In Re Call

28 P.3d 709
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 26, 2001
Docket69876-7
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 28 P.3d 709 (In Re Call) 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
In Re Call, 28 P.3d 709 (Wash. 2001).

Opinion

28 P.3d 709 (2001)
144 Wash.2d 315

In the Matter of the Personal Restraint Petition of Ira Erwin CALL, Respondent.

No. 69876-7.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued May 24, 2001.
Decided July 26, 2001.

*710 Steven Tucker, Spokane County Prosecutor, Kevin Michael Korsmo, Deputy, Spokane, for Petitioner.

Sheryl Gordon McCloud, Seattle, for Respondent.

SMITH, J.

Petitioner State of Washington seeks review of a decision by the Court of Appeals, Division Three, which granted the personal restraint petition of Respondent Ira Erwin Call, remanding to the Spokane County Superior Court for resentencing on his conviction for robbery in the first degree because of the inadvertent inclusion of two prior convictions in Texas which had "washed out" with the result that the trial court used an offender score of 10 instead of 8 and sentenced him to 129 months instead of 108 months, the lower end of the standard range. We granted review. We affirm.

QUESTION PRESENTED

The question presented in this case is whether the invited error doctrine precludes a defendant from arguing in a personal restraint petition that his offender score is lower than the Prosecuting Attorney and the defendant jointly represented to the trial court at sentencing even though the sentence actually imposed was within the standard range, but not at the low end of the standard range, for the correct offender score.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On April 22, 1999, the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney filed a second amended information in the Spokane County Superior Court charging Respondent Ira Erwin Call with robbery in the first degree.[1] The information read:

That the defendant, IRA ERWIN CALL, in the State of Washington, on or about December 9, 1998, with the intent to commit theft, did unlaw-fully [sic] take and retain personal property, an automobile, a purse and its contents, from the person and in the presence of Lila K. Milliron, against such person's will, by use or threatened use of immediate force, violence and fear of injury to Lila K. Milliron, and in the commission of and immediate flight therefrom, the defendant was armed with a deadly weapon, to wit: a knife[.]

That same day, the trial court, the Honorable Linda G. Tompkins, accepted Respondent's plea of "guilty" to the one count of first degree robbery.[2] Judge Tompkins also *711 accepted his plea of "guilty" to two additional offenses: second degree robbery and first degree theft.[3] The parties agreed that Respondent would plead guilty to all three offenses and that the Prosecuting Attorney would dismiss a deadly weapon enhancement charge and four counts of forgery in conjunction with the first degree robbery charge, and dismiss one count of possession of stolen property in the first degree.[4]

The Prosecuting Attorney and Respondent both agreed that Respondent's offender score for purposes of sentencing was "9 plus, essentially a 10" on the two robbery convictions and 9 on the theft conviction.[5] The calculation of his offender score of 10 included seven prior offenses,[6] two of which were committed in Texas,[7] and the two other additional offenses charged against him in this case.

The Prosecuting Attorney agreed to recommend a sentence at the low end of the standard range[8] based upon an offender score of 10, which the parties agreed was 129 to 171 months on the first degree robbery conviction.[9] The Prosecuting Attorney and Respondent jointly recommended that the court sentence Respondent to 129 months on the first degree robbery conviction.[10] The court sentenced him to 129 months on that charge.[11] The court also ordered the sentences on the two other offenses to be served concurrently with the first degree robbery conviction.[12] Respondent did not appeal.

On June 22, 1999, Respondent Call filed a personal restraint petition in the Court of Appeals, Division Three, contending the trial court based his sentence for first degree robbery on an incorrect offender score.[13] He argued that his two prior Texas convictions should not have been used in calculating his *712 offender score for the first degree robbery conviction because they "washed out" under former RCW 9.94A.360(2) (1999) of the Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) of 1981. He claimed his Texas convictions were equivalent to Class C felonies and he was free in the community for more than five years before his next offense—a 1996 forgery conviction.[14] The State responded that any error was invited because of the plea agreement between Respondent and the State and their joint agreement to recommend a sentence of 129 months; and even if the Texas convictions were not counted, Respondent's offender score would be 8 and his sentence of 129 months would still be within the standard range of 108 to 144 months.

The Court of Appeals contacted the Texas Department of Criminal Justice which confirmed that Respondent was released from confinement on the two 1987 Texas convictions more than five years before his next offense.[15]

After informing the State of this information and inviting a response,[16] the Court of Appeals granted Respondent's personal restraint petition on March 30, 2000 and remanded the case for resentencing using an offender score of 8 instead of a score of 10 in calculating his sentence for first degree robbery.[17] The Court of Appeals, in an unpublished per curiam opinion, stated that:

The invited error doctrine cannot cure the court's lack of statutory authority for a sentence imposed using an incorrect offender score. Further, it is impossible to say with certainty that the superior court here would have imposed the same sentence if it had used the proper offender score. As set forth above, Mr. Call's statement on plea of guilty indicates the State would recommend a "low end" standard range sentence. "Low end", counting the Texas convictions, is the 129 months that the sentencing court imposed. "Low end", without those convictions, is 108 months. If the court would have sentenced Mr. Call to 108 months, had it used a proper offender score, then he has suffered prejudice by the court, instead, using the improper offender score.[[18]]

On April 17, 2000, the State filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that any alleged error was invited and that the Court of Appeals had erroneously applied direct appeal standards in a personal restraint petition, having equated an alleged sentencing error with lack of authority to impose a sentence.[19] The Court of Appeals denied the motion on May 18, 2000.[20]

Petitioner State then sought review by this court, which was granted on December 6, 2000.[21]

DISCUSSION

Petitioner State of Washington contends the Court of Appeals erred in granting *713 Respondent Ira Erwin Call's personal restraint petition and directing the trial court to resentence him with an offender score of 8 instead of a score of 10 for his first degree robbery conviction.[22] Respondent Call argues that the Court of Appeals properly determined his sentence for first degree robbery was calculated upon an erroneous offender score.[23]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 P.3d 709, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-call-wash-2001.