State v. Grott

458 P.3d 750, 195 Wash. 2d 256
Washington Supreme Court·Decided February 20, 2020·No. 97183-8·Published·Cited by 58 cases

Opinion

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jusriGS ^ Susan L.Carlson Supreme Court Clerk

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 97183-8

Petitioner,

V. En Banc

ROBERT DESHAWN GROTT, Filed: FEB i 0 2020

Respondent.

YU,J.— The issues in this case relate to a first aggressor instruction that was given at respondent Robert Grott's trial for a shooting incident in which Grott claimed that he acted in lawful self-defense. The instruction informed the juiy that Grott could not claim self-defense if the jury found "beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was the aggressor, and that defendant's acts and conduct provoked or commenced the fight." Clerk's Papers(CP) at 1035. For the first time on appeal, Grott contended that this instruction was improperly given because it was not supported by the evidence presented at trial. The Court of Appeals agreed and reversed Grott's convictions. We reverse the Court of Appeals.

As a threshold matter, we hold that RAP 2.5(a)(3) does not apply to Grott's unpreserved objection to the first aggressor instruction in this case, so he is not entitled to raise it for the first time on appeal. We nevertheless exercise our discretion to reach the issue because the law regarding first aggressor instructions requires some clarification. On the merits, we hold that the first aggressor instruction was properly given in this case and that Grotfs trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to object. We therefore remand to the Court of Appeals to address the other issues raised on appeal.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL fflSTORY A. Factual background This factual background is based on the evidence presented at trial. Where relevant to the issue of whether a first aggressor instruction was properly given, the evidence is presented in the light most favorable to the State. State v. Wingate, 155 Wn.2d 817, 823 n.l, 122 P.3d 908 (2005)(per curiam)(citing State v. Fernandez- Medina, 141 Wn.2d 448, 455-56,6 P.3d 1150 (2000)).

1. Events prior to the shooting Grott is a former marine who was discharged in approximately December 2012. There was conflicting expert testimony as to whether he suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder. Grott moved to the Tacoma area in January 2015, where he lived with his younger brother and two cousins.

Grott's brother and cousins were friends with Julian Thomas, and Thomas would sometimes spend the night at their house. In August 2015, one of Grott's handguns went missing. Grott and his brother came to believe that Thomas had stolen the gun, but they did not confront him about it. Thomas stopped coming by their house around that time.

On Halloween night in 2015, Grott came home intoxicated. Thomas's younger sister was there with some friends. Grott began yelling at Thomas's sister, accusing Thomas of stealing his gun and saying she came from a family of thieves. There was conflicting evidence as to whether Grott also threatened to kill Thomas and beat up his sister. Thomas's sister left with her friends.

A little while later, Grott and his brother went out their front door and saw a man standing at the end of the driveway. The man yelled at them and indicated he had a gun. Grott and his brother went back inside and closed the door. A moment later, a shot was fired through the front door, and the bullet nearly hit Grott in the head. Thomas took credit for the shooting. The police were never called.

After Halloween, Grott became "paranoid" and bought another gun. 12 Verbatim Report of Proceedings(VRP)(Apr. 12, 2017) at 1539. Thomas did not directly contact Grott or his brother again, but there was conflicting evidence as to whether Thomas told others that he would kill Grott on sight.

2. The day of the shooting Shortly after noon on February 1, 2016, Thomas met his friend Petra Smith at an AMPM convenience store and gas station. Smith and Thomas arrived in separate cars, parked next to each other, and stood between the cars for a few minutes, talking and smoking. Smith then made a phone call.

While she was on the phone. Smith saw a man whom she did not know (later identified as Grott) arrive at a nearby bus stop on a skateboard. She testified that "as he stood at the bus stop, he was acting as though he was on some type of drug" and "kind of walking back and forth." 7 VRP (Apr. 4, 2017) at 793, 795. However, Smith did not pay much attention to him at the time. Thomas did not say anything about Grott to Smith, and Smith was not sure if Thomas had seen him. There is no evidence that Grott was out looking for Thomas, or vice versa.

Once Smith got off the phone, she turned her attention back to her conversation with Thomas. The two were still standing outside, to the driver's side of Thomas's car and to the passenger's side of Smith's car. Thomas then leaned into the driver's side of his car to look for loose change. Smith "told him he wasn't getting any. [They] laughed, and then he sat just inside of the front seat" of his car, preparing to leave. Id. at 788. Smith leaned into Thomas's car to give him a hug.

Thomas had been "sitting in the car for maybe 30 seconds or less before the bullets hit." Id. Smith was still leaning over him,"still in the hug position." Id. at 789. The first few shots hit the convenience store behind the car, and Thomas leaned down in his seat, pulling Smith with him. He told Smith to stay down because "it was probably a drive-by and it would end. And then the bullets started hitting the car." Id. at 790.

Thomas "squeezed himself to the floor of the car," with "his head by the passenger seat" and his feet "by the gas pedal." Id. Smith could "hear somebody yelling that Jay [Thomas] wasn't going to get away with shooting at his house," and Thomas told Smith "to move because it didn't have nothing to do with [her]." Id. At that time, Thomas had not yet been hit by any shots.

Smith got out ofthe car and hid under another car nearby, where she could hear Grott shouting, reloading his gun, and continuing to shoot. Grott leaned over the top of a neighboring blue car, continuing to shoot at Thomas's car while "using the blue car for cover." 6 VRP (Apr. 3, 2017) at 700. Grott reloaded his gun several times, and "[i]n between reloads, he paused for quite a while, like he was — wanted to see if there was some reaction, or something." 11 VRP (Apr. 11, 2017) at 1356. The shooting lasted "a good four minutes." 6 VRP (Apr. 3, 2017) at 679.

When he was done shooting, Grott walked away. Smith crawled out from where she was hiding and saw Thomas on the floor of his car,"the way that [she] left him," except that "one leg was hanging out of the driver's door." 7 VRP (Apr. 4, 2017) at 804. Thomas was dead; he had been shot nine times.

The radio call to police went out at about 12:40 p.m. Forty-eight shell casings were collected at the scene. The medical examiner testified that based on Thomas's wounds, he must have been directly facing Grott, rather than lying on the car floor, at some point during the shooting. A loaded gun with the safety off was discovered beneath Thomas's body.

B. Procedural history Grott was charged by amended information with one count of first degree murder and seven counts of first degree assault. Grott did not deny that he had committed the shooting, but he asserted diminished capacity and self-defense. Only the self-defense claim is currently before this court.

Grott's proposed jury instructions included instructions on Justifiable homicide and the lawful use of force in self-defense. Although the State objected to giving any instructions on self-defense, it proposed that if self-defense instructions were given, a first aggressor instruction should be given as well. The court gave the self-defense instructions over the State's objection. It also gave a first aggressor instruction without any objection by Grott. The first aggressor instruction provided:

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State v. Grott, 458 P.3d 750, 195 Wash. 2d 256 (Wash. 2020).

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