In Re Personal Restraint of Hutchinson

53 P.3d 17
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 29, 2002
Docket71353-7
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 53 P.3d 17 (In Re Personal Restraint of Hutchinson) 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 Personal Restraint of Hutchinson, 53 P.3d 17 (Wash. 2002).

Opinion

53 P.3d 17 (2002)
147 Wash.2d 197

In the Matter of the PERSONAL RESTRAINT OF Darrin Rand HUTCHINSON, Sr., Petitioner.

No. 71353-7.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued February 14, 2002.
Decided August 29, 2002.

*18 James Lobsenz, Seattle, for Petitioner.

Christine Gregoire, Attorney General, Diana Sheythe, Asst., Paul Weisser, Asst., Olympia, Gregory Banks, Island County Prosecutor, Coupeville, for Respondent.

OWENS, J.

Darrin Hutchinson, sentenced in 1989 to life in prison without possibility of parole for the murder of two law enforcement officers, contends that this court violated his due process rights by issuing contradictory decisions. In the alternative, Hutchinson claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. We disagree and therefore affirm the Court of Appeals decision dismissing Hutchinson's personal restraint petition.

FACTS

On November 14, 1987, Hutchinson shot and killed two Island County Deputy Sheriffs, William Heffernan and John Saxerud, at the Island County jail complex, where the deputies were preparing to administer a Breathalyzer test following Hutchinson's arrest for a driving violation. After shooting the two officers, Hutchinson took a key from Deputy Saxerud's pocket, stole a patrol car, drove to his brother's house, and on his brother's advice abandoned the car in a ravine before walking to his parents' house, where he was arrested a short time later. In a taped interview, Hutchinson confessed to shooting the two deputies.

Prior to trial, Hutchinson sought this court's discretionary review of a trial court order directing him to submit to a psychiatric examination by the State's expert, an examination prompted by Hutchinson's disclosure that he would possibly rely at trial on a diminished capacity defense. On September 26, 1988, this court issued an order affirming the discovery order and stating that an explanatory opinion would follow. On January 11, 1989, the State's expert "attempted to examine the Defendant, but began by stating, `whatever you say does not have Fifth Amendment privileges....'" State v. Hutchinson, 135 Wash.2d 863, 872, 959 P.2d 1061 (1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1157, 119 S.Ct. *19 1065, 143 L.Ed.2d 69 (1999) (Hutchinson III) (quoting Verbatim Report of Proceedings at 2 (11 A.M. Jan. 11, 1989)). Through counsel, Hutchinson declined to answer any questions asked by the State's expert at the court-ordered examination. In response, the trial court sanctioned Hutchinson by excluding three of his mental health experts from testifying regarding his diminished capacity defense.[1] On January 13, 1989, this court issued its opinion affirming the trial court's order requiring the psychiatric examination. State v. Hutchinson, 111 Wash.2d 872, 766 P.2d 447 (1989) (Hutchinson I).

In light of this court's explanatory opinion (Hutchinson I), Hutchinson asked the trial court to reconsider its orders requiring his participation in the examination and imposing the sanction of precluding expert witness testimony. Again rejecting Hutchinson's position that his compulsory participation in the psychiatric examination would violate his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, the trial court explained that its in camera review would ensure that any incriminating statements made during the examination would be suppressed at trial. The trial court offered to rescind its sanction if Hutchinson agreed within three days to submit to the examination, but Hutchinson declined the opportunity and thereafter unsuccessfully moved the trial court for reconsideration three more times. Hutchinson did not request a stay to seek appellate review of any of the trial court's denials of his motions for reconsideration.

On June 30, 1989, a jury found Hutchinson guilty of two counts of aggravated first degree murder, and on July 17, 1989, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of release or parole. Hutchinson appealed his conviction, and in 1997 the Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the trial court had erred in its jury instructions and in its preclusion of testimony by Hutchinson's expert witnesses. State v. Hutchinson, 85 Wash.App. 726, 938 P.2d 336 (1997) (Hutchinson II). But in 1998 this court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated Hutchinson's conviction, and the United States Supreme Court subsequently denied his petition for a writ of certiorari. Hutchinson III.

In February 2000, Hutchinson filed a personal restraint petition in this court, seeking relief from confinement. We transferred the petition to the Court of Appeals, and on June 4, 2001, that court denied Hutchinson's petition in an unpublished decision. In re Pers. Restraint of Hutchinson, No. 46728-0-I, 106 Wash.App. 1036, 2001 WL 599900 (Wash.Ct. App. June 4, 2001) (Hutchinson IV). On December 4, 2001, we granted Hutchinson's motion for discretionary review of the dismissal of his personal restraint petition.

ISSUES

(1) In light of statements in this court's September 1988 order and its 1989 explanatory opinion, was Hutchinson deprived of due process when the trial court imposed discovery sanctions for his refusal to submit to the State's psychiatric examination?

(2) In the alternative, did Hutchinson prove that his trial counsel's representation was deficient and that her errors compromised his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial?

ANALYSIS

Standard of Review. In this personal restraint petition, Hutchinson claims a violation of his constitutional rights. To obtain relief through his petition, Hutchinson must show that a constitutional error was made, and he "must prove that the constitutional errors worked to his actual and substantial prejudice." In re Pers. Restraint of Lile, 100 Wash.2d 224, 225, 668 P.2d 581 (1983); see In re Pers. Restraint of St. Pierre, 118 Wash.2d 321, 328, 823 P.2d 492 (1992) (observing that defendant must show such prejudice by a preponderance of the evidence).

Due Process Claim. Hutchinson asserts that this court issued contradictory directives regarding his right to exercise his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination *20 and that his reliance on one of the directives resulted in the type of due process violation that the United States Supreme Court delineated in Raley v. Ohio, 360 U.S. 423, 79 S.Ct. 1257, 3 L.Ed.2d 1344 (1959). We reject Hutchinson's analysis.

In our order of September 26, 1988, we stated as follows:

The trial court's May 25, 1988 order requiring that Mr. Hutchinson submit to an examination by a State's expert is affirmed, but neither the interposing of a diminished capacity defense by Mr. Hutchinson nor his submission to this examination shall be deemed to waive his constitutional right against self-incrimination[.]

Hutchinson I, 111 Wash.2d at 874,

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