State Of Washington, V David Y. Bogdanov

532 P.3d 1035
Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided July 25, 2023·No. 56202-2·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

Filed Washington State Court of Appeals Division Two

July 25, 2023

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 56202-2-II

Respondent,

v. PUBLISHED OPINION

DAVID Y. BOGDANOV,

Appellant.

CHE, J. ⎯ David Bogdanov killed NK by strangling her when they fought in Bogdanov’s

car after a sexual encounter. Bogdanov appeals his convictions for second degree murder and

malicious harassment. At trial, Bogdanov did not deny that he killed NK. He argued that the

homicide of NK was justifiable because he was acting in self-defense and excusable because

NK’s death was an accident. To that end, Bogdanov requested justifiable homicide jury

instructions based on criminal Washington pattern jury instructions (WPIC) 16.02 and 16.03, which

are patterned after RCW 9A.16.050(1) and (2), respectively.1 The trial court issued an

instruction based on WPIC 16.02 but declined to issue an instruction on WPIC 16.03.

We hold that the trial court’s justifiable homicide instruction was adequate. We remand

for the trial court to strike the community custody provision imposing supervision fees. We

reject each of Bogdanov’s remaining arguments. And we otherwise affirm.

1 11 WASHINGTON PRACTICE: WASHINGTON PATTERN JURY INSTRUCTIONS: CRIMINAL (5th ed. 2021). No. 56202-2-II

FACTS

I. BACKGROUND

On June 5, 2019, Bogdanov was out drinking with his brother, Artur. And in the early

hours of June 6, Bogdanov was waiting to pick up his brother, Stanislav, when he saw NK

walking alone. Bogdanov approached her, inquired about her well-being, and gave her his coat.

Bogdanov also gave her his contact information. Later that night, NK asked Bogdanov to pick

her up. Bogdanov picked up NK and drove her to his sister’s apartment in Vancouver,

Washington, where he drank with NK. Subsequently, Artur drove Bogdanov and NK to a house

in Brush Prairie.

Once there, Bogdanov and NK got into Bogdanov’s Audi. After driving around, the two

ended up back at the Brush Prairie house. Bogdanov testified that NK was in the back of the

Audi smoking meth. Bogdanov was hoping to have sex with NK. He placed his gun between

the driver’s seat and the center console before entering the back of the Audi.

The two began having a sexual encounter. During the sexual encounter, Bogdanov

learned that NK was transgender. Bogdanov shoved NK and said something to the effect of,

“[W]hat the f[*]ck; what is this; you didn’t tell me you were a dude. And started⎯started

yelling at her to⎯said she’s a disgusting⎯disgusting piece of crap.” Rep. of Proc. (RP) at 1510.

Bogdanov testified that NK lunged at him, striking him in the face. Bogdanov shoved

her, and she attempted to kick him. NK lunged for Bogdanov’s gun between the driver seat and

the center console. Bogdanov attempted to restrain her by pulling her jacket. But he was unable

to restrain her as she continually elbowed him while reaching toward the gun.

2 No. 56202-2-II

To stop her, Bogdanov wrapped a nearby phone charging cable around her chest and

pulled. The cable slipped around her neck. NK attempted to gouge out his eyes. Bogdanov

continued pulling until NK stopped struggling. Shortly thereafter, Bogdanov realized she was

dead.2 Bogdanov took NK’s body to Large Mountain and pushed it down a steep incline. After

disposing of N.K’s body, Bogdanov fled to Ukraine.

Bogdanov returned to Washington more than two months later, and law enforcement

eventually arrested him. Bogdanov was driving a Ford Econoline van that belonged to Artur

when he was arrested. The State charged Bogdanov with second degree murder and malicious

harassment.

II. TRIAL

A. Judge’s Characterization of the Case

During a midtrial hardship voir dire of juror 1—without the other jurors present, the

judge said,

[Y]ou’ve been selected on this jury. It’s a major homicide case in this county and can⎯do we have your assurance then⎯we’re going to do everything we can to accommodate you, but you understand that we’re at the mercy of all the other moving pieces in this. And can you assure us that you’ll be able to pay attention and give your best effort, consistent with your juror oath?

RP at 858-59 (emphasis added). Bogdanov moved for a mistrial, arguing that the

characterization of the case as a “major homicide case” constituted an improper comment on

evidence. RP at 859.

2 Dr. Martha Burt, a state forensic anthropologist, explained that with use of a ligature the interruption of blood flow to death is incredibly variable and could take anywhere from one to seven minutes. Loss of consciousness could be within seconds or a few minutes, depending on the pressure used. Dr. Burt further testified that loss of consciousness and death could occur in less than a minute.

3 No. 56202-2-II

The trial court stated that such a comment is “baked into the cake when you’re here on a

Murder 2nd Degree trial. It’s a major⎯It is a homicide. It’s a most severe version of the

homi⎯well, murder.” RP at 860. The trial court chose to not bring the juror back in because

“it’s sort of something that’s just so patently obvious that I think it would be an ineffective

remedy under the circumstances.” RP at 860-61.

B. Van Evidence

Bogdanov’s brothers provided inconsistent testimony about which vans were involved

during the night of the murder. Stanislav testified that Artur and Bogdanov were not driving

around in Stanislav’s Nissan van, but one of their vans. Artur testified that Bogdanov did not

own any vehicles at the time of the murder, but Bogdanov was using Artur’s Ford Econoline van.

Bogdanov had one van registered to him during the time of the murder, a GMC Savana

van. Bogdanov testified that he was in Stanislav’s Nissan van when he drove to Brush Prairie

with NK, but the pair got into Bogdanov’s Audi before he killed NK. More generally, it is not

contested that Bogdanov was in the Audi when he killed NK.

The State introduced evidence regarding the search of two different vans. On December

17, 2019, the State searched the van that Bogdanov was in when he was arrested—Artur’s Ford

Econoline Van. The State sought to admit photographs taken during the search of the Ford van,

including pictures of a fixed blade knife, a gun holster, a pocketknife, and an empty gun

magazine. Bogdanov objected to the admission of that evidence based on a lack of foundation,

relevance, and materiality. The trial court overruled that objection.

On January 2, 2020, the State searched the GMC Savana van registered to Bogdanov at

the time of the murder. The State presented testimony regarding the contents of the GMC van,

4 No. 56202-2-II

including a pocketknife, handcuffs, a bloodstained t-shirt, and a roll of duct tape. The State

elicited testimony about the various forms of testing it conducted upon select items in the van.

Bogdanov objected on multiple grounds and broadly argued that the evidence was

irrelevant because “there’s nothing in the police reports to suggest that these are, you know,

implements of criminal activity in this case.” RP at 1170. The State argued that it was “just

trying to show that there was a thorough and complete investigation.” RP at 1169-70. The State

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State Of Washington, V David Y. Bogdanov, 532 P.3d 1035 (Wash. Ct. App. 2023).

532 P.3d 1035 (State Of Washington, V David Y. Bogdanov) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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