In Re Personal Restraint Petition of Tran

111 P.3d 1168, 154 Wash. 2d 323
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMay 19, 2005
Docket75280-0, 75309-1
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 111 P.3d 1168 (In Re Personal Restraint Petition of Tran) 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 Petition of Tran, 111 P.3d 1168, 154 Wash. 2d 323 (Wash. 2005).

Opinion

111 P.3d 1168 (2005)
154 Wash.2d 323

In the Matter of the PERSONAL RESTRAINT PETITION OF Huy Khac TRAN, Petitioner.
In the Matter of the Personal Restraint Petition of Michael J. Roberts, Petitioner.

Nos. 75280-0, 75309-1.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued February 15, 2005.
Decided May 19, 2005.

*1169 Huy Khac Tran, pro se.

Michael J. Roberts, pro se.

Thomas Michael Kummerow, Nancy P. Collins, Gregory Charles Link, Washington Appellate Project, Seattle, WA, for Petitioner.

Ronda Denise Larson, Donna Mullen, Paul Douglas Weisser, Atty. Generals Ofc./CJ Division, Olympia, WA, for Respondent.

OWENS, J.

¶ 1 The question presented is whether the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) may require an inmate to serve the first five years of a sentence for first degree assault as "flat time" under former RCW 9.94A.120(4) (1998 & 2000)[1] where the judgment and sentence includes only a conviction for first degree assault with a firearm or other deadly weapon enhancement. Former RCW 9.94A.120(4) states that "[a]n offender convicted of the crime of assault in the first degree ... where the offender used force or means likely to result in death or intended to kill the victim shall be sentenced to a term of total confinement not less than five years." DOC maintains that a first degree assault conviction, in conjunction with a deadly weapon or firearm enhancement, necessarily implicates this provision. Michael Roberts and Huy Khac Tran filed separate personal restraint petitions challenging DOC's imposition of the five-year mandatory minimum. Division One of the Court of Appeals dismissed both petitions without a formal opinion. We reverse the Court of Appeals and grant the petitions.

FACTS

¶ 2 The petitioners are both currently serving sentences for assault in the first degree. *1170 After arriving at their respective correctional institutions, the petitioners were informed for the first time that they were subject to the five-year mandatory minimum prescribed in former RCW 9.94A.120(4). Offenders serving mandatory minimums, also known as "flat time," are not eligible for community custody, earned early release time, furlough, home detention, partial confinement, work crew, work release, or any other form of early release. Former RCW 9.94A.120(4). The petitioners argued that the imposition of flat time under former RCW 9.94A.120(4) was improper under the circumstances detailed in their respective judgments and sentences. The acting chief judge for Division One of the Court of Appeals dismissed the personal restraint petitions by written order without a hearing before a full panel of the court. Since the petitioners raised identical issues, we accepted review and consolidated the cases. Facts specific to Roberts and Tran are set forth below.

A. Roberts

¶ 3 Roberts pleaded guilty to first degree burglary and first degree assault with a deadly weapon on February 17, 1999. In his plea statement, Roberts admitted using a baseball bat as a deadly weapon, but there was no agreement between Roberts and the prosecutor that a mandatory minimum would be included under former RCW 9.94A.120(4).[2] Similarly, Roberts' statement on plea of guilty and judgment and sentence are devoid of any reference to a mandatory minimum under former RCW 9.94A.120(4). At sentencing, the court entered a judgment and sentence imposing a standard range of 144 months for Roberts' first degree assault conviction, including the 24-month deadly weapon enhancement, which must be served as flat time. At some point soon after being placed in DOC custody, Roberts learned that DOC imposed an additional five years of flat time under former RCW 9.94A.120(4). Consequently, Roberts must serve 84 months of his 144 month sentence as flat time.[3]

B. Tran

¶ 4 Tran entered an Alford[4] plea to one count of assault in the first degree on June 7, 2000, acknowledging that there was a substantial likelihood he would be found to have fired a handgun with the intent to inflict great bodily harm and, thereby, be found guilty of assault in the first degree. In his statement on plea of guilty, Tran admitted firing a handgun but stated that he did not intend to shoot or hit anyone.[5] As with Roberts, neither the statement on plea of guilty nor the judgment and sentence makes any explicit reference to Tran serving a five-year mandatory minimum under former RCW 9.94A.120(4). At Tran's sentencing, the court imposed a total sentence of 153 months, which was the minimum within the standard range. This sentence includes a 60-month firearm enhancement that Tran must serve as flat time. Once again, DOC looked to the face of the judgment and sentence and imposed an additional 60 months of flat time under former RCW 9.94A.120(4). As a result, Tran is currently required to serve 120 months of his 153 month sentence as flat time.

ISSUE

¶ 5 Does a judgment and sentence that includes a first degree assault conviction under RCW 9A.36.011(1)(a), with a firearm or other deadly weapon enhancement, necessarily *1171 satisfy the conditions for a five-year mandatory minimum under former RCW 9.94A.120(4)?

ANALYSIS

¶ 6 Standard of Review. These personal restraint petitions challenging DOC's imposition of an additional 60 months of flat time under former RCW 9.94A.120(4) constitute collateral review. On collateral review, a petitioner raising a new issue must show that he or she was actually and substantially prejudiced by constitutional error or that a nonconstitutional error occurred constituting a fundamental defect that inherently resulted in a complete miscarriage of justice. In re Pers. Restraint of Lord, 123 Wash.2d 296, 303, 868 P.2d 835 (1994).

¶ 7 Imposing a Mandatory Minimum for Assault in the First Degree under Former RCW 9.94A.120(4).

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111 P.3d 1168, 154 Wash. 2d 323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-personal-restraint-petition-of-tran-wash-2005.