In Re Haghighi

276 P.3d 311, 167 Wash. App. 712
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 16, 2012
Docket65130-7-I
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 276 P.3d 311 (In Re Haghighi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Haghighi, 276 P.3d 311, 167 Wash. App. 712 (Wash. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

276 P.3d 311 (2012)
167 Wn. App. 712

In re the Personal Restraint Petition of Baron Nadder HAGHIGHI,[1] Petitioner.

No. 65130-7-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

April 16, 2012.

*312 Nancy P. Collins, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

Donna Lynn Wise, Attorney at Law, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

LAU, J.

¶ 1 Baron Haghighi's personal restraint petition (PRP) challenges his judgment and sentence for unlawful issuance of checks or drafts (UICD) and first degree theft. The trial court admitted bank records under the inevitable discovery rule. We adhered to that rule on direct appeal in affirming Haghighi's convictions. Haghighi claims that rejection of the inevitable discovery rule in State v. Winterstein, 167 Wash.2d 620, 220 P.3d 1226 (2009),[2] decided weeks after his *313 appeal became final, applies retroactively to his case. He also argues deficient performance by his appellate counsel. Because Winterstein does not apply retroactively on collateral review to convictions that were final when Winterstein was decided and the ineffective assistance of counsel claim is time barred, we dismiss Haghighi's petition.

FACTS

¶ 2 The facts of this case are fully discussed in Haghighi's direct appeal. State v. Haghighi, noted at 151 Wash.App. 1047, 2009 WL 2515775. We repeat only the facts necessary to resolve this PRP.

¶ 3 The State charged Haghighi with seven counts of unlawful issuance of checks or drafts and one count of first degree theft. The charges all related to bad checks Haghighi presented to six victims between November 15, 2005, and January 3, 2006. The checks were drawn on accounts Haghighi opened at Washington Mutual Bank and Allstate Bank. The State sought an exceptional sentence based on Haghighi's history of passing bad checks.

¶ 4 Before trial, defense counsel moved to suppress Haghighi's Allstate bank records. A superior court judge had previously approved a search warrant for those records on February 27, 2006. By that point, several victims had identified Haghighi by photomontage and provided copies of fraudulent checks to the police. The search warrant affidavit identified account and check numbers involved. Allstate provided the records after Kent Police Detective Robert Kaufmann faxed the search warrant to Allstate's Illinois office. Defense counsel acknowledged probable cause existed to support the search warrant. He argued that the "extraterritorial search and seizure lacked constitutional authority" and that "its fruits must be excluded." Haghighi, 151 Wash.App. 1047, 2009 WL 2515775, at *2. The trial court rejected the constitutional violation claim but found the warrant unenforceable in Illinois premised on the State's failure to follow proper warrant enforcement procedures. Relying on the inevitable discovery rule, the court denied suppression of the bank records. The court also denied defense counsel's request for an inevitable discovery evidentiary hearing.

¶ 5 The jury convicted Haghighi on all counts. The court imposed exceptional sentences on all counts—96 months on the theft and 60 months on the UIDCs, all to run concurrently.

¶ 6 On appeal, Haghighi primarily claimed that the State failed to prove it would have inevitably discovered his Allstate bank records and that the trial court erred by not conducting an evidentiary hearing. Haghighi, 151 Wash.App. 1047, 2009 WL 2515775 at *7. We adhered to the inevitable discovery rule[3] and held that the trial court properly concluded the State would have discovered Haghighi's bank records despite the warrant's unenforceability. Haghighi, 151 Wash.App. 1047, 2009 WL 2515775 at *8.

¶ 7 Shortly after the finality of Haghighi's appeal, our Supreme Court held in Winterstein that the inevitable discovery rule violates article I, section 7 of the Washington Constitution. Haghighi timely filed a PRP in March 2010, alleging Winterstein's retroactive application in his case.[4]

DISCUSSION

¶ 8 To obtain collateral relief by means of a PRP, the petitioner must show that there was a "constitutional error that resulted in actual and substantial prejudice to the petitioner or that there was a nonconstitutional error that resulted in a fundamental *314 defect which inherently results in a complete miscarriage of justice." In re Pers. Restraint Petition of Woods, 154 Wash.2d 400, 409, 114 P.3d 607 (2005). The petitioner must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the error was prejudicial. In re Pers. Restraint Petition of Lord, 152 Wash.2d 182, 188, 94 P.3d 952 (2004).

Retroactivity

¶ 9 In Haghighi's case, we affirmed the trial court's reliance on the inevitable discovery rule before Winterstein held the rule unconstitutional under Washington law. Haghighi contends that Winterstein constitutes a change in the law that applies retroactively to his case. He specifically argues that (1) Winterstein announces no new rule under our state Supreme Court jurisprudence and (2) even if retroactivity analysis applies, state and not federal retroactivity analysis applies to his case. The State counters that Winterstein lacks retroactive application to cases already final when it was decided.

¶ 10 Washington courts attempt to maintain congruence with the United States Supreme Court in analyzing retroactivity. In re Pers. Restraint Petition of Markel, 154 Wash.2d 262, 268, 111 P.3d 249 (2005); see also State v. Evans, 154 Wash.2d 438, 444, 114 P.3d 627 (2005) ("Generally, we have followed the lead of the United States Supreme Court when deciding whether to give retroactive application to newly articulated principles of law."). Under the federal common law retroactivity analysis,

"1. A new rule for the conduct of criminal prosecutions is to be applied retroactively to all cases, state or federal, pending on direct review or not yet final, with no exception for cases in which the new rule constitutes a clear break from the past.
"2. A new rule will not be given retroactive application to cases on collateral review except where either: (a) the new rule places certain kinds of primary, private individual conduct beyond the power of the state to proscribe, or (b) the rule requires the observance of procedures implicit in the concept of ordered liberty."

Evans, 154 Wash.2d at 444, 114 P.3d 627 (footnote omitted) (quoting In re Pers. Restraint Petition of St. Pierre, 118 Wash.2d 321, 326, 823 P.2d 492 (1992)). Our Supreme Court more recently applied federal retroactivity analysis in In re Per. Restraint Petition of Scott, 173 Wash.2d 911, ___, 271 P.3d 218 (2012) (quoting Evans, 154 Wash.2d at 444, 114 P.3d 627).[5]

¶ 11 Under retroactivity analysis, "[a] `new rule' is one that `breaks new ground' or `was not dictated

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Related

In re Pers. Restraint of Haghighi
Washington Supreme Court, 2013
In re the Personal Restraint of Haghighi
309 P.3d 459 (Washington Supreme Court, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
276 P.3d 311, 167 Wash. App. 712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-haghighi-washctapp-2012.