State Of Washington, V John Allen Booth, Jr.

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided November 5, 2019·No. 49492-2·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed

Washington State

Court of Appeals

Division Two

November 5, 2019

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 49492-2-II Consolidated with

Respondent, No. 49499-0-II No. 49519-8-II

v. No. 49512-1-II No. 49509-1-II

JOHN ALLEN BOOTH, JR., No. 49502-3-II

Appellant. UNPUBLISHED OPINION

MELNICK, J. — John Booth appeals the denial of his motion to vacate his convictions, which he based on allegations that the State overheard protected attorney-client communications and used them against him. After a hearing on Booth’s motion, the trial court found that Booth had received a fair trial and denied his motion. Booth also appeals from the court’s ruling that vacated some, but not all, of his outstanding legal financial obligations (LFOs). He makes numerous arguments in support of his position.

We affirm.

FACTS

I. CONVICTION In 2010, Booth shot four people while attempting to collect a drug debt. Three of the victims died. After the shooting, Booth fled to Spokane where the police later found him. Booth awaited trial at the Lewis County Jail. While there, the police listened to a call made by Booth to his friend in Spokane. Through the call, the police were able to locate the murder weapon.

A jury convicted Booth of two counts of murder in the first degree, one count of murder in the second degree, one count of attempted murder in the first degree, one count of attempted extortion in the first degree, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree. He appealed, and we affirmed his convictions. II. MOTION TO VACATE Booth then filed a motion to either vacate and dismiss the judgment and sentence or hold an evidentiary hearing. He filed the motion pursuant to CrR 7.8. Booth alleged that the State engaged in a pattern of eavesdropping during the preparation of his murder trial which intruded into his attorney-client communications. The trial court scheduled a hearing.

A. Motion to Compel Prior to the hearing, but after being appointed counsel, Booth filed a motion to compel the State to produce telephone records in its possession.1 Booth alleged the State had documents that would show it had a blanket policy of listening to inmates’ attorney-client phone conversations or, at the least, had a plan to listen to his attorney-client conversations. Booth requested, among other documents, “every document with [his] name anywhere in it in the possession of any branch of the law enforcement of [L]ewis [C]ounty or state controlled agency related to [his motion] in any way.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 243.

The court held a hearing on the motion to compel, but Booth was not present. At the hearing, the State argued that it had given Booth all relevant documents in its possession as part of discovery and that the jail had fully responded to Booth’s Public Records Act (PRA) request. Booth presented no additional evidence.

1 Although Booth personally filed the motion, it appears that his lawyer adopted it. The lawyer argued the motion.

At one point in the hearing, the court asked Booth’s attorney whether Booth could identify any specific “items of discovery . . . with sufficient particularity that [the court] could actually direct the jail in the event that [it] found [Booth] was correct.” 1 Report of Proceedings (RP) at 11. Booth’s attorney responded that Booth “maintains that there is going to be some sort of documentation or meeting between staff members that they either collaborated or conspired with one another to listen to his conversations with his attorney.” 1 RP at 11. The court denied Booth’s motion.

B. Evidentiary Hearing2 Booth alleged four separate instances of misconduct to support his motion to vacate. First, he alleged that the State listened to telephone calls he had with his attorney and those he had with his private investigator. Second, he alleged that jail staff and detectives listened to attorney-client conversations that occurred in the visitation rooms. Third, he alleged that a detective sat behind him in court and listened to attorney-client conversations that occurred there. And fourth, he alleged that a correctional officer (CO) overheard attorney-client conversations in a courthouse conference room.

1. Jail’s Phone System The Lewis County Jail detained Booth for approximately 16 months. During that time, Global Tel Link (GTL) operated the jail’s inmate phone system. A sign posted above the phone in the jail indicated that phone calls were monitored. However, GTL did not record known attorney-client phone calls. Lawyers provided their phone numbers to the jail. Jail staff then

2 The court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law. Because Booth challenges many of them, we include the relevant evidence presented.

inputted the numbers and GTL did not record any calls from those numbers. Booth’s attorney at the time of his murder trial did not regularly practice in Lewis County.

At one point, CO Jack Haskins, whose job was to listen in on all recorded inmate phone calls, inadvertently overheard a conversation between Booth and his attorney. He did not intend to listen to any of Booth’s attorney-client conversations. However, while listening to a call, the subject matter started “going towards legal questions, legal manner.” 2 RP at 352. At that point, Haskins stopped listening and told his supervisor. He did not tell his supervisor the content of the conversation. The supervisor told Haskins to tell Booth what happened, which he did. Additionally, Haskins asked Booth to clarify what numbers Booth needed added to the attorney list.

Haskins did not tell anyone about the incident except Booth and his supervisor. No detective or prosecutor assigned to Booth’s murder case had knowledge that Haskins overheard a phone call between Booth and his attorney.

Additionally, during his time at the jail, Booth lodged grievances alleging that the jail was improperly monitoring his phone calls to John Wickert,3 the private investigator assisting his lawyer. The problem arose because Wickert ran both a bail bond company and a private investigation company. Booth would sometimes call the phone number associated with Wickert’s bail bond company when he could not reach Wickert on the private investigation phone number. Initially, the jail refused to add the bail bond phone number to the do-not-record list. No detective or prosecutor assigned to Booth’s case knew the jail heard any of Booth’s conversations with Wickert or any of the substance of those conversations.

3 Wickert did not testify at Booth’s hearing.

At one point during the hearing, Booth attempted to introduce a document that appeared to indicate which conversations of his the jail recorded and monitored; he obtained the document from a PRA request. The State objected, arguing that the document was inadmissible because it had not been properly authenticated by a custodian of GTL. The court sustained the objection.

2. Jail’s Visitation Rooms During Booth’s detention, the Lewis County Jail did not have completely soundproof attorney-client visitation rooms. At one point, a local attorney knocked on Booth’s visitation room while Booth was meeting with his attorney to tell them that he could hear them. Based on complaints, the jail began making improvements. It appears some of the improvements occurred while Booth was detained at the jail.

According to the COs who transported Booth from his cell to meet with his lawyer, they secured him in the visitation room and then stood in the hallway adjacent to the room. On one occasion, CO Vernon West heard Booth say “that he did kill the kid and the kid had a gun.” 1 RP at 101. After hearing the statement, he and the other transport CO “immediately moved away.” 1 RP at 102. On subsequent meetings between Booth and his attorney, West stood at the end of the hall. Booth could see the COs if he turned around while in the visitation room.

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