State v. Diaz-Cardona

123 Wash. App. 477
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedSeptember 27, 2004
DocketNo. 53444-1-I
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 123 Wash. App. 477 (State v. Diaz-Cardona) 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. Diaz-Cardona, 123 Wash. App. 477 (Wash. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Baker, J.

Juan Diaz-Cardona appeals a juvenile court’s order compelling his participation in a sex offender evaluation. He argues that he properly invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and that cooperating with the evaluation might lead to a longer confinement. We agree and conclude that a juvenile may invoke his privilege against self-incrimination and refuse to participate in such evaluations. Accordingly, we reverse the order compelling participation.

I

Juan Diaz-Cardona pleaded guilty to one count of child molestation in the second degree. At the time of the offense, Diaz-Cardona was 17 years old and had no prior sex offenses. Before sentencing, the court ordered a sexual deviancy evaluation to determine if Diaz-Cardona was amenable to treatment under the special sex offender [480]*480disposition alternative (SSODA) statute.1 Diaz-Cardona refused to complete the evaluation, and attempted to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. He argued that information obtained in the evaluation might be used against him at sentencing to impose a longer confinement.

The juvenile court granted the State’s motion to compel an evaluation. We granted expedited discretionary review.

II

RCW 13.40.160(3) permits a juvenile court to suspend a sex offense disposition upon the condition that the juvenile participate in community-based sex offender treatment.2 The statute permits the juvenile, the court, or the state to request the report:

When a juvenile offender is found to have committed a sex offense, other than a sex offense that is also a serious violent offense as defined by RCW 9.94A.030, and has no history of a prior sex offense, the court, on its own motion or the motion of the state or the respondent, may order an examination to determine whether the respondent is amenable to treatment.
The report of the examination shall include at a minimum the following: The respondent’s version of the facts and the official version of the facts, the respondent’s offense history, an assessment of problems in addition to alleged deviant behaviors, the respondent’s social, educational, and employment situation, and other evaluation measures used. The report shall set forth the sources of the evaluator’s information.
The examiner shall assess and report regarding the respondent’s amenability to treatment and relative risk to the community. A proposed treatment plan shall be provided . .. .[3]

[481]*481The ultimate decision whether to impose a SSODA lies completely within the discretion of the juvenile court.4

After determining that community-based treatment is appropriate, the juvenile court may impose either a determinate disposition or a manifest injustice disposition falling outside the standard sentencing range.5 In exercising its discretion to impose a SSODA, the juvenile court is required to assess the offender’s amenability to community-based treatment and the relative benefits and risks to society and the offender.6 But the same circumstances that warrant a SSODA may also support a manifest injustice determination. By providing for suspended manifest injustice dispositions in appropriate cases, the statute clearly permits the juvenile court to consider and plan for the possibility that community-based treatment might fail. In such situations, the juvenile court has the authority to revoke the suspension and reimpose the manifest injustice disposition if the juvenile violates any conditions of community supervision or fails to make satisfactory progress in treatment.7

Diaz-Cardona refused to participate in the evaluation because the juvenile court might use that evaluation to impose a manifest injustice disposition. The State takes the position that Diaz-Cardona must complete the SSODA evaluation, arguing that because of the unique nature of juvenile proceedings, Diaz-Cardona has no constitutional privilege against self-incrimination at this stage of the proceedings.

The fifth amendment to the United States Constitution prevents a person from being “compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,”8 and protects an [482]*482accused from having to provide the State with testimonial or communicative evidence.9 The United States Supreme Court has held that “ ‘the availability of the [Fifth Amendment] privilege does not turn upon the type of proceeding in which its protection is invoked, but upon the nature of the statement or admission and the exposure which it invites.’ ”10

In Mitchell v. United States,11 the Supreme Court held that the sentencing proceeding in a federal criminal prosecution is considered to be part of the “criminal case” so that the Fifth Amendment’s guaranty of the right to remain silent applies equally to that phase of a criminal case.12 The Supreme Court has generally rejected the idea that entry of a guilty plea extinguishes the privilege against self-incrimination, explaining that because a sentence has not yet been imposed, the defendant may have a legitimate fear of adverse consequences from further testimony.13 Any effort by the government to compel the defendant to testify against his will at the sentencing hearing would contravene the Fifth Amendment.14

Washington courts have also recognized that an adult defendant has a Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination at the punishment phase of his trial, and therefore, the mere finding of guilt does not terminate the privilege against self-incrimination.15 Our Supreme Court has recognized that “a convicted defendant has a liberty [483]*483interest which minimal due process protects,”16 and has held that the Fifth Amendment applies at sentencing.17

We must address whether a juvenile may invoke his privilege against self-incrimination after a determination of guilt, but before sentencing. Several of our prior decisions have addressed the right to confrontation in dispositional hearings. But these cases are not helpful to our analysis. The issue is a juvenile’s privilege against self-incrimination, not his right to confront potential witnesses.

The Washington statute outlining juvenile protections explains that a juvenile has the same constitutional privilege against self-incrimination as adults:

A juvenile shall be accorded the same privilege against self-incrimination as an adult. An extrajudicial statement which would be constitutionally inadmissible in a criminal proceeding may not be received in evidence at an adjudicatory hearing over objection.[18]

Our courts have consistently held that at fact finding hearings, juvenile evidentiary issues are treated the same as in adult criminal proceedings.19

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474 P.3d 560 (Washington Supreme Court, 2020)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 Wash. App. 477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-diaz-cardona-washctapp-2004.