State of Washington v. Daniel Stanley Andritz

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 25, 2022
Docket38154-4
StatusUnpublished

This text of State of Washington v. Daniel Stanley Andritz (State of Washington v. Daniel Stanley Andritz) 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. Daniel Stanley Andritz, (Wash. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

FILED AUGUST 25, 2022 In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) No. 38154-4-III ) Respondent, ) ) v. ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION ) DANIEL STANLEY ANDRITZ, ) ) Appellant. )

STAAB, J. — The State charged Daniel Andritz with one count of first degree rape

of a child, occurring some time in 2012. After the alleged victim testified that the event

most likely occurred in 2013, the trial court allowed the State to amend the information to

change the date range. A jury found Andritz guilty as charged. On appeal, Andritz

argues that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing the amendment. He also

challenges certain community custody conditions imposed as part of his sentence. We

conclude that regardless of error, Andritz fails to demonstrate prejudice from the late No. 38154-4-III State v. Andritz

amendment. We therefore affirm the judgment and remand to strike the community

custody condition.

BACKGROUND

In 2019, when A.E.M.1 was 14 years old, she disclosed to a friend that she had

been previously raped. The friend encouraged her to tell someone. A.E.M. told her

father, who reported the crime to police. During the subsequent investigation, A.E.M.

told police that when she was seven or eight years old, her uncle, Daniel Andritz, had

raped her. Andritz was eventually charged with rape of a child in the first degree. The

information alleged that the crime occurred “[s]ometime between the 1st day of January

and the 31st day of December, 31, 2012.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 58.

Andritz gave notice of a potential alibi defense at the omnibus hearing, but before

trial acknowledged “to the extent that we have a time frame, there is an alibi defense . . .

for all practical purposes, it’s general denial.” Report of Proceedings (RP) at 50.

At the time of trial, A.E.M. was 15 years old. She testified that when she was

younger, she would spend every other summer with her mother, who was living with

1 To protect the privacy interests of the child victim, we use their initials throughout this opinion. Gen. Order 2012-1 of Division III, In re the Use of Initials or Pseudonyms for Child Victims or Child Witnesses, (Wash. Ct. App. June 18, 2012), https://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/?fa=atc.genorders_orddisp&ordnumber =2012_001&div=III.

2 No. 38154-4-III State v. Andritz

A.E.M.’s grandmother. Her grandmother’s house included a toy room that contained

toys, pantry items, and a small bed. The property was rural and different people stayed

there at different times, including her mother’s brother, Andritz, whom she described as

living on the property in a truck camper at the time of the incident.

A.E.M. testified that she walked into the toy room and saw her younger sister on

her knees with Andritz standing over her. A.E.M. remembered that her little sister was

three or four years old and still in diapers at the time. She testified that her sister looked

“horrified” and scared, but she could not tell why. RP at 130. A.E.M. said she yelled at

her sister to go to the trampoline and that her sister ran out of the room. This made

Andritz angry. A.E.M. testified that Andritz pushed her on to the bed, pulled her shorts

down and his shorts down, and put his penis inside her vagina. A.E.M. was eventually

able to push Andritz off her and she ran out of the room to the trampoline outside.

A.E.M. testified that she did not tell anyone what happened because she did not

think they would believe her. A.E.M. said that after the rape, she would occasionally see

Andritz when she was with her mother and they would stop by his house. On one such

occasion, she was inside Andritz’s house with her brother and cousins.

A.E.M. testified that Andritz came up behind her and pushed her into a bathroom

and told her to never tell anyone. A.E.M. took this to mean that she should not tell

3 No. 38154-4-III State v. Andritz

anyone about the rape.

While describing when the rape occurred, A.E.M. testified that the rape happened

in May when she was seven, one month before she turned eight years old. Since she was

born in June 2005, she agreed this meant the rape occurred in 2013.

The State called two other witnesses, both of them law enforcement involved in

the investigation. Deputy Michael Blake investigated the grandmother’s home, attempted

to contact the grandmother, and prepared a report to the prosecutor’s office. On cross-

examination, he agreed that the rape likely occurred in 2013.

After its final witness but before formally resting, the State moved to amend the

information to change the date range to June 2012 to June 2013 based on the testimony of

witnesses. Andritz objected, arguing that he had asserted an alibi defense and his

witnesses would address the dates set forth in the information. The court reserved on the

motion and the defense agreed that the State could rest subject to the court’s ruling. The

State then rested.

When the trial court revisited the motion to amend, Andritz argued that he was

raising an alibi defense and was prejudiced in his investigation because it was premised

on the date ranges specified in the information. He also noted that changing the date

would put it outside the time frame where his intended witnesses would have

4 No. 38154-4-III State v. Andritz

concentrated. One defense witness whose testimony was no longer relevant was not

called. The court again took the matter under advisement to hear Andritz’s testimony and

determine if he was raising a genuine alibi defense.

Andritz called several witnesses in his defense. His former girlfriend, Jamie

Forsythe, testified that she was in a relationship with Andritz for five years and began

living with him in November 2012. She testified that Andritz stayed home while she

worked and did not drive. Forsythe testified that she and Andritz may have gone to his

mother’s home one time in 2013 to pick up a trailer. She denied that Andritz interacted

with any children during this visit. She also denied that A.E.M. or her mother ever came

by her home.

Andritz also called his sister, Trinity Towne, and his mother, Lina Hallock. Towne

testified that she was living with her mother (A.E.M.’s grandmother) during the relevant

period in time. She testified that during the years 2012 to 2013 she was pregnant and

home most of the time. She did not recall her brother, Andritz, visiting their mother’s

home in 2012 or 2013. She described a kid’s room in the home where the toys were kept

that was also her son’s room. She testified that A.E.M.’s younger sister was potty trained

by the time she was two years old.

5 No. 38154-4-III State v. Andritz

Lina Hallock, Andritz’s mother and A.E.M.’s grandmother, testified that in 2012

several people were living with her including, her two daughters, Trinity and Laura Sue

(A.E.M.’s mother), and A.E.M.’s younger sister, E. No one else lived at the home except

Laura’s husband, who would come home on weekends. Hallock testified that in February

2013, Trinity gave birth to A.E.M.’s cousin, and they turned a room into a nursery by

removing a bed and replacing it with a crib. Otherwise, she testified that there was no

designated toy room. Contrary to A.E.M.’s testimony, Hallock testified that A.E.M.’s

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