State Of Washington v. Chad T. Clark

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided July 3, 2017·No. 75121-2·Unpublished

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

STATE OF WASHINGTON, )

) No. 75121-2-1

Respondent, )

) DIVISION ONE

v. )

) UNPUBLISHED OPINION CHAD THOMAS CLARK, )

)

Appellant. ) FILED: July 3, 2017 )

APPELWICK, J. — Clark was convicted of four counts of failure to register as a sex offender and one count of bail jumping. He claims that the failure to register

and bail jumping convictions are not supported by sufficient evidence. He argues that the four convictions for failure to register violate the prohibition against double jeopardy. He argues that the to-convict instructions erroneously omitted an element of failure to register and provided that substantial compliance is not a defense. In a statement of additional grounds, Clark argues that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. We reverse three of Clark's failure to register convictions and the bail jumping conviction, and remand for resentencing on a single failure to register conviction.

FACTS

Chad Clark was convicted of rape of a child in the third degree in 2000. This conviction required him to register as a sex offender. Initially, he was required to register for a period of 10 years. RCW 9A.44.140(3).

Clark was subsequently convicted of failure to register as a sex offender in 2006, 2007, and 2010. These convictions reset the clock for the 10 year period that Clark was required to register as a sex offender.

In the beginning of 2013, Clark was registering as transient, meaning that he had no fixed address. As a result, he was required to check in weekly with Laurie Jarolimek, the registered sex offender, coordinator for the Skagit County Sheriff's Office.

On February 5, 2013, Clark checked in with Jarolimek and gave her a note.

The note said that he was going to be in treatment soon and did not know the address yet, but he would let Jarolimek know the next time that he checked in. After writing this note, Clark went to Alaska for treatment with the Tlingit Tribe. On February 11, 2013, Clark failed to check in with Jarolimek. Jarolimek referred charges to the State. On June 12, 2013, the State charged Clark with failure to register as a sex offender for his failure to register on or about February 11, 2013. ' Clark was arrested on January 22, 2014. The next time Clark registered was February 20, 2014. He was again registering as transient. He did not register on February 24 or March 3 as required. Jarolimek referred charges. On March 24, 2014, the State amended the information to include a second charge of failure to register as a sex offender for Clark's failure to check in on or about March 3, 2014.

Clark again registered on April 11, 2014. At that point, he registered a permanent address. Clark changed this address on May 28, and registered as transient. He complied with the weekly registration requirement through June and

July. Then, Clark failed to check in on August 4. On August 19, 2014, the State again amended the information to add a third charge of failure to register as a sex offender for Clark's failure to check in on or about August 4, 2014.

Clark next registered on September 25, 2014, with a permanent address, but changed it to transient on September 29. He checked in weekly during October, and then failed to check in on November 3. On January 7, 2015, the State amended the information to include a fourth charge of failure to register for Clark's failure to check in on or about November 3, 2014. It also added a charge of bail jumping for Clark's failure to appear at a hearing on October 30, 2014.

Clark was arrested on January 17,2016. The case proceeded to trial. Clark was convicted of the four counts of failure to register as a sex offender, as well as bail jumping. He appeals.

DISCUSSION

Clark asserts that there was insufficient evidence to support the convictions for failure to register and bail jumping. He contends that the four convictions for failure to register violate the prohibition against double jeopardy. Clark argues that the "to-convict" instruction for failure to register erroneously omitted the knowing element of the offense. He asserts that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that substantial compliance is not a defense to failure to register. In a statement of additional grounds for review, he contends that he received ineffective assistance of counsel.

RCW 9A.44.130(1)(a) requires individuals who have been convicted of any sex offense to register with the county sheriff for the county of the person's

residence. A person who lacks a fixed residence must report weekly, in person, to the sheriff of the county where he or she is registered. RCW 9A.44.130(6)(b). The person must keep track of where he or she stays during the week and provide the list to the county if asked. Id. A person commits the offense offailure to register as a sex offender "if the person has a duty to register under RCW 9A.44.130 for a felony sex offense and knowingly fails to comply with any of the requirements of RCW 9A.44.130." RCW 9A.44.132(1). The purpose of the sex offender registration requirement is to assist law enforcement in providing notice of the location of convicted sex offenders within the law enforcement agency's jurisdiction. State v. Peterson, 168 Wn.2d 763, 768, 230 P.3d 588 (2010).

I. Failure to Register Clark contends that there was insufficient evidence to establish that he failed to register as a sex offender. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we ask whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Joy, 121 Wn.2d 333, 338-39, 851 P.2d 654 (1993). All reasonable inferences from the evidence must be drawn in favor of the State and interpreted most strongly against the defendant. Id. at 339. A claim of insufficiency admits the truth of the State's evidence and all inferences therefrom. State v. Salinas, 119 Wn.2d 192, 201, 829 P.2d 1068 (1992).

The to-convict instruction for count one provided:

To convict the defendant of the crime of failure to register as a sex offender, as charged in Count 1, each of the following elements of the crime must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt:

(1) That on October 12, 2000, the defendant was convicted of a felony sex offense, rape of a child in the third degree;

(2)That this conviction required the defendant to register in the State of Washington as a sex offender on February 11, 2013; and

(3) On February 11, 2013, the defendant lacked a fixed residence, lived in Skagit County, and failed to update his registration information, or register weekly with the Skagit County Sheriff as required.

The to-convict instructions for counts two, three, and four were identical, except the date of February 11, 2013 was replaced with March 3, 2014, August 4, 2014, and November 3, 2014, respectively.

Clark contends that there was not sufficient evidence that he lived in Skagit County and lacked a fixed residence on the dates in question. He argues at length that we must apply the law of the case doctrine to conduct a sufficiency of the evidence analysis in this case. Under this doctrine, jury instructions not objected to become the law of the case, meaning that the State has the burden to prove unnecessary elements included in the jury instructions. State v. Hickman, 135 Wn.2d 97, 102, 954 P.2d 900 (1998). Clark contends that the doctrine applies here, because where he lived and whether he lacked a fixed residence on the particular dates he failed to register were not essential elements of the crime. He does so even in light of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Musacchio v. United States, U.S._, 136 S. Ct. 709, 193 L. Ed. 2d 639(2016) and this court's decision in State v. Tyler, 195 Wn.App. 385, 382 P.3d 699(2016). In Tyler, this court concluded that Musacchio superseded Washington courts' interpretation of the law of the case analysis. 195 Wn. App. at 397-400. We held that under

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