State Of Washington v. Jaymes Kendrick Linenkohl

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided April 19, 2021·No. 79944-4·Unpublished

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

STATE OF WASHINGTON, DIVISION ONE

Respondent,

No. 79944-4-I

v.

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

JAYMES KENDRICK LINENKOHL,

Respondent.

DWYER, J. — Jaymes Linenkohl appeals his conviction for assault in the second degree. Contrary to his claim on appeal, Linenkohl was not deprived of his right to a unanimous jury verdict. We say this because the State presented evidence of only one act of assault and elected that act as the basis for the charge during its presentation to the jury. Similarly, the trial court neither abused its discretion by informing the jury that a recording of Linenkohl’s statement had been redacted in accordance with the court’s prior rulings nor by instructing the jurors to not concern themselves with the reasons for the court’s rulings. Finally, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence that Linenkohl possessed and carried firearms during the event in question. We affirm.

I

Early in the morning of November 8, 2017, Kelly Nelson and Sarah Simerly returned to the property where Simerly lived with her partner, Jaymes Linenkohl. The evening before, Simerly had left the house after a dispute with Linenkohl, telephoned Nelson, her friend and co-worker, to pick her up, and stayed at Nelson’s apartment for the night. The next morning, Simerly and Nelson returned to the house to gather Simerly’s personal belongings. As they approached the backyard, they saw Linenkohl outside on the back porch stairs. Linenkohl approached the women. What happened from this point on was subject to factual dispute at trial.

According to Nelson, Linenkohl was demanding that Simerly come with him, telling Nelson to mind her own business, and calling Nelson a “little bitch” and a “midget.” Nelson said that she looked at her phone, and Linenkohl said, “You should call 911.” Nelson said that Linenkohl then backed up toward the house, telling her, “I’m going to fuck your life up.” Nelson and Simerly both testified that Linenkohl was not armed at this point. Simerly said Linenkohl ran back into the house after this initial confrontation.

Simerly and Nelson then headed back to Nelson’s car. Nelson said they were about halfway down the sidewalk when she heard the sound of running footsteps behind her. She said that Linenkohl then pushed her out of the way and put a gun in her face. Nelson said Simerly was “frozen” and did not say a word. Nelson said that Linenkohl kept the gun pointed at her as he grabbed Simerly by the arm and dragged Simerly toward the house. Nelson described

the gun that Linenkohl pointed at her as “really big. I don’t know how to label guns or like what kind of gun necessarily it was. In my head it like reminds me of an AK 47 or something like that.” She testified that she was afraid that Linenkohl was going to shoot her.

Simerly testified that she was running ahead of Nelson down the sidewalk toward the car when Linenkohl caught up to Nelson. She said she heard Linenkohl slam Nelson against a fence and Nelson scream, “Okay, okay, okay,” sounding terrified. Simerly said she stopped running when she heard Nelson scream. Nelson ran past her. Linenkohl grabbed Simerly by the back of the neck and forced her back into the house. Simerly said Linenkohl had a shotgun in his hand at this point.

For his part, Linenkohl testified that he told Nelson that “she needed to mind her own fucking business.” He said that he maintained a “stern, defensive posture” and told Nelson that “she could go now, little girl.” He said Nelson said she was calling the cops, and he spun around and said something like, “You do whatever the fuck you want to do. Get the fuck out of here, get the fuck off my property.”

Linenkohl denied ever physically touching Nelson, pushing her up against a fence, or chasing after her. He said that he had a Glock handgun in his possession at that point, but said he did not take the gun out of its holster or point the gun at Nelson. He said that he did not have a long gun, such as a rifle or shotgun, in his possession when he was in contact with Nelson. Linenkohl testified that he did not grab Simerly or force her into the house.

Nelson called 911. Simerly testified that police surrounded the house within a few minutes. Simerly said that Linenkohl “just all of a sudden started grabbing his guns and going outside and pointing them.” She said that Linenkohl had two long guns, including an AUG, with him at that point, and went outside the house with the two long guns more than three times. She said Linenkohl put on a bullet proof vest. Simerly testified that she did not feel like she could leave the house until Linenkohl told her that she “better go out and handle it or a bunch of people are going to die.”

Simerly left the house; she said officers put her in a police car and drove her to a nearby park. She said she told officers that morning that nothing happened and was not honest with them because she was scared. She testified that she was still not willing to be honest about what happened at the court hearings in the following weeks, including a bail hearing, because she was scared.

Linenkohl testified that he never tried to prevent Simerly from leaving the house and actually encouraged her to leave the house. He said it was her choice to leave the house. Linenkohl said he only walked near the bushes once, when he was outside with Simerly, and was not armed with a rifle at that time. Linenkohl testified that he started moving his firearms upstairs; he also testified that his Mossberg shotgun ended up propped up near the back door of the house and the AUG ended up propped up near the front door of the house. Linenkohl testified that he went outside to smoke two times; the second time the police

hailed him and he complied with the police’s request. The police arrested Linenkohl.

The State charged Linenkohl with assault in the second degree against Nelson—specifically, assault with a deadly weapon, a rifle: “That the defendant JAYMES KENDRICK LINENKOHL in King County, Washington, on or about November 8, 2017, did intentionally assault Kelly Nicole Nelson with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a rifle.” The State also charged Linenkohl with domestic violence unlawful imprisonment against Simerly. The State further alleged that Linenkohl was armed with a rifle at the time he committed both of the charged crimes (“firearm enhancement”).

A jury trial commenced. On March 14, 2019, the jury found Linenkohl guilty of assault in the second degree as charged. The jury found that Linenkohl was armed with a firearm at the time he committed the assault. The court declared a hung jury on the unlawful imprisonment charge after the jury spent approximately two and a half days deliberating.

On May 3, 2019, the trial court sentenced Linenkohl to a total of 43 months of confinement on the second degree assault conviction. This included a 36 month mandatory term of confinement due to the jury’s finding that Linenkohl was armed with a firearm while committing the assault. The court dismissed the unlawful imprisonment charge.

Linenkohl appeals.

II

Linenkohl first contends that the trial court erred by not instructing the jury that it must unanimously agree as to with which firearm Linenkohl was armed. Linenkohl argues that the State presented evidence of two different firearms—a rifle and a handgun—and individual jurors could have relied on different firearms in finding that Linenkohl assaulted Nelson “with a deadly weapon” as required for a conviction of second degree assault or to find that Linenkohl was armed at the time of the assault as required for the firearm enhancement. We disagree.

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State Of Washington v. Jaymes Kendrick Linenkohl, (Wash. Ct. App. 2021).

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