State v. Dowell

557 P.2d 857, 16 Wash. App. 583, 1976 Wash. App. LEXIS 1751
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedDecember 27, 1976
Docket1787-3
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 557 P.2d 857 (State v. Dowell) 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. Dowell, 557 P.2d 857, 16 Wash. App. 583, 1976 Wash. App. LEXIS 1751 (Wash. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Green, J.

Defendant appeals from convictions for rape committed upon his daughter (count 1); second-degree assault against her son, with a deadly weapon (count 2); and carnal knowledge of another daughter (count 3).

Error is assigned to the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motions for (1) severance of the count charging carnal knowledge, and (2) dismissal of all charges for violation of CrR 3.3. We affirm.

Defendant was arrested in Portland, Oregon, on March 21, 1975, upon a warrant issued March 20 in Spokane County. The warrant was based upon a complaint by his *584 daughter for rape and second-degree assault against her child allegedly committed on March 17, 1975. Defendant waived extradition and was booked into the Spokane County jail on April 24. The next day he was given a preliminary appearance in district court. Unable to post bond, he was not released. At that time, defendant was represented by counsel, Bruce Owens, who had been retained for him by his wife.

Subsequently, the defendant discharged Mr. Owens and on May 28, John Murphy, a public defender, was appointed at the defendant’s request. Trial had been set for June 4. On May 29, Mr. Murphy sought a continuance of the trial date “to the first available court date in [the] July, 1975 jury term, said continuance beyond the CrR 3.3 ‘60 day rule’ being necessary for preparation of the defense . . .” This motion was granted and the trial was reset for July 7.

On June 27, the State was granted leave to amend the information to add count 3, charging defendant with carnal knowledge of another daughter. On June 30, upon motion of defense counsel, an order was entered appointing a sanity commission. On July 11, the court denied a defense motion to sever count 3 for separate trial. The report of the sanity commission was filed on July 15. On July 21, trial commenced and defendant was convicted by a jury.

First, defendant contends that the joinder of counts 1 and 2 with count 3 resulted in substantial prejudice due to “the cumulative evidence and hostility engendered by the totality of the evidence presented.” It is argued 1 that the emotional prejudice created by the joinder outweighs the advantages to be gained from one trial rather than two. We disagree.

The prejudicial effect of joinder of counts for trial is thoroughly discussed in State v. Kinsey, 7 Wn. App. 773, 775-78, 502 P.2d 470 (1972):

The evils to be avoided by the joinder of several counts in one information are discussed in State v. Smith, 74 Wn.2d 744, 754, 446 P.2d 571 (1968), as follows:
As we said in State v. Long, 65 Wn.2d 303, 396 P.2d *585 990 (1964), quoting from State v. Brunn, 145 Wash. 435, 260 Pac. 990 (1927), the joinder of counts should never be utilized in such a way as to unduly embarrass or prejudice one charged with a crime, or deny him a substantial right.
The defendants quote the following from Drew v. United States, 331 F.2d 85, 88 (D.C. Cir. 1964):
The justification for a liberal rule on joinder of offenses appears to be the economy of a single trial. The argument against joinder is that the defendant may be prejudiced for one or more of the following reasons: (1) he may become embarrassed or confounded in presenting separate defenses; (2) the jury may use the evidence of one of the crimes charged to infer a criminal disposition on the part of the defendant from which is found his guilt of the other crime or crimes charged; or (3) the jury may cumulate the evidence of the various crimes charged and find guilt when, if considered separately, it would not so find. A less tangible, but perhaps equally persuasive, element of prejudice may reside in a latent feeling of hostility engendered by the charging of several crimes as distinct from only one. Thus, in any given case the court must weigh prejudice to the defendant caused by the joinder against the obviously important considerations of economy and expedition in judicial administration.

In permitting joinder, the court noted the following elements as preventing prejudice to the defendant: (1) the strength of the state’s evidence on each count, (2) the clarity of defenses to each count, (3) the court properly instructed the jury to consider the evidence of each crime, and (4) the admissibility of the evidence of the other crimes even if they had been tried separately or never charged or joined.

With these dangers in mind, it is within the discretion of the trial court whether two counts should be joined in one information. Bayless v. United States, 381 F.2d 67 (9th Cir. 1967); State v. McDonald, 74 Wn.2d 563, 445 P.2d 635 (1968). The exercise of this discretion will only be overturned because of a manifest abuse. State v. Ogle, 78 Wn.2d 86, 469 P.2d 918 (1970).

The court in State v. Kinsey, supra at 777-78, goes on to *586 discuss the admissibility of all the misconduct, had severance been granted:

We turn to a consideration of whether evidence of one of the robberies would have been admitted as proof of the charge brought on the other to prove plan, scheme or design. The court said in State v. Conley, 3 Wn. App. 579, 580, 476 P.2d 544 (1970):
The statute permits joinder against a single defendant if the offenses . . . are of the same class of crimes or offenses. State v. Brunn, 145 Wash. 435, 260 P. 990 (1927).
Had severance been granted and Conley tried for the firearms violation alone, evidence of his possession of the tires and the circumstances surrounding his acquisition would have been relevant and admissible in establishing the inference he was also in possession of the pistol. State v. Slaney, 68 Wn.2d 93, 411 P.2d 426 (1966). If evidence of one crime is admissible to prove an element of a second, joinder of the two crimes cannot be said to be unlawfully prejudicial, where the criteria of this statute is otherwise met. Drew v. United States, 331 F.2d 85, 88 (D.C. Cir. 1964).

State v. Ranicke, 3 Wn. App. 892, 895, 479 P.2d 135 (1970), set forth the common scheme, plan or identity rule as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
557 P.2d 857, 16 Wash. App. 583, 1976 Wash. App. LEXIS 1751, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dowell-washctapp-1976.