In re the Personal Restraint of Percer

47 P.3d 576, 111 Wash. App. 843
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMay 21, 2002
DocketNo. 20221-6-III
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 47 P.3d 576 (In re the Personal Restraint of Percer) 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 the Personal Restraint of Percer, 47 P.3d 576, 111 Wash. App. 843 (Wash. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

Kato, J.

Stephen J. Percer filed this personal restraint petition to challenge his convictions for second degree felony murder and vehicular homicide, both arising from the same death. He contends that, contrary to this court’s decision on direct appeal, the convictions violate the double jeopardy clauses of the state and federal constitutions. We agree and grant the petition.

Mr. Percer stole a vehicle in Seattle on November 14, 1995. He drove onto Interstate 90 and headed east into Kittitas County, where the vehicle collided with a pickup truck driven by Darrell Mervos. Mr. Mervos died at the scene as a result of the collision.

The State charged Mr. Percer with second degree felony murder, vehicular homicide, taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s permission, hit and run injury accident, and first degree theft. He pleaded guilty to all but the felony murder charge, which he submitted to the superior court for a bench trial on stipulated facts. In a memorandum decision, the superior court concluded “that one may certainly be convicted of both vehicular homicide and felony murder in the same course of conduct.” Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Mem. Decision, at 3. The superior court found Mr. Percer guilty of second degree felony murder and sentenced him to 288 months on the murder conviction and 116 months on the vehicular homicide conviction, to be served concurrently.1

Mr. Percer appealed, contending in part that the murder and vehicular homicide convictions violated constitutional guarantees against double jeopardy. State v. Percer, No. 15553-6-III, 1997 Wash. App. LEXIS 1727, at *8-11, 1997 WL 642320, at *3-4 (Wash. Ct. App. Oct. 14, 1997), review denied, 134 Wn.2d 1017 (1998). This court affirmed the convictions. Percer, 1997 Wash. App. LEXIS 1727, at *12, 1997 WL 642320, at *4-5.

Mr. Percer now has filed this petition, again raising the double jeopardy issue.

[846]*846We first must decide whether we may consider the issue even though this court rejected Mr. Percer’s contention on direct appeal. An appellate court generally will not reconsider issues that have been raised and resolved in a direct appeal. In re Pers. Restraint of Gentry, 137 Wn.2d 378, 388, 972 P.2d 1250 (1999). However, a personal restraint petitioner may renew an issue if “the interests of justice require the issue be reexamined.” In re Pers. Restraint of Pirtle, 136 Wn.2d 467, 473, 965 P.2d 593 (1998).

A petitioner cannot be allowed to institute appeal upon appeal and review upon review in forum after forum ad infinitum. On the other hand, collateral review must be available in those cases in which petitioner is actually prejudiced by the error. . . . Hence, we hold the mere fact that an issue was raised on appeal does not automatically bar review in a [personal restraint petition] (PRP). Rather, a court should dismiss a PRP only if the prior appeal was denied on the same ground and the ends of justice would not be served by reaching the merits of the subsequent PRP.

In re Pers. Restraint of Taylor, 105 Wn.2d 683, 688, 717 P.2d 755 (1986) (citation omitted). Under this rule, an intervening change in the law will justify a reexamination of an issue already decided on direct review. Gentry, 137 Wn.2d at 388.

Mr. Percer contends the law has changed significantly since this court decided his direct appeal. He directs the court’s attention to State v. Schwab, 98 Wn. App. 179, 988 P.2d 1045 (1999). In Schwab, a Division One panel of this Court held that a defendant could not be convicted of both second degree murder and first degree manslaughter for a single homicide, reasoning that RCW 9A.32.010 defines homicide in the disjunctive: It is either (1) murder, (2) homicide by abuse, (3) manslaughter, (4) excusable homicide, or (5) justifiable homicide. Schwab, 98 Wn. App. at 188-89.

Schwab apparently is the first Washington case to address the specific relationship between the crimes of murder and manslaughter in this context. However, Schwab simply applied the rule that, even if the common “same [847]*847evidence” rule of statutory construction is satisfied, two or more convictions may violate constitutional guarantees against double jeopardy if “there is a ‘clear indication of contrary legislative intent.’ ” Id. at 184 (quoting State v. Calle, 125 Wn.2d 769, 778, 888 P.2d 155 (1995)). Schwab did not announce a new principle of law.

Nevertheless, as we conclude below, this court’s earlier decision in Mr. Percer’s case was incorrect. In light of the clear error involving a constitutional right, we reexamine the issue in the interests of justice.

The Fifth Amendment and Washington Constitution article I, section 9 prohibit multiple punishments for the same offense. State v. Portrey, 102 Wn. App. 898, 904, 10 P.3d 481 (2000). Although the double jeopardy protection is constitutional, the appropriate judicial analysis concerns whether the Legislature intended to allow multiple punishments for the same act. Id. at 904-05. Washington courts initially apply the familiar “same evidence” test to determine the legislative intent. Id. at 905.

Mr. Percer concedes the “same evidence” test would not bar the two convictions at issue here. However, the “same evidence” test is not always dispositive and does not apply if there is a “clear indication of contrary legislative intent.” Calle, 125 Wn.2d at 778; see Schwab, 98 Wn. App. at 184.

Mr. Percer was convicted of second degree felony murder under RCW 9A.32.050(1)(b) and vehicular homicide under RCW 46.61.520(1)(b). At the center of the dispute is RCW 9A.32.010, which defines homicide. It provides:

Homicide is the killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or omission of another, death occurring at any time, and is either (1) murder, (2) homicide by abuse, (3) manslaughter, excusable homicide, or (5) justifiable homicide.

(Emphasis added.)

As the court concluded in Schwab, this statute’s disjunctive construction evinces a clear legislative intent to bar multiple convictions for a single homicide. Schwab, 98 Wn. App. at 188-89. The State contends, however, that this [848]*848reasoning does not apply here, because vehicular homicide is not included in RCW 9A.32.010

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47 P.3d 576, 111 Wash. App. 843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-personal-restraint-of-percer-washctapp-2002.