State Of Washington, V. Freedom A. Dela-llana

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 18, 2025
Docket86215-4
StatusUnpublished

This text of State Of Washington, V. Freedom A. Dela-llana (State Of Washington, V. Freedom A. Dela-llana) 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. Freedom A. Dela-llana, (Wash. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 86215-4-I Respondent, DIVISION ONE v. UNPUBLISHED OPINION FREEDOM AGUILANA DELA LLANA,

Appellant.

BIRK, J. — Freedom Dela Llana1 appeals his conviction of two counts of

child molestation in the first degree, arguing the trial court abused its discretion in

admitting testimony that IMS disclosed the abuse to her mother, abused its

discretion in admitting other acts evidence under ER 404(b), and erred in imposing

certain community custody conditions. Although we conclude that the trial court

erred by not conducting an ER 404(b) analysis, the error was harmless. We affirm

the conviction, and remand to strike a community custody condition requiring

Freedom to pay IMS’s counseling fees. We also remand to allow the trial court to

either fix an apparent scrivener’s error regarding a condition impacting Freedom’s

fundamental right to parent or exercise discretion to limit Freedom’s right to parent

through a resentencing hearing.

1 The brief of appellant notes that Freedom uses only his first name, and is

referred to as such in the trial record. This opinion will do so as well. No. 86215-4-I/2

I

The State charged Freedom by information with two counts of child

molestation in the first degree, with the aggravator of a pattern of sexual abuse.

In motions in limine, the State moved to admit under the fact of complaint

doctrine2 that IMS disclosed the molestation to her mother and the reason she

disclosed at that time. The State argued that this was a “case of late disclosure”

and “credibility is always paramount.” Freedom argued the doctrine was

inappropriate because the complaint happened “anywhere from two to seven

years” after the most recent alleged incident. The trial court ruled, “[IMS] can

certainly testify as to why she waited and why she disclosed when she did. I think

that does go to credibility.” The court further stated, “[S]ome testimony as to how

the police became involved would be—I would allow that, but generally it would

have to be just she told me something, you know, that her uncle did, and then I

called the police . . . but nothing specific about the allegations.”

Freedom moved to exclude any testimony regarding alleged uncharged bad

acts, and argued to bifurcate the two counts of child molestation from the

aggravator of a pattern of sexual abuse. The trial court decided both within the

context of the motion to bifurcate. The State argued these were not uncharged

prior bad acts, but were charged as the aggravator. The State further argued that

per statute, evidence of aggravating factors must be given to the jury at the same

2 The fact of complaint doctrine allows the prosecution in sex offense cases

to present evidence that the victim complained to someone after the assault, but the rule admits only such evidence as will establish that the complaint was timely made. State v. Chenoweth, 188 Wn. App. 521, 532, 354 P.3d 13 (2015).

2 No. 86215-4-I/3

time as the underlying offenses, except in narrow circumstances, which were not

present. The trial court denied the motion to bifurcate, ruling that the statute

“doesn’t seem to contemplate separate evidentiary trials for allegations such as

these,” and “even assuming [the court had] discretion to do so, [the court thought]

in this case where really both the underlying charges and the special allegations

come down to the credibility of the same witness or possibly witnesses but mainly

the alleged victim in this case,” it did not believe it was overly prejudicial or rose to

the level of violating a constitutional right. The court did not separately rule on the

admissibility of other bad acts.

At trial, IMS testified that when her uncle Freedom visited her house, he

would touch her in a way that she did not like. IMS testified the touching first

happened when she was approximately 7 or 8 years old, and lasted until she was

about 13 or 14 years old. IMS testified that when she was seven or eight, she was

lying on the couch with Freedom, “[a]nd we had a blanket over us, and like he

reached over, and . . . touched the lower part of my body.” IMS did not tell her

mother when it occurred because she did not realize what was happening until she

became older. IMS testified that the second specific memory of Freedom touching

her was when she was approximately 10 years old, and she was watching a movie

with her parents, her brother, and Freedom. IMS testified that she was sitting on

Freedom’s lap with a blanket over them, and Freedom used his hand to touch her

vagina. IMS testified that she had “two specific memories of him like touching my

vagina, and then I have other memories of like him just like—like touching me

weirdly that I didn’t like, but he didn’t touch my vagina.” IMS testified that when

3 No. 86215-4-I/4

she was between 10 and 13, she was sitting in the living room with Freedom and

he used his hand to rub up and down on her thigh while she was wearing shorts.

Another time, IMS was vacuuming her mother’s vehicle while wearing shorts, and

Freedom stood behind her and rubbed the back of her thigh and went up IMS’s

shorts.3

IMS testified that she started to realize what was happening to her when

she was about 10 or 11. IMS testified that she did not tell her parents about the

incidents until August 16, 2020 because she was scared and upset that she did

not realize sooner. IMS testified that she disclosed on August 16, 2020 because

she saw Freedom with her younger cousin on his lap, and she did not want her

cousin “to end up going through the same thing [she] did.” IMS testified that after

she told her mother that Freedom had touched her inappropriately, her parents

confronted Freedom, and Freedom responded, “I’m sorry.” IMS testified that the

police came to her house that day and took her statement.

IMS’s mother testified that IMS disclosed to her that Freedom had touched

her. Freedom objected based on hearsay, and the trial court stated that the jury

should not consider the statement for the truth of the matter, “[j]ust for how things

progressed from there.”

The jury convicted Freedom of both counts of child molestation in the first

degree, and found that the crimes were committed as part of an ongoing pattern

3 IMS began testifying about a third instance of inappropriate touching, to which Freedom objected because it violated an order in limine to not discuss incidents outside of the charging period. The trial court sustained the objection and instructed the jury to “disregard that last part about something happening when [IMS] was 13.”

4 No. 86215-4-I/5

of sexual abuse. The trial court sentenced Freedom to an indeterminate sentence

of 89 months to life for each count, and sentenced him to lifetime community

custody. Freedom appeals.

II

Freedom argues the trial court abused its discretion in admitting testimony

that IMS had disclosed allegations of sexual abuse to her mother. We disagree.

We review the trial court’s admission of evidence for an abuse of discretion.

State v. Pirtle, 127 Wn.2d 628, 648, 904 P.2d 245 (1995). A trial court abuses its

discretion if its decision is manifestly unreasonable or based on untenable grounds

or untenable reasons.

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