State Of Washington, V William Jiles Johnson

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided September 25, 2018·No. 49682-8·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed

Washington State

Court of Appeals

Division Two

September 25, 2018

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 49682-8-II

Respondent,

v.

WILLIAM JILES JOHNSON, UNPUBLISHED OPINION Appellant.

SUTTON, J. — William Jiles Johnson appeals his convictions for felony violation of a no contact order (NCO), violation of a protection order, and obstructing a law enforcement officer. Johnson argues that: (1) his right to a public trial was violated, (2) the prosecutor committed misconduct during closing argument by expressing an opinion on Johnson’s guilt, (3) the trial court should have suppressed all evidence seized during an allegedly unlawful entry into Johnson’s home, (4) he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his defense counsel failed to (a) move to suppress the evidence seized after the warrantless entry into his home, (b) move to suppress portions of jail calls introduced at trial discussing his bail, plea negotiations, and Department of Corrections (DOC) parole status, (c) move for a mistrial after a portion of another jail call was mistakenly played, and (d) memorialize off the record discussions during trial, (5) the trial court erred by imposing discretionary legal financial obligations (LFOs) without making an adequate inquiry into his ability to pay, and (6) the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury

on the lesser included offense of fourth degree assault.1 In his statement of additional grounds (SAG),2 Johnson argues that his time for trial right was violated.

We hold that because the record is insufficient to determine whether a closure of the courtroom occurred, we are unable to determine whether Johnson’s right to a public trial was implicated or violated, and thus, his public trial right claim fails. We hold that, even if the prosecutor’s comments during closing argument were improper, Johnson fails to show that the prosecutor’s conduct was so flagrant and ill intentioned that an instruction would not have cured the resulting prejudice. We do not reach the merits of Johnson’s claim that the evidence of his obstructing a law enforcement officer should have been suppressed because he failed to file a motion to suppress the evidence at the trial court, and thus, he has waived this issue. We hold that all of Johnson’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims fail. We also hold that the trial court erred in imposing discretionary LFOs without making an individualized inquiry into Johnson’s ability to pay, and the trial court did not err by refusing to instruct the jury on a lesser included offense. Lastly, we hold that Johnson’s SAG claim fails because the record is insufficient to analyze it. Accordingly, we affirm Johnson’s convictions and reverse the discretionary jury demand fee from the judgment and sentence, and remand for the sentencing court to conduct an adequate individualized inquiry under Blazina prior to imposing discretionary LFOs.

1 To the extent that Johnson assigns error to additional arguments that are not adequately briefed, we decline to address them. RAP 10.3(a)(6). 2 RAP 10.10.

FACTS

On July 4, 2016, Angela Lingle called the police to report that Johnson had violated an NCO and assaulted her in his home. Lingle and Johnson each knew of the NCO. The NCO permitted contact in public places and on the telephone, but it did not allow Johnson to be in a private residence with Lingle. Officers approached the home and demanded that Johnson exit the house and be arrested. Johnson refused to exit the home. Eventually officers broke down Johnson’s door and arrested him. The State charged Johnson with felony violation of an NCO, violation of a protection order, obstructing a law enforcement officer, and two counts of tampering with a witness. On August 25, defense counsel requested a continuance because he was scheduled to be in a different trial at the same time. The trial court continued the trial to October 10. Johnson’s jury trial commenced on October 13.

I. OFFICER REECE’S TESTIMONY Officer Terry Reece testified about the events of July 4. Officer Reece described how he took a position by a window so that he could view Johnson in the home. Officer Reece was in this spot for a considerable amount of time. One officer covered a different section of the house, while another knocked on the front door and asked Johnson to exit the house.

Officer Reece had a view of Johnson for almost the entire time that he was looking through the window. He yelled at Johnson and told him to come out. Johnson responded that he was not under arrest and the officers needed to leave. Officer Reece testified that in domestic violence calls, officers must make an arrest of the primary aggressor if they have probable cause to believe that person was the aggressor. Johnson continued to argue with Officer Reece and the officer at the front door.

After some time, Johnson moved from where he was, and because Officer Reece could not see Johnson from this vantage point, he ripped out the window air conditioner that was obstructing his view in order to watch Johnson. When describing why he did this, Officer Reece stated that “[Johnson] was in the kitchen. Of course there’s knives in the kitchen, so I wanted to see what he was doing.” I Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRP) at 69. Another officer informed Officer Reece that they were going to break down the front door to effectuate an arrest.

II. WARRANTLESS ENTRY

Officer Kenneth Hardy and Officer John Reeves also testified to the events at Johnson’s home that night. Officer Reeves testified that the officers had probable cause to arrest Johnson for domestic violence and that Washington law requires officers to make an arrest when the domestic violence occurred within the preceding four hours. Officer Hardy described how officers used a ram to break down Johnson’s door. Officer Hardy was the first officer in the home and told Johnson that he was under arrest. As Officer Hardy placed handcuffs on Johnson, Johnson pulled away and attempted to keep his arms from behind his back. Another officer assisted in handcuffing Johnson as he continued to struggle. Johnson failed to comply and went limp as he struggled against being taken out of the house. After some time, the officers removed Johnson from the home. Officer Reeves testified that Johnson continued to struggle against the arrest until he was placed into the patrol car.

III. LINGLE’S TESTIMONY

Lingle testified at trial. On July 4, Lingle woke up to Johnson, who was under the influence of drugs, standing next to her. She could tell by the way he was looking at her that he might assault

her. She walked away, but Johnson followed. He grabbed her face and tried to push her into the bathtub. She tried to leave. As she began calling 911, Johnson hit Lingle in the back of the head.

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

State Of Washington, V William Jiles Johnson, (Wash. Ct. App. 2018).

State Of Washington, V William Jiles Johnson (State Of Washington, V William Jiles Johnson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. Bone-Club
906 P.2d 325 (Washington Supreme Court, 1995)
State v. Barnes
978 P.2d 1131 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1999)
State v. Workman
584 P.2d 382 (Washington Supreme Court, 1978)
State v. Kingen
692 P.2d 215 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1984)
State v. Mierz
901 P.2d 286 (Washington Supreme Court, 1995)
State v. McFarland
899 P.2d 1251 (Washington Supreme Court, 1995)
State v. Campbell
691 P.2d 929 (Washington Supreme Court, 1984)
State v. Reed
278 P.3d 203 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2012)
State v. Thorgerson
258 P.3d 43 (Washington Supreme Court, 2011)
State v. Emery
278 P.3d 653 (Washington Supreme Court, 2012)
State v. Torres
44 P.3d 903 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)
State v. Flinn
110 P.3d 748 (Washington Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Yates
168 P.3d 359 (Washington Supreme Court, 2007)
State v. Lewis
233 P.3d 891 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
State v. Mierz
875 P.2d 1228 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1994)
State v. Sutherby
204 P.3d 916 (Washington Supreme Court, 2009)
State v. Nguyen
129 P.3d 821 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2006)
State v. Iniguez
217 P.3d 768 (Washington Supreme Court, 2009)
State v. Kyllo
215 P.3d 177 (Washington Supreme Court, 2009)
State Of Washington, V Wyatt Taylor Seward
384 P.3d 620 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2016)