the grounds that some SCC conditions were allegedly unconstitutional. In response, the trial court ruled while some of the SCC conditions did not meet constitutional muster, the [347]*347appropriate remedy was not Campbell’s release but, rather, a court order to the State mandating development of a remedial plan to improve SCC conditions.

The State, in turn, argued against the jurisdictional legitimacy of the trial court’s remedial order. The State maintained the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over the SCC’s managing state agency, DSHS. Upon consideration of the State’s motion, the court found it possessed both personal and subject matter jurisdiction over DSHS, dismissing the State’s argument, and affirming the court’s order. Campbell then argued again that the trial court, having found the SCC conditions unconstitutional, should likewise find RCW 71.09 itself unconstitutional. The trial court denied Campbell’s request.

In arguing the SCC’s conditions of care render RCW 71.09 criminal rather than civil in nature, Campbell attempts to relitigate an issue we have already resolved.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Personal Restraint Petition of M.T.M.L
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2025
In Re The Detention Of: Damon Lee
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2020
In Re The Detention Of B.r.
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2017
In re Det. of Belcher
Washington Supreme Court, 2017
In Re The Detention Of: Donald Herrick
393 P.3d 879 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2017)
Personal Restraint Petition Of Michael James Morris
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2015
In re the Personal Restraint of Morris
355 P.3d 355 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2015)
Volk v. DeMeerleer
337 P.3d 372 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2014)
In re the Detention of Rolando Reyes
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2013
In re the Detention of Reyes
315 P.3d 532 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2013)
In re the Detention of Jason Muns
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2013
In Re the Detention of Williams
257 P.3d 671 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2011)
State v. Parris
163 Wash. App. 110 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2011)
Carlton v. VANCOUVER CARE LLC
231 P.3d 1241 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
In re the Detention of Post
145 Wash. App. 728 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2008)
State v. Boyd
160 Wash. 2d 424 (Washington Supreme Court, 2007)
In Re Audett
147 P.3d 982 (Washington Supreme Court, 2006)
State v. Audett
158 Wash. 2d 712 (Washington Supreme Court, 2006)
State v. Williams
146 P.3d 481 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
986 P.2d 771, 139 Wash. 2d 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-state-wash-1999.