State v. Carothers

514 P.2d 170, 9 Wash. App. 691, 1973 Wash. App. LEXIS 1253
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedSeptember 17, 1973
Docket1920-1
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 514 P.2d 170 (State v. Carothers) 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 v. Carothers, 514 P.2d 170, 9 Wash. App. 691, 1973 Wash. App. LEXIS 1253 (Wash. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinions

James, J.

— At jury trial in King County, defendant John V. Carothers was convicted of two counts charging murder in the first degree and one count charging robbery.1 At trial he was represented by retained counsel who withdrew after denial of Carothers’ motion for arrest of judgment or for a new trial.

The facts relevant to the issues raised by Carothers’ appeal are: A retired Port Angeles businessman and his wife were shot and killed in their home near Sequim, Washington. There were no witnesses other than the participants in the crime. Some 6 weeks later, one Joseph Lalak was involved in an automobile accident in Bellingham. He was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon. The weapon, a .357 magnum revolver, had belonged to the deceased husband.

After being granted immunity by a special inquiry judge, Lalak testified that he and Carothers planned to burglarize a house. They drove the back roads of Port Angeles and Sequim “looking for a place to rob,” and Carothers entered the victims’ house alone. Lalak heard three shots and entered the house after Carothers beckoned to him. He was shocked upon seeing the husband lying in a pool of blood. As Lalak entered the house he observed that Carothers was loading a .357 magnum revolver which he then handed to Lalak, telling Lalak to keep watch out the window. Carothers then took the wife into a bedroom and Lalak heard another shot. Carothers returned to the room where Lalak waited and Lalak observed that Carothers was carrying a man’s wallet which he put into his pocket. As they left the house, Carothers turned and fired another shot at the man.

Carothers’ defense was a categorical denial of participation and an alibi.

Although the state’s case against Carothers was principally based upon Lalak’s testimony, there was other sub[693]*693stantial corroborative evidence, both physical and circumstantial.

Carothers’ appointed counsel on appeal first claims that the trial judge erred in giving an instruction based upon RCW 9.01.030, which advised the jury that every person who aids and abets in the “perpetration of a crime is guilty of the commission of the crime and shall be proceeded against and punished as a principal.” Instruction No. 8. The objection at trial and claim on appeal is that there is no evidence to support a finding that Carothers participated as an aider or abettor in the perpetration of the three crimes charged.

It is true that if Lalak is to be believed in all respects, Carothers acted only as a principal and could not have participated as an aider and abettor. But judging the credibility of a witness is not an “all or nothing at all” function. Reasonable inferences could be drawn from Lalak’s testimony and other evidence which would permit a finding that Lalak participated as a principal and that Carothers aided and abetted him. The giving of the aiding and abetting instruction was warranted by the evidence.

Appellate counsel’s principal claim of error is that the instructions failed to admonish the jury that before Carothers could be found guilty on any count, there must be unanimous agreement as to the “mode” of committing the crime charged. Concerning the murder counts, the jury was instructed that Carothers could be found guilty if he killed either “with a premeditated design” or “while engaged in the commission of a robbery.” Instructions Nos. 4 and 5.

Carothers’ trial counsel took no exception, either to the absence of a specific instruction requiring unanimity as to the alternate modes of commission or to the absence of a general instruction requiring unanimous verdicts. While such failure would ordinarily preclude appellate review, State v. Robinson, 78 Wn.2d 479, 475 P.2d 560 (1970), it is clear that a failure to require a unanimous guilty verdict yiolates a fundamental constitutional right, State v. Badda, [694]*69463 Wn.2d 176, 385 P.2d 859 (1963), and we therefore consider the claimed error as to the unanimity requirement, though first asserted on appeal. State v. Peterson, 73 Wn.2d 303, 438 P.2d 183 (1968).

Where, by statutory definition, a single crime may be committed in different ways or by different means, an indictment or information may charge alternatively, in one count, the several modes if they are not repugnant to each other, i.e., if the proof of one mode does not necessarily disprove another mode. State v. Parmenter, 74 Wn.2d 343, 444 P.2d 680 (1968).

But it is the rule in Washington that before an accused may be found guilty of the commission of a crime alternatively charged, the jury must unanimously agree as to a single mode, even though the various modes are not repugnant. State v. Golladay, 78 Wn.2d 121, 470 P.2d 191 (1970).2 However, as we pointed out in State v. Mayner, 4 [695]*695Wn. App. 549, 483 P.2d 151 (1971), the Washington Supreme Court has held that while an instruction as to unanimity as to mode is desirable, its absence is not fatal if it is clear that, in fact, the jury was unanimous as to mode. In State v. Mickens, 61 Wn.2d 83, 87, 377 P.2d 240 (1962), it was held that:

[S]ince the jury was polled, there is no doubt that the verdict was unanimous and was the result of each juror’s individual determination.

(Italics in original.)

In State v. Badda, supra at 183, the ruling of Mickens was approved with the caveat that the appellate court “must be certain that the verdict is unanimous.” In Badda, it was held that the poll of the jury did not cure the failure to instruct as to unanimity because the case involved “multiple defendants, multiple counts and special verdicts” and the court could not with confidence “be certain that the verdict [was] unanimous.” State v. Badda, supra at 182-83.

Here, the jury rendered separate guilty verdicts as to each of the three counts and two special verdicts, finding that Carothers was armed with a deadly weapon, and rejecting the death penalty. The clerk’s minute entry indicates that when polled, all jurors responded that all verdicts were unanimous. Significantly, the count charging robbery did not include alternative modes as did the murder count. It follows then that even though some of the [696]*696jurors may have found as a fact that the killings were the product of “premeditated design,” all jurors necessarily found as a fact that the killings occurred while Carothers was “engaged in the commission of a robbery.” Instructions Nos. 4 and 5. The robbery verdict thus had the effect of a special interrogatory which established unanimity as to felony murder. As required by Badda, we can therefore be certain that the verdicts on the murder counts were unanimous as to mode.

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State v. Carothers
514 P.2d 170 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
514 P.2d 170, 9 Wash. App. 691, 1973 Wash. App. LEXIS 1253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-carothers-washctapp-1973.