State Of Washington v. Charles Bluford

379 P.3d 163, 195 Wash. App. 570
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 29, 2016
Docket73047-9-I
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 379 P.3d 163 (State Of Washington v. Charles Bluford) 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
State Of Washington v. Charles Bluford, 379 P.3d 163, 195 Wash. App. 570 (Wash. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

*574 Cox, J.

¶1 Charles Bluford appeals his judgment and sentence based on eight felony convictions for robbery and other charges. We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it joined multiple counts against him and refused to sever those counts for trial. But the court erred when it denied his request to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of fourth degree assault. Additionally, the State failed to prove that Bluford is a persistent offender under the Persistent Offender Accountability Act (POAA). 1 Thus, the sentence of life without the possibility of release cannot stand. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for resentencing.

¶2 The State charged Charles Bluford with nine felony counts. These included seven counts of first degree robbery plus a charge of first degree rape of one victim and indecent liberties of a separate victim.

¶3 The State initially charged Bluford under three different cause numbers but moved to join all the counts for trial. Bluford moved to sever five of the counts from the others. The court considered these cross motions at the same hearing and joined all counts for trial.

¶4 At trial, Bluford requested a lesser included instruction of fourth degree assault for the charge of indecent liberties. The court denied his request.

¶5 The jury found Bluford guilty of eight counts and acquitted him of one count of robbery. The trial court determined that Bluford’s prior felony convictions in New Jersey and South Carolina qualified him under the POAA as a persistent offender. It sentenced him to life without the possibility of release.

¶6 Bluford appeals.

*575 JOINDER

¶7 Bluford argues that the trial court abused its discretion by joining for trial the nine counts against him. Specifically, he argues that the joinder prejudiced him. We hold that the court did not abuse its discretion in joining all counts for trial.

¶8 Under RCW 10.37.060,

When there are several charges against any person, or persons, for the same act or transaction, or for two or more acts or transactions connected together, or for two or more acts or transactions of the same class of crimes or offenses, which may be properly joined, instead of having several indictments or informations the whole may be joined in one indictment, or information, in separate counts; and, if two or more indictments are found, or two or more informations filed, in such cases, the court may order such indictments or informations to be consolidated.

¶9 Similarly, under CrR 4.3(a),

Two or more offenses may be joined in one charging document, with each offense stated in a separate count, when the offenses, whether felonies or misdemeanors or both:
(1) Are of the same or similar character, even if not part of a single scheme or plan; or
(2) Are based on the same conduct or on a series of acts connected together or constituting parts of a single scheme or plan.

¶10 Courts may not join offenses if it would prejudice the defendant. 2 It is the defendant’s burden to establish prejudice. 3

*576 ¶11 As a threshold matter, the State argues that we should abandon and disavow the reasoning of this court’s decision in State v. Bryant. 4 We decline to do so.

¶12 There, this court considered whether joinder of bail jumping and second degree robbery counts was proper. 5 The trial court denied Bryant’s motion to sever the two counts that the State had alleged in an amended information. 6 Because Bryant failed to renew his motion to sever during trial, this court held that he failed to preserve the issue for review. 7

¶13 Nevertheless, this court considered both joinder and severance. This court did so because both rules “are based on the same underlying principle, that the defendant receive a fair trial untainted by undue prejudice.” 8 In reaching this conclusion, this court acknowledged that the federal courts maintain a distinction between the two. 9

¶14 We see no compelling reason in this case to depart from the approach we took in Bryant. Here, Bluford also failed to renew his severance motion following the pretrial denial of that motion. Thus, he technically failed to preserve for review the issue of severance.

¶15 Nevertheless, we note that the trial court considered and decided the cross motions for joinder and severance at the same hearing. The State offers no practical assistance on how or why we should separate the two issues for purposes of our review of the trial court’s decision at that hearing to grant joinder and deny severance.

¶16 We also note that the state supreme court has repeatedly stated that joinder should not prejudice a defen *577 dant. 10 A Division Two opinion on which the State relies here states that the supreme court “has blurred the distinction between joinder and severance so carefully drawn in federal law by referring to it as a broad rule.” 11 We will leave it to the supreme court to decide whether it wishes to follow the federal approach or continue a more flexible approach to this question, as indicated in the jurisprudence.

¶17 Accordingly, under Bryant, we first determine whether joinder in this case meets the criteria of the rule and statute. We then consider whether actual prejudice precludes joinder.

¶18 Joinder of the counts was proper under CrR 4.3(a) and RCW 10.37.060. The charges against Bluford were based on a series of acts connected together. And Bluford does not dispute that joinder was proper under the rule and statute.

¶19 Accordingly, the next question is whether Bluford can establish that the joinder prejudiced him.

¶20 We expansively construe the joinder rule to promote the public policy goal of conserving judicial resources. 12 Joinder is appropriate unless it is so “manifestly prejudicial” that it outweighs the need for judicial economy. 13

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Related

State Of Washington v. Christopher N. Jackin
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2018
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State v. Bluford
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 P.3d 163, 195 Wash. App. 570, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-washington-v-charles-bluford-washctapp-2016.