In Re Personal Restraint of Delgado

204 P.3d 936
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 10, 2009
Docket35455-1-II
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 204 P.3d 936 (In Re Personal Restraint of Delgado) 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 Personal Restraint of Delgado, 204 P.3d 936 (Wash. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

204 P.3d 936 (2009)

In the Matter of the PERSONAL RESTRAINT OF Christopher DELGADO, Petitioner.
In the Matter of the Personal Restraint of Ernesto Meza, Petitioner.

No. 35455-1-II.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2.

March 10, 2009.

*937 Suzanne Lee Elliott, Attorney at Law, Seattle, WA, for Petitioners.

Carol L. La Verne, Thurston County Prosecutor's Office, Olympia, WA, for Respondent.

QUINN-BRINTNALL, J.

¶ 1 Christopher Delgado and Ernesto Meza seek relief from personal restraint imposed after the State charged deadly weapon sentencing enhancements and the jury entered deadly weapon special findings, but the sentencing court imposed firearm enhancements. A panel of judges reviewed the petitions in order to consider the implications of our Supreme Court's recent decision in State v. Recuenco, 163 Wash.2d 428, 180 P.3d 1276 (2008) (Recuenco III).

¶ 2 In Recuenco III, our Supreme Court held that the State cannot elect to charge a deadly weapon sentence enhancement and send deadly weapon jury instructions and special verdicts to the jury and then, at sentencing, request firearm enhancements. 163 Wash.2d 428, 180 P.3d 1276. Imposition of firearm enhancements in such a situation is never harmless error, the court held, because the defendant was not notified that he had to defend against a firearm enhancement and because the jury's deadly weapon verdict did not authorize the firearm enhancement. Recuenco III, 163 Wash.2d at 442, 180 P.3d 1276.

¶ 3 Recuenco III controls our decision here. When Delgado and Meza committed the offenses, former RCW 9.94A.510(3) (2000) governed firearm enhancements and former RCW 9.94A.510(4) and RCW 9.94A.602 governed deadly weapon enhancements. The State charged that Delgado and Meza committed their crimes "while armed with a deadly weapon" and it did not specify that the petitioners must defend themselves under the firearm enhancement provision, former RCW 9.94A.510(3). The jury was instructed only on the deadly weapon enhancement. Several special verdict forms state that Delgado and Meza had committed the crimes while armed with a "firearm," but these special verdicts actually reflected the jury's deadly weapon findings. On this basis, the sentencing court lacked authority to enter firearm enhancements.

¶ 4 The facts here are nearly identical to Recuenco III and, accordingly, we must apply the same remedy. We vacate the firearm enhancements and remand for entry of corrected judgments and sentence imposing deadly weapon enhancements in lieu of the firearm enhancements.[1]Accord State v. Bainard, 148 Wash.App. 93, 199 P.3d 460 (2009).

FACTS

¶ 5 Ryan Waslawski had been selling drugs for Meza but decided to stop.[2] Waslawski and Meza arranged to meet for lunch. On January 9, 2003, Waslawski got into Meza's truck. Delgado and William Kravis were *938 already sitting inside. Meza confronted Waslawski about why he stopped selling drugs for him, loaded a semi-automatic handgun, and drove down a gravel road. Delgado pointed out that an old man was crossing the road and might see them, so Meza drove to a vacant lot. Meza ordered everyone to get out of the truck and then shot Waslawski. Meza allowed Waslawski back in the car on the condition that he tell others that he was the victim of a drive-by shooting. Meza dropped Waslawski off at a service station where he called for help. At Harborview Hospital, doctors treated Waslawski for a punctured lung, damage to his aorta, and nerve damage. Kravis later cooperated with police and revealed that Meza had threatened to kill him and his family if he told police what had happened.

¶ 6 The State charged Meza by third amended information with first degree attempted murder or, in the alternative, first degree assault (count I), first degree kidnapping (count II), and two counts of intimidating a witness (counts III, Waslawski, and IV, Kravis). The State also charged Delgado by second amended information with first degree attempted murder or, in the alternative, first degree assault (count I) and first degree kidnapping (count II).[3] For each of Meza's and Delgado's charges, the State alleged that the defendant or an accomplice committed the crime while "armed with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a firearm." Resp. to Pet., App. C, D.

¶ 7 The sentence enhancement portions of the informations cited RCW 9.94A.602, which provided that a jury must enter a special verdict regarding the use of a deadly weapon. The informations also cited former RCW 9.94A.510, which set forth both firearm and deadly weapon sentence enhancements. But the informations did not specify that the State was charging Meza and Delgado under former RCW 9.94A.510(3), the section relating to firearm enhancements, rather than, or in addition to, former RCW 9.94A.510(4), the section relating to deadly weapon sentence enhancements.

¶ 8 Meza and Delgado were tried together as co-defendants. The trial court instructed the jury:

Instruction No. 32
For purposes of a special verdict the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of the commission of each of the crimes charged in this case.
A pistol, revolver, or any other firearm is a deadly weapon whether loaded or unloaded.
If one participant to a crime is armed with a deadly weapon, all accomplices to that participant are deemed to be so armed, even if only one deadly weapon is involved.
Instruction No. 33
The term "deadly weapon" includes a firearm, whether loaded or not.

Resp. to Pet., App. E. The trial court did not instruct the jury on the definition of "firearm."

¶ 9 The jury found Meza guilty of attempted first degree murder (count I), first degree kidnapping (count II), and two counts of witness intimidation (counts III and IV). The jury also found Delgado guilty of first degree assault (the alternative in count I) and first degree kidnapping (count II).

¶ 10 In addition, the jury entered special verdicts. It specially found that Meza or another participant was "armed with a firearm" when he committed attempted first degree murder and first degree kidnapping, was "armed with a deadly weapon" when he committed witness intimidation as charged in count III, and was "armed with a firearm" when he committed witness intimidation as charged in count IV. The jury also entered special verdicts that Delgado or another participant was "armed with a firearm" when he committed each crime for which he was convicted, first degree assault and first degree kidnapping.

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204 P.3d 936, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-personal-restraint-of-delgado-washctapp-2009.