State Of Washington v. Charles R. Gotcher

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedFebruary 23, 2016
Docket46119-6
StatusUnpublished

This text of State Of Washington v. Charles R. Gotcher (State Of Washington v. Charles R. Gotcher) 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 R. Gotcher, (Wash. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed Washington State Court of Appeals Division Two

February 23, 2016 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 46119-6-II

Respondent, v. Consolidated with CHARLES R. GOTCHER,

Appellant. In the Matter of the No. 47142-6-II Personal Restraint Petition of

CHARLES R. GOTCHER,

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

Petitioner.

WORSWICK, J. — Charles Gotcher appeals his conviction for one count of third degree

child molestation and two counts of third degree child rape. He argues that the trial court (1)

denied his right to a public trial by allowing counsel to choose two alternate juror seat numbers

in private and (2) abused its discretion by refusing to impose an exceptional sentence downward

from the standard range. In a statement of additional grounds (SAG), Gotcher claims that (3) the

victim’ s testimony was inconsistent with the charging document regarding the offense dates, and

4) the trial court should not have admitted evidence of poems Gotcher wrote to the victim.

Finally, in a personal restraint petition (PRP), Gotcher alleges that (5) the prosecutor withheld

favorable evidence— namely, information about an unrelated prosecution of another defendant

for raping the same victim. We disagree, and affirm Gotcher’ s convictions. We deny his PRP. No. 46119-6-II; Consolidate with No. 47142-6-II

FACTS

AE1 was born in July 1995. She met Gotcher at church when she was 11 or 12 years old.

Gotcher, who was 27 or 28 years old, began to pursue AE romantically. Over the course of their

association, he kissed her several times. Gotcher often gave AE alcohol and Vicodin. On

several occasions when AE was 14 and 15, Gotcher put his hand in her underwear and touched

her on or in her vagina. Another incident occurred during the summer before AE’s 16th

birthday.2 During this period, she was spending a lot of time at her sister’ s house where Gotcher

was also living. Gotcher supplied AE with alcohol, and she became very intoxicated. Gotcher

had sexual intercourse with AE.

AE had previously been the victim of a sexual assault. In 2010, AE was raped by another

man: Jacob Gaiser. Katherine Svoboda, the prosecutor in the instant case, also prosecuted

Gaiser.

AE eventually disclosed that Gotcher had raped her. In April 2013, in an effort to gather

evidence against Gotcher, AE participated in a phone call with detectives and Gotcher to attempt

to solicit an admission from Gotcher.3 During the phone call, Gotcher asked AE whether she had

filed a police report against him. AE responded: “ No, I’ve been refusing. . . . I don’ t like having

1 We refer to the minor victim using her initials.

2 AE turned 16 in July 2011.

3 The jury heard a recording of this phone call during Gotcher’ s trial.

2 No. 46119-6-II; Consolidate with No. 47142-6-II

anything] to do with it. You know about like the whole Jacob Gaiser thing, and everything.”

Br. of Resp’ t (Attachment A). Gotcher did not contradict this statement.

The State charged Gotcher with one count of third degree child molestation4 and two

counts of third degree child rape.5 The charging information alleged that Gotcher committed the

child molestation count “ on or between July 26, 2009, and October 31, 2010,” the first child rape

count on or between “ July 26, 2009, and July 25, 2011,” and the second child rape count “ on or

between June 1, 2010 and September 15, 2010.” Clerk’ s Papers (CP) at 1-2. The case

proceeded to a jury trial.

Before jury selection began at 9:10 a.m. on the first day of trial, the parties selected two

seat numbers of potential jurors to serve as blind alternate jurors. The clerk’ s minutes from 8:45

a.m. read in part: “ Let the Record show: Prior to Court starting both the State and Defense

Counsel choose Blind Jurors; Mr. Strophy picked #10 and Ms. Svoboda #8 in that order.” Suppl.

CP at 25. Thus, counsel for both parties chose two seat numbers of potential jurors who would

serve as alternates before the jury had been empaneled and before the jury venire arrived to fill

those seats. The record does not show that the courtroom was closed during the selection of

alternate juror seat numbers.

