In Re Shale

158 P.3d 588
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 2007
Docket78254-7
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 158 P.3d 588 (In Re Shale) 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 Shale, 158 P.3d 588 (Wash. 2007).

Opinion

158 P.3d 588 (2007)

In the Matter of the Personal Restraint Petition of Cole W. SHALE, Petitioner.

No. 78254-7.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued January 11, 2007.
Decided May 24, 2007.

*589 Eric Nielsen, Nielsen Broman Koch, Seattle, for Appellant.

Kevin Michael Korsmo, Andrew J. Metts, Spokane County Prosecutor's Office, Spokane, for Respondent.

C. JOHNSON, J.

¶ 1 This case asks us to determine whether petitioner Cole Shale's several convictions for possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of payment instruments violate double jeopardy principles and constitute the "same criminal conduct" for sentencing purposes. The Court of Appeals dismissed all of Shale's claims. We affirm.

FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2 In November 2004, Shale pleaded guilty to 12 crimes charged under 7 separate cause numbers in Spokane County Superior Court. Relevant to this case, Shale pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree possession of stolen property under cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X, and one count of the same crime under cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X. Additionally, Shale pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful possession of payment instruments under cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X. The superior court calculated Shale's offender scores at 9+ after treating his crimes as separate from one another. Shale received concurrent standard range sentences on each cause number.

¶ 3 In February 2005, Shale moved to vacate his judgment and sentence as to each charge on only three of his seven cause numbers, claiming double jeopardy violations and errors in the calculation of his offender scores. Shale claimed no dispute on the remaining four cause numbers. The superior court transferred the case to Division Three of the Court of Appeals for consideration as a personal restraint petition, where the chief judge dismissed all of Shale's claims.[1] We granted discretionary review.

ISSUES

A. Whether Shale's multiple convictions for possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of payment instruments violate double jeopardy principles.
B. Whether the trial court erroneously failed to treat some of Shale's crimes as the "same criminal conduct" for offender score purposes.

ANALYSIS

Double Jeopardy

¶ 4 The double jeopardy clauses of the Washington State and United States Constitutions prohibit convicting a person more than once under the same criminal statute if he or she committed only one "unit" of the crime. State v. Tvedt, 153 Wash.2d 705, 710, 107 P.3d 728 (2005). Shale argues that his convictions violate double jeopardy principles because the counts of possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of payment instruments constitute one "unit of prosecution" rather than the separate units to which he pleaded guilty.

¶ 5 The State argues that Shale pleaded guilty to all of the cause numbers in an indivisible package deal and therefore may not challenge any part of that deal without challenging the entire deal by requesting withdrawal of all of his pleas. First, every one of Shale's guilty pleas were signed by Shale and entered on the same day, November 16, 2004; and all of Shale's guilty pleas were accepted on the same day, November 16, 2004, in the same proceeding. Second, each of Shale's guilty pleas references one another on page 3, section g, of his statement on plea of guilty. Section g provides the recommendation that the prosecuting attorney will make to the judge. In each *590 of Shale's statements on plea of guilty forms, the recommendation is for concurrent time to all matters pleaded to on the same day and a standard range sentence. Finally, all three cause numbers challenged by Shale issue from crimes he committed on the same day, July 2, 2004. Supplemental Br. of Resp't at 2. Shale does not request withdrawal of all of his pleas but asks only for "specific performance" of his plea agreements after vacation of the convictions that violate double jeopardy.

¶ 6 The State's position is supported by our previous holdings where we have held indivisible plea bargains involving multiple charges are found where pleas were made at the same time, described in one document, and accepted in a single proceeding. State v. Turley, 149 Wash.2d 395, 398, 69 P.3d 338 (2003); see also State v. Ermels, 156 Wash.2d 528, 541, 131 P.3d 299 (2006); State v. Bisson, 156 Wash.2d 507, 519, 130 P.3d 820 (2006).

¶ 7 In Turley, the State incorrectly represented to the defendant that no mandatory community placement would be required on one of two charges to which the defendant pleaded guilty. When Turley discovered the error, he requested to withdraw his entire plea agreement. We allowed Turley to do so because we reasoned that a plea agreement is essentially a contract made between a defendant and the State; and, under normal contract principles, it is dependent upon the intent of the parties whether a contract is considered separable or indivisible. Turley negotiated and pleaded guilty to two charges contemporaneously, and one document contained the plea to and conditions for both charges. The State argued to allow Turley to withdraw only one of the two charges to which he pleaded guilty. We disagreed and held that a trial court must treat a plea agreement as indivisible when pleas to multiple counts or charges were made at the same time, described in one document, and accepted in a single proceeding. Turley, 149 Wash.2d at 400, 69 P.3d 338.

¶ 8 Here, all of Shale's pleas were entered and accepted in the same proceeding, but the pleas were described in different documents. However, because the different documents challenged by Shale are for crimes he committed on the same day, and the documents were all signed the same day, and refer to one another, we find Shale is challenging only a portion of an indivisible package deal. Therefore, we find Shale cannot challenge a portion of the plea agreement. Accordingly, we affirm the Court of the Appeals' dismissal of these claims.

Same Criminal Conduct

¶ 9 Shale argues that the trial court erroneously failed to treat some of his crimes as the "same criminal conduct" for offender score purposes. See RCW 9.94A.589(1)(a).[2] In contrast, the State argues that Shale did not ask the trial court to make a discretionary call on the issue of "same criminal conduct." Specifically, the State asserts that without contesting the issue at the trial level and alerting the trial court to make a discretionary call, Shale waives his right to raise the issue now.

¶ 10 We have held that a sentence in excess of statutory authority is subject to collateral attack, that a sentence is excessive if based upon a miscalculated offender score (miscalculated upward), and that a defendant cannot agree to punishment in excess of that which the legislature has established. In re Pers. Restraint of Goodwin, 146 Wash.2d 861, 873-74, 50 P.3d 618 (2002). However, in Goodwin,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
158 P.3d 588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-shale-wash-2007.