State Of Washington, V. Taraille Dejuan Chesney

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided January 3, 2022·No. 80873-7·Unpublished

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 80873-7-I

Respondent,

DIVISION ONE

v.

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

TARAILLE DUJUAN CHESNEY,

Appellant.

COBURN, J. — A jury convicted Taraille Dujuan Chesney of custodial interference in the first degree, attempting to elude a police vehicle (with a special finding of endangerment by eluding), theft in the third degree, driving while under the influence, and two counts of reckless endangerment. Chesney appeals his convictions and claims the trial court violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial when it granted numerous “largely unjustified continuances” over his objections while he was incarcerated for 18 months awaiting trial. But all of the continuances were requested by defense counsel and necessary for defense preparation, the delay was not extreme, and Chesney does not articulate particularized prejudice. The delay did not violate Chesney’s constitutional speedy trial rights and the claims Chesney asserts in his pro se statement of additional grounds lack merit. We affirm Chesney’s convictions.

Citations and pin cites are based on the Westlaw online version of the cited material.

FACTS

Taraille Chesney’s convictions stem from events that occurred on March 28, 2018, after he arrived unexpectedly at the Lake Forest Park home of Leslie Dempsey, the grandmother and custodian of his two children. Chesney ignored Dempsey’s requests to leave. Chesney gave the children a pruning saw from the garage and instructed them to use it for protection. Dempsey called 911. Although Chesney was not allowed unsupervised visits with his children, he eventually left with his five-year-old child, speeding away in a vehicle without a child car seat installed. When he left Dempsey’s home, Chesney took Dempsey’s cell phone without her permission. Lake Forest Park police officers located Chesney nearby, but were unable to stop him as he drove at high speeds through residential streets. Police initiated an “Amber Alert” for Chesney’s minor child.

Seattle police officers eventually located Chesney in Seattle, but he again avoided detention by driving away when officers approached his car. Chesney approached a nearby intersection in the bike lane and on the sidewalk, and when a police officer tried to block his vehicle, he drove into the officer’s patrol car. Chesney then tried to escape by driving into oncoming traffic, and in the process, collided with two more patrol cars. Chesney’s vehicle was eventually immobilized, and officers removed Chesney’s child from the vehicle and took Chesney into custody.

The State charged Chesney with five crimes that arose from law enforcement’s attempts to apprehend him in Seattle: attempt to elude a pursuing

police vehicle, reckless endangerment, and three counts of assault in the third degree. The trial court arraigned Chesney on April 12, 2018. In April and May of 2018, Chesney’s counsel sought two initial continuances to enable review of in- car video (ICV) evidence she requested and received from the State. The State joined and Chesney agreed with those requests. The court set trial for July 17, 2018.

Between June 2018 and April 2019, the court granted six substantial continuances. Three months after the State filed charges, on June 29, 2018, the State and defense counsel jointly requested that the court continue the trial until August 14. The prosecutor explained that the underlying crimes were investigated separately by the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and the Lake Forest Park Police Department (LFPPD). She further explained that two weeks before the hearing, following the referral of the case from the LFPPD, the prosecutor’s office notified defense counsel that the State intended to add charges and provided “significant discovery” to the defense. Defense counsel informed the court that she was reluctantly requesting a continuance over Chesney’s objection because she needed additional time to review the new discovery. The court granted the request, explaining that defense counsel could not effectively represent Chesney without examining all the evidence.

On August 3, the State requested a six-week continuance, until October 1, 2018, based on the unavailability of a number of witnesses during the timeframe of the scheduled trial and because the defense had not yet interviewed witnesses. The defense joined in the State’s request, again over Chesney’s

objection. Defense counsel also noted, based on video evidence she had reviewed, that “a number” of witnesses needed to be interviewed and there was “some outstanding discovery” that she understood to be “on its way.” Because “critical” State witnesses were not available, and in order to ensure effective representation by the defense, the court granted the request.

Then, on September 14, defense counsel sought to continue the trial for approximately two months, until December 2018. Defense counsel stated that since the court granted the previous continuance, she had received more than 400 pages of new discovery. Counsel also said she had learned there were witnesses to the alleged custodial interference, she needed assistance from the State to locate some of them, and she was waiting for a finalized witness list and toxicology results. Counsel also represented that, according to her discussions with the State, the trial was expected to take approximately three weeks. The State responded that it was prepared for trial and objected to the continuance. Chesney also objected.

In response to the trial court’s questions, the prosecutor estimated there would be approximately 30 potential witnesses. The court granted the motion to continue, reasoning that counsel could not adequately defend against the charges without interviewing the State’s witnesses. The court also ruled that the State should provide a finalized witness list within a month, by October 12.

Next, on November 16, the defense requested another continuance of approximately two months, until February 20, 2019. Defense counsel advised the court that the State had identified 50 witnesses and that interviews of those

witness were ongoing, but far from complete. Citing the “volume” of witnesses, the State did not object. Again, although Chesney objected to a continuance of any length, the court granted the motion, stating that his right to effective counsel was as important as his right to a speedy trial.

On February 8, 2019, defense counsel again moved to continue the trial to the end of April. Counsel informed the court that the interview process was still ongoing and she recently realized that she did not yet have toxicology results. The newly assigned prosecutor confirmed that the day before the hearing, she had apprised the defense of the ultimate charges the State would pursue. 1 Although Cheney objected to the continuance because he wanted to go to trial and was not “worried” about new charges, the court granted the motion based on defense counsel’s representation that she needed additional time to prepare in order “to be effective.”

On April 19, 2019, the State sought the last lengthy continuance, to July 8, due to the unavailability of one of the victims. Although the parties had discussed amendment to the information at several points, the prosecutor also confirmed that the State would amend the charges if the case went to trial. The defense joined in the request to continue, noting that there were now over 40 witnesses on the final witness list, several of whom had yet to be interviewed, partly because the defense was waiting for ICV evidence as to at least four of the

1 Although the State indicated at this hearing it would amend the custodial interference charge to first degree kidnapping, it did not ultimately charge Chesney with kidnapping.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State Of Washington, V. Taraille Dejuan Chesney, (Wash. Ct. App. 2022).

State Of Washington, V. Taraille Dejuan Chesney (State Of Washington, V. Taraille Dejuan Chesney) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Barker v. Wingo
407 U.S. 514 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Doggett v. United States
505 U.S. 647 (Supreme Court, 1992)
State v. McFarland
899 P.2d 1251 (Washington Supreme Court, 1995)
State v. Gore
681 P.2d 227 (Washington Supreme Court, 1984)
State v. WEAVILLE
256 P.3d 426 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2011)
State v. Silva
24 P.3d 477 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2001)
State v. Hermann
158 P.3d 96 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2007)
State v. Grier
246 P.3d 1260 (Washington Supreme Court, 2011)
State v. Iniguez
217 P.3d 768 (Washington Supreme Court, 2009)
State v. Taylor
444 P.3d 1194 (Washington Supreme Court, 2019)
State v. Blake
481 P.3d 521 (Washington Supreme Court, 2021)
State v. Iniguez
167 Wash. 2d 273 (Washington Supreme Court, 2009)
State v. Grier
171 Wash. 2d 17 (Washington Supreme Court, 2011)
State v. Ollivier
312 P.3d 1 (Washington Supreme Court, 2013)
State v. Silva
106 Wash. App. 586 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2001)
State v. Hermann
138 Wash. App. 596 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2007)