State Of Washington, V Morgan Brice Williams

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided August 28, 2018·No. 49749-2·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed

Washington State

Court of Appeals

Division Two

August 28, 2018

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 49749-2-II

Respondent,

v.

MORGAN BRICE WILLIAMS, UNPUBLISHED OPINION Appellant.

SUTTON, J. — Morgan Brice Williams was previously convicted of one count of first degree robbery in Washington for an October 2013 robbery and six federal crimes for five robberies and an attempted robbery in Oregon. In this case, he was convicted of two counts of first degree robbery for a September 2013 and a November 2013 robbery in Washington. Williams appeals his convictions for these two counts of first degree robbery, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the two charges because the preaccusatorial delay in charging him violated his due process rights and because the preaccusatorial delay in charging him amounted to governmental misconduct under CrR 8.3(b). We hold that Williams’s due process rights were not violated by the delay in charging him with the September and November 2013 robberies and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying his motion to dismiss under CrR 8.3(b).1

1 Williams also asks that we refrain from awarding appellate costs against him. The State represents that it will not request appellate costs. Therefore, we accept the State’s representation, and we deny an award of appellate costs to the State.

Williams makes a number of additional claims in his Statement of Additional Grounds for Review (SAG).2 First, he claims that his due process rights were violated by the preaccusatorial delay in charging him with the September and November 2013 robberies. Second, he claims that governmental misconduct occurred when the federal prosecutor did not include the September and November 2013 robbery charges when engaging in plea negotiations related to the six Oregon federal charges and the October 2013 Washington robbery. Third, he claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his prior counsel failed to include the September and November 2013 robberies in the 2014 plea agreement. Fourth, he claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel did not more vigorously argue that the preaccusatorial delay was improper. Fifth, he claims that law enforcement violated his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights when he was interrogated in prison. Sixth, he claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when he elected to have a bench trial on stipulated facts for the September and November 2013 robberies. Seventh, he claims that insufficient evidence supports his convictions for the September and November 2013 robberies. Eighth, he claims that his successive prosecutions require reversal. Ninth, he makes several other claims that his convictions should be reversed because of sentencing entrapment, double jeopardy, being forced to choose between two distinct rights, misrepresentation, conflict of interest, being denied informed consent, deliberate indifference, and violations of equal protection. None of the issues raised in Williams’s SAG merit reversal.

Consequently, we affirm.

2 RAP 10.10.

FACTS

Between September 17, 2013, and February 14, 2014, Williams robbed three banks in Washington, as well as five banks in Oregon, and he attempted to rob an additional bank in Oregon. Each of the robberies were carried out in a similar manner—by a person who wore baggy clothing and presented a demand note to a teller. The three Washington robberies took place in Clark County and occurred in September, October, and November of 2013. Vancouver Police Department Detective Lawrence Zapata investigated the September 2013 robbery. Vancouver Police Department Detective Barbara Knoeppel investigated the October 2013 robbery. The Clark County Sheriff’s Department investigated the November 2013 robbery. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the six crimes in Oregon.

During his investigation, Detective Zapata viewed surveillance footage from the September 2013 robbery, but he was unable to identify the robber from the footage. Detective Zapata also examined the demand note used by the robber. Although there was an impression on the demand note from the September 2013 robbery, the forensics lab was unable to identify the robber without a side-by-side comparison of the robber’s fingertip and hand prints.

Law enforcement officials released information to the public asking for tips on all of the robberies and the attempted robbery. A citizen identified Williams as a potential suspect. During the course of his investigation, Detective Zapata suspected that Williams was the person who had committed the September 2013 robbery. However, Detective Zapata did not refer charges against Williams to the Clark County prosecuting attorney for either the September or November 2013 robberies because he did not believe he had sufficient evidence for an arrest warrant or for successful prosecution.

Detective Knoeppel was able to positively identify Williams as the man who committed the October 2013 robbery after several bank employees identified him as the robber. Detective Knoeppel wrote a probable cause statement for Williams’s arrest for the October 2013 robbery that noted that Williams was a suspect in the September and November 2013 robberies. Williams was arrested and charged for the October 2013 robbery. Williams invoked his right to remain silent; thus, law enforcement could not question Williams.

In 2014, Williams pleaded guilty to the October 2013 robbery in Clark County Superior Court. He also pleaded guilty to the six Oregon federal charges in the U.S. District Court of Oregon. Williams’s attorney negotiated a plea agreement with the federal authorities and the Clark County prosecutor for a concurrent sentence for the October 2013 Washington conviction and the six Oregon federal convictions. The U.S. District Court sentenced Williams to 60 months of confinement for the six federal crimes and the Clark County Superior Court sentenced him to 36 months for the October 2013 robbery, with both sentences to be served concurrently. Although the prosecutor and defense counsel each had a copy of Detective Knoeppel’s probable cause statement that had named Williams as a suspect in the September and November 2013 robberies, neither crime was included in the 2014 plea agreement.

Between 2014 and 2015, Detective Zapata was transitioning between units within the police department. Although he was aware that Williams had been apprehended, he did not interview Williams and did not seek a warrant for Williams’s fingerprints. In late 2015, Detective Zapata transferred the investigation of the September 2013 robbery to Vancouver Police Department Detective Tom Topaum. Detective Topaum later secured a search warrant for Williams’s fingerprints.

In February 2016, Detectives Topaum and Zapata interviewed Williams in prison while he was serving his sentences for the October 2013 robbery and the six Oregon federal crimes. Detective Zapata asked Williams if he was the person who had committed the September and November of 2013 robberies. Williams confessed that he was the robber.

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