The State sought to prove that Gotcher had a lustful disposition towards AE. At the start

of trial, the State sought to lay a foundation for several messages it alleged Gotcher wrote to AE;

4 RCW 9A.44.089.

5 RCW 9A.44.079.

3 No. 46119-6-II; Consolidate with No. 47142-6-II

these included poems saved on an iPod. Gotcher’ s counsel stated: “ I received copies of these in

advance of trial.” 2 Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRP) (Jan. 7, 2014) (Jury Trial) at 3. He

objected on the grounds that there was “ no indication, other than [Gotcher’ s] own testimony

through the author, who they were intended for,” and there was “ no chain of custody

established.” 2 VRP (Jan. 7, 2014) at 3. The trial court reserved ruling on the admissibility of

these poems until the State laid a foundation.

At trial, AE testified to the facts described above. She also testified that Gotcher gave her

an iPod near the end of 2012. She testified that Gotcher showed her some poems he had written

for her on the iPod. AE testified that one of the messages read: “‘[ AE] and Charles [Gotcher]

forever and always.’” 2 VRP (Jan. 7, 2014) at 61. The poems were not admitted into evidence

during AE’ s testimony. Gotcher did not object to AE’ s testimony about the iPod or the poems.

The following day, the State sought to admit photographs of the poems as exhibits during

Detective Darrin Wallace’ s testimony. The State laid a foundation for their admission through

Detective Wallace’ s testimony of how he received the iPod from AE and then photographed the

poems individually. Apparently satisfied by this foundation, Gotcher repeatedly said, “ No

objection” to the admission of each photo. VRP (Jan. 8, 2014) at 47-50. Accordingly, the trial

court admitted each poem.6 Detective Wallace testified that he had inadvertently changed one of

the dates shown on the iPod, but stated he did not alter anything else concerning the poems.

6 The poems are not in the record before us.

4 No. 46119-6-II; Consolidate with No. 47142-6-II

The jury convicted Gotcher as charged. At sentencing, Gotcher requested an exceptional

sentence downward, arguing that under RCW 9.94A.535(1)(g), the operation of the multiple

offense policy of former RCW 9.94A.589 (2002) would result in a presumptive sentence that

was clearly excessive. Gotcher also asked the trial court to consider his lack of prior convictions

and the amount of support he received from his community.

The trial court considered this request, saying:

I can conclude that there’ s always, shall we say, [ a] Catch 22 here. And the Catch 22 is the issue of getting treatment . . . . [Y]ou need someone to stand in and say, yep, I did it. I really screwed up. Sorry about that. Not going to do it again. Yeah, I need some treatment. And, therefore, there is no risk of re-offense in the future. . . .

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
United States v. Bagley
473 U.S. 667 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Strickler v. Greene
527 U.S. 263 (Supreme Court, 1999)
In Re the Personal Restraint of Hews
660 P.2d 263 (Washington Supreme Court, 1983)
State v. Camarillo
794 P.2d 850 (Washington Supreme Court, 1990)
State v. Garcia-Martinez
944 P.2d 1104 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1997)
In Re the Personal Restraint of Hagler
650 P.2d 1103 (Washington Supreme Court, 1982)
State v. McGill
47 P.3d 173 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)
State v. Williams
65 P.3d 1214 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Bone-Club
906 P.2d 325 (Washington Supreme Court, 1995)
In re the Personal Restraint of Benn
952 P.2d 116 (Washington Supreme Court, 1998)
State v. Williams
65 P.3d 1214 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Grayson
111 P.3d 1183 (Washington Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Wise
288 P.3d 1113 (Washington Supreme Court, 2012)
State v. Paumier
288 P.3d 1126 (Washington Supreme Court, 2012)
State v. Sublett
292 P.3d 715 (Washington Supreme Court, 2012)
State v. Smith
334 P.3d 1049 (Washington Supreme Court, 2014)
State v. Andy
340 P.3d 840 (Washington Supreme Court, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State Of Washington v. Charles R. Gotcher, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-washington-v-charles-r-gotcher-washctapp-2016.