In re the Personal Restraint of Turay

150 Wash. 2d 71
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 21, 2003
DocketNo. 73255-8
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 150 Wash. 2d 71 (In re the Personal Restraint of Turay) 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 the Personal Restraint of Turay, 150 Wash. 2d 71 (Wash. 2003).

Opinions

Madsen, J.

Richard Garrett Turay has filed a personal restraint petition challenging his civil commitment as a sexually violent predator. This personal restraint petition, his third, was filed in the Court of Appeals well over one [74]*74year from the time of his commitment, thus raising the issue whether RCW 10.73.090’s one-year time limit for filing a personal restraint petition applies. We hold that the one-year time limitation applies under RCW 7.36.130, which incorporates the time allowed in RCW 10.73.090. We also reject Turay’s claim that there has been a significant change in the law bringing him within an exception to the one-year limitation. Finally, we conclude that Turay has filed, at best, a “mixed petition” that must be dismissed without consideration of other issues.

FACTS

Mr. Turay was committed as a sexually violent predator pursuant to chapter 71.09 RCW. He has a history of convictions of sexually violent crimes, including third degree rape in 1977, second degree rape in 1979, and second degree rape in 1985. He was released on parole for the 1985 conviction in October 1989. Parole was revoked in 1990 when Turay was found guilty of committing fourth degree assault on a woman flight attendant staying in a hotel, and of failing to submit to a polygraph.

On December 15, 1993, while Turay was incarcerated following parole revocation, the King County Prosecutor petitioned for Turay’s commitment as a sexually violent predator. The petition did not allege that Turay had committed a “recent overt act,” i.e., an act that either caused harm of a sexually violent nature or created a reasonable apprehension of such harm.

Following Turay’s trial, the court instructed the jury that to find Turay to be a sexually violent predator, the State had to prove that Turay had been convicted of a crime of sexual violence, specifically, rape in the second degree, and that he suffered from a mental abnormality that makes him likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence. The jury was not instructed that the State had to prove that Turay committed a “recent overt act.” The jury returned a verdict finding Turay to be a sexually violent predator, and deter[75]*75mined that a less restrictive treatment option was not in the best interests of the public. Accordingly, on October 19, 1994, the court ordered Turay committed as a sexually violent predator.

Turay challenged his commitment by both appeal and personal restraint petition, which this court consolidated. In re Det. of Turay, 139 Wn.2d 379, 415-22, 986 P.2d 790, cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1125 (2001). The court affirmed the commitment order. Turay filed a second personal restraint petition in this court. That petition was dismissed on September 7, 2001. On May 3, 2002, Turay filed this third personal restraint petition in the Court of Appeals, chiefly claiming that his detention is unlawful because the State did not allege and prove a recent overt act establishing his present dangerousness. The Court of Appeals transferred the petition to this court. Turay’s motion for appointment of counsel to represent him at public expense was granted. The parties were directed to file additional supplemental briefs addressing whether the time limitation in RCW 10.73.090 applies to preclude consideration of Turay’s petition.

ANALYSIS

The first issue is whether RCW 10.73.090 applies to this case. RCW 10.73.090(1) provides that “[n]o petition or motion for collateral attack on a judgment and sentence in a criminal case may be filed more than one year after the judgment becomes final if the judgment and sentence is valid on its face and was rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction.” (Emphasis added.) RCW 10.73.100 lists exceptions to the one-year rule. Turay maintains, correctly, that a sexually violent predator proceeding under chapter 71.09 RCW is a civil, not a criminal case. See In re Pers. Restraint of Young, 122 Wn.2d 1, 18-25, 857 P.2d 989 (1993); In re Det. of Turay, 139 Wn.2d at 415; accord Seling v. Young, 531 U.S. 250, 121 S. Ct. 727, 148 L. Ed. 2d 734 (2001). Consequently, the time limit in RCW 10.73.090 does not directly apply to Turay’s personal restraint petition.

[76]*76We agree with the State, however, that a one-year time bar applies under RCW 7.36.130. RCW 7.36.130 is one of the statutes pertaining to habeas corpus, and it states in part that “[n]o court or judge shall inquire into the legality of any judgment or process whereby the party is in custody, or discharge the party when the term of commitment has not expired” unless “the petition is filed within the time allowed by RCW 10.73.090 and 10.73.100.” RCW 7.36.130(1). Conspicuously, RCW 7.36.130 incorporates only the “time allowed” in RCW 10.73.090; it does not incorporate RCW 10.73.090 in its entirety, i.e., it does not incorporate that part of RCW 10.73.090 limiting its application to criminal cases.

We note that the legislature has expressly provided in RCW 71.09.080, concerning the rights of persons committed under the sexually violent predators laws, that nothing in chapter 71.09 “prohibits a person presently committed from exercising a right available to him or her for the purpose of obtaining release from confinement, including the right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus.” RCW 71.09.080(4).

Tur ay argues, however, that the habeas corpus statutes do not apply because he filed a personal restraint petition.

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150 Wash. 2d 71, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-personal-restraint-of-turay-wash-2003.