Personal Restraint Petition Of Sergey v. Gensitskiy

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 10, 2018
Docket49044-7
StatusUnpublished

This text of Personal Restraint Petition Of Sergey v. Gensitskiy (Personal Restraint Petition Of Sergey v. Gensitskiy) 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.

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Personal Restraint Petition Of Sergey v. Gensitskiy, (Wash. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Filed Washington State Court of Appeals Division Two

April 10, 2018

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II In re The Personal Restraint Petition of: No. 49044-7-II

SERGEY V. GENSITSKIY,

Petitioner. UNPUBLISHED OPINION

SUTTON, J. — In this personal restraint petition (PRP), Sergey Gensitskiy challenges his

convictions for four counts of child molestation. Gensitskiy claims that (1) the prosecutor engaged

in improper ex parte communication by obtaining a pretrial order authorizing review of the jury

book and jury list from a judge without providing notice or opportunity to respond, (2) the ex parte

communication violated his right to a public trial, (3) the ex parte communication violated his right

to be present at critical proceedings, and (4) he received ineffective assistance of trial and appellate

counsel. We deny Gensitskiy’s petition for relief.

FACTS

In 2011, the State charged Gensitskiy with a total of twelve counts of sex offenses against

five different victims, including CSG.1

1 We use initials to protect the witness’s identity. General Order 2011-1 of Division II, In Re The Use Of Initials Or Pseudonyms For Child Witnesses In Sex Crime Cases, available at: http://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/.

1 No. 49044-7-II

I. PROPOSED ORDER AUTHORIZING REVIEW OF JURY BOOK AND JURY LIST (jury book order)

On July 25, 2012, an omnibus hearing was held to address discovery and pretrial issues in

Gensitskiy’s case. The case was considered ready for trial the following week. Sometime after

the hearing, the deputy prosecuting attorney in Gensitskiy’s case, Anna Klein, sent a proposed

order authorizing review of the jury book and jury list to the court for signature. As was Klein’s

practice, the proposed order was sent from the prosecutor’s office with a runner for signature by

an available judge. The prosecutor did not meet with the judge in order to obtain a signature for

the proposed order.

The proposed order allowed Klein to “remove the juror book and jury list from the [c]ourt

for her personal review and immediate return to the [c]ourt.” Declaration of Tom Maybrown,

Appx. E (Order Authorizing Review of Jury Book (Including Jury List), filed Clark County

Superior Ct., July 25, 2012 (jury book order). The jury book order also stated that “no copies will

be made and no other person shall be allowed to review the material and the book shall be returned

to the [c]ourt within twenty four hours[.]” Maybrown Decl., Appx. E. The jury book order was

signed by Judge Stahnke. Judge Stahnke was not the assigned trial judge for Gensitskiy’s trial.

II. TRIAL TESTIMONY

All the victims testified at trial. Because their testimony is not relevant to the issues

Gensitskiy raises in his PRP, we do not recount the details here. One of the victims recanted his

prior statements. Another victim testified that at one point she believed the allegations she had

made but currently questioned whether they were true.

2 No. 49044-7-II

Erin Haley is a child and family therapist. At the time of trial, Haley was seeing CSG

weekly or every other week. Haley testified that the “initial concerns [CSG] came in for were

related to sexual abuse.” CD Proceedings, Vol. 2 at 284 (VRP). Haley testified as follows:

[STATE]: Okay. So did you ever find out from [CSG] what exactly it was that had happened to her sexually?

[HALEY]: Yes.

2 VRP at 284. Gensitskiy’s counsel objected to Haley testifying as to CSG’s statements, but the

trial court overruled the objection.

Haley also testified,

[HALEY]: Well, I’ve offered a few diagnoses. Originally when I first met with her on November 3rd, 2010, I offered a diagnosis of sexual abuse of a child, which indicates she was a victim of sexual abuse. And that is how we treat children who come in through our specific sexual abuse grant.

....

[HALEY]: The diagnosis offered for [CSG] later in her treatment was posttraumatic stress disorder and also major depressive disorder.

[STATE]: And can you explain what those are, first of all?

[HALEY]: Sure. So posttraumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition that can come on after someone experiences a traumatic event. And it includes responses such as helplessness, extreme fear, anger, and those reactions are quite common to a traumatic event, though the symptoms in posttraumatic stress disorder last at least one month after the trauma and tend to either worsen or get to a level where they’re interfering significantly in someone’s life’s functioning. So that’s posttraumatic stress disorder.

2 VRP at 287-88. Gensitskiy did not object to any of the above testimony. On redirect, the

following exchanges took place:

3 No. 49044-7-II

[STATE]: Okay. And what made you feel that her posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with a (sic) sexual abuse?

[HALEY]: Well, [CSG] had disclosed that she had experienced sexual abuse and that her flashbacks as part of her posttraumatic stress disorder were specific to the sexual abuse trauma.

[STATE]: And are her nightmares regarding any specific person or issue?

[HALEY]: Some of the nightmares [CSG] has endorsed are related to fearfulness about her father. They were more generalized, which is common, particularly for children. The nightmares were generally about her father hurting her, killing her, just fearful dreams about her father.

2 VRP at 308-09. Again, Gensitskiy did not object to Haley’s testimony. Finally, on recross,

Gensitskiy’s counsel engaged in the following exchange with Haley:

[COUNSEL]: Is there any means as a counselor that you can ascertain as to whether or not the complaints of abuse are accurate?

[HALEY]: I would say that – I guess I’m having a hard time answering your question. The way I look at it is, it’s not my job to investigate the allegations of the abuse. And so I take in the disclosures that individuals share with me along with some collaborative information to make my determination. But again, I’m not determining whether it’s true or not. My job is to treat the individual with the symptoms that they come in for.

[COUNSEL]: So you’re treating the sym – I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but sounds like you’re saying I’m treating the symptoms, not the allegations?

[HALEY]: I guess I’m not sure how I would treat allegations, so I think that’s fair to say I’m treating the symptoms.

2 VRP at 314.

4 No. 49044-7-II

III. VERDICT AND DIRECT APPEAL

The jury found Gensitskiy not guilty of two of the charged counts. The jury found

Gensitskiy guilty of the remaining ten counts. Gensitskiy appealed.

On direct appeal, Division One of this court reversed six of Gensitskiy’s convictions based

on defects in the charging documents. State v. Gensitskiy, noted at 182 Wn. App. 1016 (2014).

Our Supreme Court denied review. State v. Gensitskiy, 182 Wn.2d 1013 (Mar. 4, 2015) (ruling

denying review). Therefore, Gensitskiy’s only remaining convictions at issue in this PRP are four

counts of child molestation concerning CSG.

IV. PERSONAL RESTRAINT PETITION

Gensitskiy filed a timely PRP challenging his remaining convictions. Gensitskiy’s trial

counsel, Charles Buckley, filed a declaration in support of Gensitskiy’s PRP, in which he states

that he was never given any notice that Klein intended to obtain the jury book order. Buckley also

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