State Of Washington, V Sherry Marie Havens

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedOctober 29, 2013
Docket43362-1
StatusUnpublished

This text of State Of Washington, V Sherry Marie Havens (State Of Washington, V Sherry Marie Havens) 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 Sherry Marie Havens, (Wash. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Fii=i COURT, 01F , UOP E L 2013 OCT 29 AV 9: 4.8 E

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF W

DIVISION II

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 433E

Respondent,

SHERRY M. HAVENS, UNPUBLISHED OPINION

JOHANSON, A. C. J. — Sherry M. Havens appeals her jury trial conviction and sentence for

second degree burglary.' The burglary charge was based on Havens' s attempt to shoplift at a

Wal - Mart store after having previously been trespassed from the store. She argues that ( 1) the

jury instructions omitted an essential element by failing to require the State to prove that she

knew she was not allowed on the premises when she entered Mart, ( 2) her offender the Wal -

score erroneously included a washed - out class C felony conviction, and ( 3) her trial counsel

provided ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to conduct an adequate investigation and in

failing to request jury instructions related to a potential defense. Because. (1) Havens invited any

potential instructional error, ( 2) the record shows that the five - year wash - out period was

interrupted by at least one misdemeanor conviction, and ( 3) Havens fails to show that further

investigation would have provided any evidence that would have helped her defense or that her

1 RCW 9A. 52. 030. No. 43 3 62 -1 - II

counsel' s choice to not pursue issues related to her potential defense was not a reasonable

tactical decision, we affirm.

FACTS

On August 7, 2009, Havens was served with a trespass notice prohibiting her from

entering the Wal -Mart in Shelton. Despite this, she returned to the Shelton Wal - Mart on August

18, 2011. Observing suspicious behavior, an asset protection associate followed Havens

throughout the store and then stopped her as she approached the exit doors with her cart

containing several items for which she had not paid. Because Wal - Mart had previously

trespassed Havens, the State charged her with second degree burglary.

I. STIPULATION

Shortly before her February 2012 trial, the parties discussed Havens' s agreement to

stipulate to the existence of the trespass notice. Havens' s counsel originally agreed that ( 1)

Havens would stipulate that Wal -Mart had notified her that she had been trespassed from the

Mart property, ( 2) Shelton Wal - she had received this notice, ( 3) " therefore it was unlawful for

her to enter," and ( 4) " she was aware of the order." Verbatim Report of Proceedings ( VRP) at 2-

3.

A short time later, the following colloquy occurred:

STATE]: ... I was speaking with [ Havens' s counsel] regarding the stipulation, and apparently there is a — going to be a defense, which I don' t recall — I don' t have the Consolidated Omnibus Order in front of me. DEFENSE COUNSEL]: No, I— there' s no defense. I' m just saying as to that stipulation—

the second —the last line of the stipulation, [ that " she was aware of the order "] I don' t believe Ms. Havens can agree to. We would stipulate that she has been served with a trespass notice and that she signed for it, and therefore, her

2 No. 43362 -1 - II

Mart was unlawful. That, we will stipulate to, but Mr. — entry into Wal - the last sentence of —I don' t —you can read it to the Court. I don' t think Ms. Havens is

agreeing to that last sentence. STATE]: Well what my point is, is that apparently there was [ an]

allegation that Ms. Havens has suffered some kind of head injury where she don' t —she doesn' t remember the fact that she has been trespassed from Wal- Mart. And that sounds suspiciously close to the State as diminished capacity, but — DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Well, we' re stipulating that she was there unlawfully. I mean, that' s — it' s correct that Ms. Havens — THE COURT: I' m going to stop you right now. If you agree on a stipulation and the Court approves it, fine, but I' m not going to hash it out at this point, with interjecting the Court into something that the two sides need to be able to agree on first. STATE]: This is above and beyond the stipulation, Your Honor. I mean

I' ll clearly take out the last sentence, but what I' m concerned about is if Ms. Havens testifies. If she testifies that she — regardless of the stipulation, how do we prove that she' d been trespassed but she didn' t remember being trespassed because [ of] some kind of head injury. And that' s a defense, Your Honor, that the State believes is basically a diminished capacity defense. And there is absolutely no medical evidence as far as the State knows, to show this, and the State believes that the diminished capacity defense is you have to have some kind of medical testimony. So, the State' s— what the State' s asking the Court is to prevent this from coming out. This is —you know, I appreciate [ defense counsel], you know, his candor, his being an officer of the court and informing me. THE COURT: [ Defense counsel]? DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, I have no intention of going into Ms. Havens' [ s] head injury or the fact that she doesn' t remember being trespassed. We' re stipulating —we are stipulating that she was trespassed and that therefore her entry into Wal -Mart was unlawful. STATE] : Okay. DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Our defense is not diminished capacity. Our defense is that she did not commit the crime of shoplifting. She didn' t do it. That' s our defense.

THE COURT: Alright. The Court has also looked at the Consolidated Omnibus Order and the defenses that were checked, actually just one, the general denial.

VRP at 11 - 13 ( emphasis added).

Ultimately, Havens agreed to and the jury was provided with the following stipulation:

3 No. 43362 -1 - II

The parties agree and stipulate as follows: The defendant, Sherry Havens, has been served with a trespass notice on August 7, 2009[,] from the Shelton Walmart [ sic], prohibiting her from lawfully entering the premises.

Clerk' s Papers ( CP) at 21.

II. TESTIMONY

At trial, Wal - Mart asset protection associates testified that they had observed Havens

wander around the store for some time, place unpaid for items in a Wal -Mart bag, walk past the

cash registers, and prepare to leave the store with the cart containing the unpaid for items. None

of the items in the bag or the cart had security tags that would have set off the security system if

Havens had passed through the exit doors. They stopped her as she approached the exit doors

with the cart and the doors were opening.

Havens testified that she entered the store to exchange some underwear she had

previously purchased and to shop for some items while her son was at a nearby football practice

and that she did not attempt to leave the store with any unpaid for merchandise. Instead, she

asserted that she had parked her shopping cart near the exit doors and then briefly stepped

outside, without the cart, when she thought she saw her son outside the store. She also testified

that the asset protection associate stopped her after she came back into the store, not as she was

trying to leave the store.

Defense counsel then asked Havens about her prior 2003 and 2004 third degree theft

convictions and " some kind of theft charge in June" 2011. VRP at 55. Havens acknowledged

these convictions. But when the State attempted to cross -examine her about a June 2003

conviction, Havens responded:

0 No.

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