State of Washington v. Todd Raymond Bush

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 6, 2020
Docket36708-8
StatusUnpublished

This text of State of Washington v. Todd Raymond Bush (State of Washington v. Todd Raymond Bush) 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. Todd Raymond Bush, (Wash. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

FILED AUGUST 6, 2020 In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) ) No. 36708-8-III Respondent, ) ) v. ) ) TODD RAYMOND BUSH, ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION ) Appellant. )

SIDDOWAY, J. — Todd Bush appeals his convictions for vehicular homicide and

possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine). He challenges the trial court’s

limitation of his cross-examination, and its refusal to grant a mistrial following testimony

that a scale found in Mr. Bush’s car was a type used in drug distribution. While the trial

court erred in limiting cross-examination, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable

doubt. The trial court properly exercised its discretion in refusing to declare a mistrial.

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On a late evening in May 2016, Ty Hardin was driving northbound on Division

Street in Spokane, approaching the bridge over the Spokane River. The road has three

northbound lanes at that location, and Mr. Hardin was in the left lane. As he arrived at No. 36708-8-III State v. Bush

the bridge he noticed a black SUV1 that was traveling ahead of him in the middle lane

swerve abruptly into the far right lane and drive up on the sidewalk, where it struck a

cyclist. The impact threw the cyclist, Richard Johnson, into the air and over the side of

the bridge. Mr. Johnson died from his injuries.

The SUV failed to stop and Mr. Hardin determined to follow it, while his

passenger, Ann Huston, called 911. When the SUV made a right-hand turn into what Mr.

Hardin knew was a dead-end road, Mr. Hardin turned in behind it and he and Ms. Huston

watched as Mr. Bush exited the driver’s side door and a woman exited the passenger’s

side. Jeffrey Miesner, a commercial truck driver was performing a pretrip inspection of

his semitruck in an adjacent parking lot, and he, too, saw a man get out from the driver’s

side and a female get out from the passenger’s side after the SUV came to a stop. Mr.

Hardin and Ms. Huston observed the female passenger run off after speaking with Mr.

Bush.

Responding police officers spoke with Mr. Hardin, Ms. Huston and Mr. Bush, and

photographed the SUV, which had extensive damage to the windshield, front end, and

passenger side. According to Lieutenant Dean Sprague, Mr. Bush told him that at the

time of the collision someone named Jessica, who he had just met, was driving his SUV,

and he was in the passenger seat. Lieutenant Sprague would later testify that Mr. Bush

1 Sport-utility vehicle.

2 No. 36708-8-III State v. Bush

could not describe Jessica, claimed not to know her last name, and said she left in an

unknown direction. Lieutenant Sprague doubted Mr. Bush’s story; for one thing, had Mr.

Bush been in the passenger seat “[h]e would have been covered in shiny glass pieces”

and “probably would have had some glass cuts.” Report of Proceedings (RP) at 208.

After Lieutenant Sprague spoke with Mr. Bush, Spokane Police Officer Michael

Huffman, a certified drug recognition expert, was contacted at home and asked to come

to the scene to evaluate Mr. Bush. According to Officer Huffman, Mr. Bush admitted

that he and a woman he had just met (he referred to her as Jenny) were traveling

northbound on Division Street when she lost control of the vehicle, jumped the curb and

struck a cyclist. Mr. Bush reportedly reiterated that his new female friend had been

driving. Told by Officer Huffman that witnesses saw him leave from the driver’s side

door, Mr. Bush reportedly told the officer that Jenny had gone over him to leave out the

passenger side door after which he moved into the driver’s side seat.

Mr. Bush agreed to a portable breathalyzer test, which detected a BAC of .000.

He then agreed to submit to a drug recognition evaluation. Officer Huffman concluded

that Mr. Bush’s performance showed impairment consistent with drug or alcohol use, and

he applied for and obtained a search warrant to draw Mr. Bush’s blood. A blood test later

confirmed the presence of methamphetamine in Mr. Bush’s system.

Execution of a warrant to search Mr. Bush’s SUV produced a glass pipe, a torch-

type lighter, a “baggie” containing a white crystalline substance, and a 500-gram scale

3 No. 36708-8-III State v. Bush

that was located in the SUV’s center console. The substance in the baggie later tested

positive for methamphetamine.

Two days after the collision, the State charged Mr. Bush with vehicular homicide,

alleging all three statutory means, one being that he had been driving under the influence

of intoxicating liquor or any drug.2

In an interview taking place approximately a week after Mr. Johnson was killed,

Mr. Bush admitted to Officer Paul Taylor and Detective Brian Shrier that he was the one

driving when his SUV struck Mr. Robinson. He admitted that his passenger was his

fiancée, Summer Patrick. He explained that the collision occurred because he and Ms.

Patrick were arguing, she became violent, and in the course of hitting and kicking at him,

her foot got caught in the steering wheel. When he was informed by the officers of the

suspected drugs and drug paraphernalia found in searching his car Mr. Bush told them

none of it belonged to him; it all belonged to Ms. Patrick.

In June 2017, the State amended the information to add a charge of possession of a

controlled substance (methamphetamine).

2 Under RCW 46.61.520(1), a driver is guilty of vehicular homicide if his or her driving results in the death of a person within three years as a result of injury proximately caused by his or her driving, if the driver was operating a motor vehicle “(a) While under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug, as defined by RCW 46.61.502; or (b) In a reckless manner; or (c) With disregard for the safety of others.”

4 No. 36708-8-III State v. Bush

The case proceeded to a jury trial in January 2019. Before opening statements, the

State asked the trial court to foreclose an area of cross-examination of eyewitness Hardin.

It explained that Mr. Hardin had a pending criminal charge and had received unusually

lenient treatment in connection with two other recently resolved charges. The prosecutor

represented that this was not through any cooperation understanding with the State, but

was the result of a mistaken calculation by different prosecutors of Mr. Hardin’s offender

score. The State was concerned that the defense might try to suggest through cross-

examination that Mr. Hardin’s testimony was shaded in favor of the State by his hope of

favorable treatment. To obtain a ruling by the court before opening statements, the

prosecutor wished to examine Mr. Hardin outside the presence of the jury, to establish

that he had no cooperation agreement with the State presently, nor had his recent lenient

treatment been the result of any cooperation understanding.

Defense counsel pointed out that the jury would hear evidence about Mr. Hardin’s

criminal history regardless, since Mr. Hardin had committed several crimes of dishonesty

admissible under ER 609. Defense counsel did not object to the State’s proposed

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