State v. Brown

248 P.3d 518, 159 Wash. App. 1
Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided October 25, 2010·No. No. 63607-3-I·Published·Cited by 72 cases

Opinion

Lau, J.

¶1 — A jury convicted Frederick Brown of five felony violations of a no-contact order (FVNCO). Brown assigns error, arguing (1) convictions for conduct on consecutive days in October and December violated double jeopardy, (2) the failure to give a Petrich1 instruction violated his right to a unanimous jury, (3) the prosecutor argued facts not in evidence, (4) ineffective assistance of counsel, and (5) the State failed to prove underlying convictions. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶2 Denise Apodaca and Frederick Brown met near the end of 2004 or in early 2005. They began dating shortly thereafter. They lived together at various times between 2005 and 2007. On April 7, 2007, Apodaca asked her neighbor to call police to report a domestic assault by Brown, and the neighbor did so. On September 4, 2007, Apodaca obtained a no-contact order preventing Brown from contacting her.

¶3 Although Brown contacted Apodaca numerous times after Apodaca obtained the no-contact order, the State charged Brown with five FVNCO counts.

¶4 On October 27, 2007 (count 2), Apodaca received numerous phone calls from Brown. Apodaca called the police. Phone records showed 86 calls from Brown’s cell phone number to Apodaca’s cell phone number and three pages of records between Brown’s cell phone number and Apodaca’s home phone number.

¶5 In the early morning on October 28 (count 4), Brown went to Apodaca’s apartment and knocked on the door. When Apodaca did not respond, Brown kicked in the door. Brown pushed Apodaca down and searched through the house. Police went to the home. Phone records showed 45 calls from Brown’s cell phone number to Apodaca’s cell phone number and two pages of records from Brown’s cell phone number to Apodaca’s home phone number.

[7] ¶6 On November 19 and 20 (count 5), phone records showed numerous phone calls between Brown’s cell phone number and Apodaca’s home and cell phone numbers. Brown also rang Apodaca’s doorbell. Apodaca saw Brown outside in a white van and called 911. Officers observed the white van 200 to 300 feet from Apodaca’s apartment and arrested Brown.

¶7 On December 7 (count 6), Apodaca called police to report numerous phone calls she believed were from Brown. Police answered one blocked call, with no response. Phone records showed many calls from Brown’s cell phone number to Apodaca’s cell and home phone numbers. Calls began at 10:59 p.m. on December 7 and continued throughout the next day.

¶8 On December 9 (count 7), Apodaca arrived home from the casino early in the morning with Nimensio Rivera.2 Rivera saw and heard Brown repeatedly say, “[A]re you kidding me[?]” Brown grabbed Apodaca. Apodaca tried to call police from her cell phone, but Brown grabbed the phone and broke it. Brown then fled the scene as Rivera ran after him. Report of Proceedings (RP) (Sept. 22, 2008) at 13-17. Apodaca called the police from her home, and police arrived at approximately 2 a.m. Phone records showed multiple calls between Brown’s cell phone number and Apodaca’s home and cell phone numbers.

Brown’s Alibi

¶9 At trial, Brown’s girl friend, Tonya Webster, testified she was constantly with Brown from October 26 through 28 and December 8 and 9. Brown therefore argued that he could not have repeatedly called Apodaca.

¶10 The State sought to impeach Webster. A Virgin Mobile representative testified that there were calls between Brown’s phone and the number (253)876-5471 dur[8] ing the above times. The State apparently did not have records showing that (253)876-5471 belonged to Webster. To show that this number belonged to Webster, prosecutors obtained a November 26 jail recording between Brown and that number. No jail representative testified. A prosecutor wrote “(253) 876-5471” on a CD (compact disc) case containing the jail phone call recording, and the prosecutor played the recording for Webster. Webster identified her voice and Brown’s voice on the recorded call. The prosecutor asked Webster whether the number written on the CD belonged to her. Webster claimed she did not remember, although at one point she said, “It could be possible.”

¶11 During closing, the prosecution argued,

[Webster] came in to tell you that [Brown] was with her every minute of every day for the weekend of October 27th through October 29th. Mr. Watkinson from Virgin Mobile told you that there were 37 calls between the defendant’s cell phone and Ms. Webster’s cell phone number 253-876-5471.
[DEFENSE]: Objection. Facts not in evidence.
THE COURT: Overruled. Go ahead.
[PROSECUTOR]: — on that weekend; 37 phone calls.
Now, Ms. Webster claimed that she couldn’t remember her phone numbers. She has had three or four cell phone numbers in less than a year and she doesn’t remember what those numbers are. Doesn’t remember any of the digits, can’t tell us anything about them. When I played a call that was made to that phone number, she said well, yes, that was me; yes, that was Frederick, but—
[DEFENSE]: Objection. Facts not in evidence.
THE COURT: Overruled. Go ahead.

RP (Oct. 1, 2008) at 33-34.

¶12 A jury found Brown guilty of the five FVNCO counts and one interfering with an emergency call count but not guilty on two burglary counts. The trial court imposed concurrent 29-month sentences on each FVNCO conviction and concurrent with a 12-month suspended sentence on the misdemeanor interfering with an emergency call count. Brown appeals his FVNCO judgment and sentence.

[9] DISCUSSION

Double Jeopardy

¶13 Brown argues that his “multiple convictions for violating the no [-] contact order on consecutive days in October and December violate the prohibition against double jeopardy, as [his] conduct was continuing.” Br. of Appellant at 23. The State counters that the legislature intended to make each no-contact order violation a chargeable offense and, therefore, under a unit of prosecution analysis, the convictions do not violate double jeopardy. We agree.

¶14 The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 9 of the Washington Constitution provide protections against double jeopardy. Washington’s constitutional protections are coextensive with those provided by the federal constitution. State v. Womac, 160 Wn.2d 643, 650, 160 P.3d 40 (2007).

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State v. Brown, 248 P.3d 518, 159 Wash. App. 1 (Wash. Ct. App. 2010).

248 P.3d 518 (State v. Brown) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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