State Of Washington, V Danielle Price Newton

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided March 11, 2014·No. 43413-0·Unpublished

Opinion

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APPEALS

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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF W

DIVISION II

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 4341

Respondent,

V.

DANIELLE PRICE NEWTON, UNPUBLISHED OPINION

1—

PENOYAR, J. P. T. Danielle Newton appeals her convictions for possession of a

controlled substance with intent to deliver— methamphetamine ( count one) and possession of a

controlled substance— lnethamphetamine ( count three). Newton argues ( 1) the trial court

improperly gave an unwitting possession jury instruction on count one and that her counsel was ineffective for requesting the instruction; ( 2) the search warrant was unconstitutionally overbroad

and her counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the search warrant and file a motion to suppress evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant; ( 3) the trial court violated her

constitutional right to present a defense when it refused to admit a portion of her statement under ER 106; and ( 4) the accomplice liability statute is unconstitutional. We hold the warrant was not overbroad, Newton' s counsel was not ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress, the trial court did not violate Newton' s right to present a defense, and the accomplice liability statute is

Newton' s for count three. However, not unconstitutional. Accordingly, we affirm conviction

because the unwitting possession instruction improperly shifted the burden of proof on count one, we reverse that conviction and remand for further proceedings.

1. Judge Joel Penoyar is serving as a judge pro tempore of the Court of Appeals, Division II, pursuant to CAP 21( c).

FACTS

I. BACKGROUND

On the evening of December 9, 2011, police officers stopped the vehicle Nathan

Gadberry was driving and Newton was riding as a passenger. After removing Gadberry and Newton fxom the vehicle, the officers placed them under arrest and conducted a search of their

persons incident to their arrest. While conducting a search of Newton, an officer asked her if she had any weapons or sharp objects, and she responded that she had a syringe with

methamphetamine in her pocket. The officers then placed Newton in the back of a police vehicle and read her Miranda2 rights. Newton waived her Miranda rights and again told the officers that the syringe found in her pocket contained methamphetamine. The officers also found a digital

weighing scale on Gadberry.

Detective Bill Sofianos testified that he saw a blue container holding what appeared to be methamphetamine in the center console area when the officers removed Newton and Gadberry from the vehicle. The officers sealed the vehicle and towed it to a secure facility until a search warrant could be obtained. Sofianos applied for and obtained a search warrant for the vehicle.

When searching the vehicle, officers found a glass smoking pipe, a scale, two spoons, several cell phones, and Newton' s identification, in addition to the blue container Sofianos already saw. The scale found on Gadberry, the syringe found on Newton, and the scale, spoons, and pipe found in the vehicle all contained methamphetamine. The blue container from the

center console contained 4. 8 grams of methamphetamine. Detective Scott Holmes analyzed the

data from one of the seized cell phones and found several text messages from the day before and

Newton' Newton Gadberry. The State charged the day of s arrest as well as photos of and

2 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 ( 1966).

Newton with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver —methamphetamine and

possession of a controlled substance— methamphetamine. 3 Il. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The State tried Newton, along with Gadberry. On the day of the readiness hearing on February 2, 2012, the State provided Newton with a CD containing evidence obtained from one of the cell phones seized from the vehicle. At the readiness hearing, Newton was given the opportunity to continue the trial in order to move to suppress the recently produced evidence. Newton' s counsel stated that Newton felt her constitutional right to a speedy trial was more important than addressing potential CrR 3. 6 issues. On the first day of trial on February 6, 2012, Newton' s counsel verbally objected to the introduction of three photographs from the CD and argued the search warrant was overbroad. Newton' s counsel, however, did not file a motion to

suppress, and stated that he saw no basis to bring a suppression motion and that Newton wanted to proceed to trial instead of continuing to allow time to file a motion to suppress.

The State also iterated on the record that Newton wished to proceed to trial versus

continuing to pursue a motion to suppress:

W] e want [ the] Defendants to be advised of all their rights as well. And, I think in this case, we have some unusual circumstances that I want to make sure that the Court makes very clear to the Defendants that this is the first trial setting, that we' re — let' s see, at least right now I don' t know if there are any other motions from Defendants but that we are proceeding to trial and there has been no motion to suppress and that they are aware that they have waived that right because they think their right to a speedy trial is more important than possibly filing a motion to suppress.

3 The State also charged Gadberry with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver —methamphetamine ( count one) and possession of a controlled substance -

methamphetamine ( count two).

1 Report of Proceedings ( RP) at 81. Newton' s counsel confirmed that Newton wished to

proceed to trial rather than continue the trial. The trial court did not suppress any of the evidence and admitted three text messages and three photographs taken from the phone seized from the vehicle.

At a CrR 3. 5 hearing before trial, the trial court admitted Newton' s post -Miranda confession that the syringe found in her pocket contained methamphetamine. At trial, Newton

also attempted to admit a pre -Miranda statement she allegedly made to the officer that conducted the search incident to her arrest that the syringe with the methamphetamine in her pocket was the

only methamphetamine she had. The trial court ruled this statement inadmissible hearsay and that it did not meet any of the hearsay exceptions.

Newton' s counsel requested that the trial court give an unwitting possession instruction for count one, which the trial court gave. The trial court also gave an accomplice liability instruction. The jury found Newton guilty on both count one and .count three and agreed to the special verdict regarding a school zone sentencing enhancement for count one. Newton appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. UNWITTING POSSESSION JURY INSTRUCTION

Newton argues the jury instruction on unwitting possession violated her Fourteenth Amendment right to due process because it improperly shifted the burden of proof on count one to the defense. Newton also argues that her trial counsel was ineffective for requesting the unwitting possession instruction. Because Newton' s counsel erroneously requested the unwitting possession jury instruction, which we presume prejudiced Newton because it misstated the law, we reverse Newton' s conviction on count one and remand for further proceedings.

rd

When an instruction given is one defense counsel proposed, the invited error doctrine restrains us from reversing the conviction based on an error in that jury instruction. State v.

Henderson, 114 Wn.2d 867, 870, 792 P. 2d 514 ( 1990); see also State v. Studd, 137 Wn.2d 533,

546 -47, 973 P. 2d 1049 ( 1999). Even where constitutional rights are involved, we are " precluded

from reviewing jury instructions when the defendant has proposed an instruction or agreed to its wording." State v. Winings, 126 Wn. App. 75, 89; 107 P. 3d 141 ( 2005). We review such

challenges, however, through an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Studd, 137 Wn.2d at

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