State v. Dahl

990 P.2d 396
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 23, 1999
Docket67173-7
StatusPublished
Cited by70 cases

This text of 990 P.2d 396 (State v. Dahl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Dahl, 990 P.2d 396 (Wash. 1999).

Opinion

990 P.2d 396 (1999)
139 Wash.2d 678

STATE of Washington, Respondent,
v.
Dwight DAHL, Petitioner.

No. 67173-7.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued May 25, 1999.
Decided December 23, 1999.

*398 Gregory Charles Link, Washington Appellate Project, Seattle, for Petitioner.

Norm Maleng, King County Prosecutor, Ann Marie Summers, Deputy King County Prosecutor, Seattle, for Respondent.

*397 GUY, C.J.

Dwight Dahl challenges the trial court's order revoking his Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA) sentence. Dahl contends that the trial court revocation hearing violated his right to due process. We agree and accordingly direct the trial court to conduct a new hearing to determine whether Dahl violated the terms of his SSOSA sentence.

FACTS

Dahl pleaded guilty to Rape of a Child in the First Degree after confessing to sexually abusing his stepdaughter. The trial court sentenced Dahl to a standard range sentence of 95 months. However, the court suspended all but six months of Dahl's sentence under SSOSA. RCW 9.94A.120(8)(a)(i). The relevant conditions of Dahl's suspended sentence included (1) six months confinement; (2) reasonable progress in sexual deviancy treatment; (3) compliance with treatment conditions; (4) no contact with the victim or minor children; and (5) compliance with conditions recommended by the community corrections officer (CCO).

Dahl was released from prison after serving his six month term. Dahl then began his sexual deviancy treatment with Michael O' Connor and Associates (O'Connor). O'Connor submitted reports to Dahl's CCO detailing Dahl's progress between August 1995 and June 1997.

In the reports, O'Connor observed that Dahl was generally following the court ordered treatment rules, but that Dahl had communication problems and difficulty staying on his anticompulsivity medication. O'Connor noted that Dahl might have a learning disorder that hindered his treatment progress. O'Connor also suspected that Dahl was intentionally sabotaging his polygraph tests, thus making it difficult to monitor his compliance with the program.

On March 13, 1997, the State petitioned to revoke Dahl's suspended sentence. The State notified Dahl of the hearing and informed him that he had violated the terms of his suspended sentence by failing to make reasonable progress in treatment. After the hearing, the court ordered Dahl to serve 30 days' confinement with work release, but did not revoke Dahl's SSOSA sentence. The court scheduled a new review hearing for June 18, 1996, and cautioned Dahl that he must show discernible progress in his treatment during the intervening three-month period in order to maintain his SSOSA.

O'Connor submitted a treatment report on June 10, 1997. O'Connor reported that Dahl had violated work release rules, but stated that "I have no reason to believe that he has crossed the line into serious violations of a criminal or sexually deviancy [sic] nature." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 32. However, O'Connor did mention two incidents that caused him some concern. First, O'Connor reported that Dahl's CCO told O'Connor that two young girls had complained that a man fitting Dahl's description exposed himself to them near the site of Dahl's work release (hereinafter the "exposure incident"). A police officer informed the CCO that the girls identified Dahl from a photo montage as the man who exposed himself to them. However, O'Connor noted that Dahl had shown truthful in a polygraph exam when he had denied exposing himself to the girls.

The second incident occurred when Dahl sent a note to a young bank teller (hereinafter the "note incident"). According to O'Connor, the letter contained specific descriptions of Dahl's sexual offense, his recent fantasies, and his obsession with the JonBenet Ramsey case. Dahl told O'Connor that the letter was an attempt to reach out and develop a friendship with the woman, and Dahl showed truthful in a polygraph exam *399 when he denied hoping to engage in sexual activity with the teller. O'Connor concluded his report by stating that, "[i]n summary, [Dahl] has been making some progress, especially in the area of more disclosure and better reporting about his sexual impulses. However, [Dahl] continues to present a difficult case and one that will require long term treatment and supervision."

On June 18, at the end of the three-month period, Dahl went before the court for the second revocation hearing. In making its decision, the trial court considered O'Connor's treatment reports, the CCO's testimony and report recommending revocation, and a copy of the note Dahl wrote to the bank teller.[1] When the State raised the issue of Dahl's exposure to the two girls, Dahl's attorney objected, arguing that the prosecutor's unsworn statements regarding the incident were hearsay. The court overruled the objection on the grounds that information about the incident was contained in the treatment provider's report, which was itself admissible.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the court revoked Dahl's suspended sentence and reinstated Dahl's original 95-month term of confinement. The judge did not enter specific findings of fact. In her oral ruling, the trial judge noted that Dahl may suffer cognitive and physical impairments that hinder his progress. She observed that Dahl's treatment providers have been unable to ascertain the reasons for his poor performance in treatment. The judge determined that the letter Dahl sent to the bank teller showed that he could be dangerous because he is unable to recognize sexually inappropriate behavior. Although the judge mentioned the exposure incident, she did not address its significance to Dahl's treatment progress. Finally, the judge acknowledged that the result of Dahl's polygraph seemed to indicate that he was not involved in the exposure incident, but she commented that Dahl's past polygraphs had been inaccurate. "[U]nder all those considerations," the court concluded, "I'm going to revoke his SSOSA." Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRP) at 15-16.

Dahl challenges the trial court's decision on the grounds that it violated his right to due process. Specifically, Dahl contends that the State did not provide him with adequate notice of the alleged violations and that the trial court improperly considered hearsay evidence at the hearing. The Court of Appeals rejected Dahl's arguments and affirmed the revocation of his SSOSA. We granted Dahl's petition for discretionary review.

ANALYSIS

SSOSA provides that a sentencing court may suspend the sentence of a first time sexual offender if the offender is shown to be amenable to treatment. SSOSA requires the offender to be released into community custody and to receive up to three years of outpatient or inpatient sexual deviancy treatment. RCW 9.94A.120(8)(a)(ii)(B). An offender's SSOSA may be revoked at any time if a court is reasonably satisfied that an offender has violated a condition of his suspended sentence or failed to make satisfactory progress in treatment. RCW 9.94A.120(8)(a)(vi); State v. Badger, 64 Wash. App. 904, 908-09, 827 P.2d 318 (1992). Once a SSOSA is revoked, the original sentence is reinstated.

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Bluebook (online)
990 P.2d 396, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dahl-wash-1999.