City of Auburn v. Hedlund

201 P.3d 315
Washington Supreme Court·Decided February 12, 2009·No. 80110-0·Published·Cited by 34 cases

Opinion

201 P.3d 315 (2009)

CITY OF AUBURN, Petitioner,
v.
Teresa A. HEDLUND, Respondent.

No. 80110-0.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued May 15, 2008.
Decided February 12, 2009.

*316 Daniel Brian Heid, City of Auburn, Auburn, WA, for Petitioner.

Matthew Valen Honeywell, Attorney at Law, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

CHAMBERS, J.

¶ 1 Under Washington statutes, a person is not an accomplice to a crime if she is a victim of that same crime. Teresa Hedlund hosted a party where the liquor flowed freely. Following the party, Hedlund was the only survivor of a single car accident. Hedlund was seriously injured herself. She was charged in Auburn Municipal Court with (among other things) being an accomplice to driving under the influence (DUI) and reckless driving. At the close of the city of Auburn's case in chief, the trial court dismissed the DUI and reckless driving charges because a victim may not be charged as an accomplice under RCW 9A.08.020. We recognize that the legislature may have intended a more limited application of the statute, but based upon the plain language of the law, we agree with the municipal court judge and the Court of Appeals that Hedlund cannot be prosecuted as an accomplice. We affirm the Court of Appeals in part.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2 On July 16, 2001, a Ford Escort smashed into a concrete pillar in Auburn, killing the driver and five of the six passengers. Earlier in the evening, all the occupants of the car had been at a party at the apartment Hedlund shared with her mother, fiancé, and daughter. Hedlund was 28 at the time; the guests were between 17 and 22. Hedlund's four-year-old daughter was also present. One of the guests had brought a video camera, which was passed around to record the festivities. Most of those present, including the 17-year-old, were drinking alcohol and performing for the video camera. Hedlund's four-year-old daughter is also on camera with a lighted cigarette, dancing and performing at her mother's encouragement. Hedlund is heard asking her daughter to get the cigarettes, telling everyone to look at her daughter, and telling the girl to "shake your moneymaker." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 1188-89. At one point on the video, the four-year-old turns around, pulls down her pajamas, and bares her buttocks for the camera.

¶ 3 When Hedlund's mother came home, she threw the partyers out. Seven people squeezed into the two-door Ford Escort with *317 four seat belts and the back window broken out. Jayme, the owner of the car and the only sober guest, was one of the two smallest people. She sat on someone's lap in the backseat. Also in the backseat were Hedlund's fiancé, Tim, and their friends Marcus, Brandon, and April, the 17-year-old who was carried[1] unconscious into the car. At the wheel was Tim's twin brother Tom, who was heard earlier on the videotape declaring how "liquored up" he was. CP at 543, 1189.

¶ 4 No one saw the collision, but the events inside the car were preserved on the video camera. During the drive, Hedlund was in the front passenger seat, on her knees, facing the rear of the car, filming. The sober Jayme repeatedly screamed at Tom to slow down. When Hedlund asked Jayme if she wanted her (Hedlund) to drive instead of Tom, Jayme replied that she wanted Tom to stop the car. Hedlund said that Tom was only being funny. Tom then declared, "I'm going to kill us all right now." Seconds later, everyone but Hedlund was dead. Yaw marks on the pavement, together with the video, suggested that Tom put the car into a slide to scare his passengers, lost control, and hit the concrete pillar. The police determined the crash was caused by excessive speed and recklessness. Postmortem blood alcohol tests showed everyone but Jayme had been drinking and the driver's blood alcohol was at nearly twice the legal limit. Hedlund spent months in hospitals and rehabilitation as a result of the wreck.

¶ 5 The King County prosecutor declined to charge Hedlund and instead referred the case to the Auburn city attorney. The city charged Hedlund with DUI and reckless driving as an accomplice and with furnishing alcohol to minors. CP at 680-86.[2] After reviewing the videotape, the city added a charge of furnishing tobacco to a minor. See RCW 46.61.500 (reckless driving); RCW 46.61.502 (driving under the influence); RCW 66.44.270 (furnishing alcohol to a minor); RCW 26.28.080 (furnishing tobacco to a minor). The city's theory was that all evening, the camera was used to encourage inappropriate behavior and "showboating," which continued in the car because Hedlund kept filming. CP at 699-701, 716-17, 763. Hedlund unsuccessfully moved to sever the furnishing tobacco charge from the DUI, reckless driving, and furnishing alcohol charges.

¶ 6 The case was tried to a jury. At the end of the city's case in chief, the trial judge reluctantly granted Hedlund's motion to dismiss the reckless driving and DUI charges because "there's no way [the jury] could conclude that she was not also a victim." CP at 598. The city sought a writ of review to the superior court. Judge Cayce concluded that the statute, preventing a victim from being prosecuted as an accomplice, applied only to crimes that required a victim. He further concluded that because DUI and reckless driving do not require an injured victim, Hedlund was a victim of vehicular assault, not DUI or reckless driving. The court also rejected Hedlund's argument that continuation of the trial after the municipal court's dismissal would violate double jeopardy. Hedlund's appeal was stayed pending the lower court's proceedings.

¶ 7 The Auburn Municipal Court trial proceeded, and the jury found Hedlund guilty of all charges except reckless driving. Hedlund sought a RALJ appeal. Superior Court Judge Roberts reversed all of the convictions because of cumulative errors. The city's appeal of that decision was consolidated with Hedlund's earlier appeal of the writ of review. City of Auburn v. Hedlund, 137 Wash. App. 494, 497, 155 P.3d 149 (2007). Division One of the Court of Appeals affirmed the reversal of the DUI conviction, concluding Hedlund was a victim of that crime. Id. at 503, 155 P.3d 149. It also held that double jeopardy barred reinstating the DUI charge after it had been dismissed and that the city's cross appeal of the trial errors was moot. Id. at 506, 155 P.3d 149.

*318 ACCOMPLICE LIABILITY

¶ 8 We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. Castro v. Stanwood Sch. Dist. No. 401, 151 Wash.2d 221, 224, 86 P.3d 1166 (2004).

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City of Auburn v. Hedlund, 201 P.3d 315 (Wash. 2009).

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