State v. Hoggatt

108 Wash. App. 257
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 31, 2001
DocketNo. 25138-8-II
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 108 Wash. App. 257 (State v. Hoggatt) 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. Hoggatt, 108 Wash. App. 257 (Wash. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Morgan, J.

Jack Dewayne Hoggatt, Jr., appeals convictions for theft of a firearm (Count I) and unlawful possession of a firearm (Count II). The State cross-appeals an exceptional sentence downward on Count I. We affirm the convictions on both counts and the sentence on Count II. We reverse and remand for resentencing on Count I.

In the spring of 1999, Hoggatt was living in a house [260]*260leased by his girl friend, Cindy Clark. The house was small, and its living room and kitchen were essentially the same area. Hoggatt had previously been convicted of several felonies.

The house Hoggatt and Clark shared was two doors down from Hoggatt’s father’s house, and Hoggatt’s father owned a .380 handgun. During the afternoon of May 26, 1999, while Hoggatt and his father were together at the father’s house, Hoggatt asked his father for money. When his father refused, Hoggatt grabbed the .380 handgun and said he would give it back only if his father gave him $20. The father again refused, so Hoggatt took the gun and left. The father called the police to say his gun had been stolen.

At about 4 p.m., Officer Stair went to the father’s house. While he was interviewing the father about what had happened, Hoggatt called and demanded $100 for the gun. At this point, according to the trial court’s unchallenged finding or conclusion, Stair had probable cause to arrest Hoggatt for theft of a firearm and for unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree.

Stair went to Hoggatt’s nearby house, but no one answered the door. As Stair was walking away, some neighbors said they had just seen Hoggatt inside the residence. Stair asked the neighbors to call him if they saw Hoggatt again.

An hour or so later, Stair returned to Hoggatt’s house. Clark was now home, and she allowed Stair to search the house. When Stair did not find Hoggatt, he “told Clark that she needed to call dispatch when [Hoggatt] returned.”1 According to Stair, he “did not coerce Clark in any way[,]” and he thought “that Clark was cooperating fully with the police efforts to locate [Hoggatt].”2

[261]*261As Stair was leaving Hoggatt’s residence, but while he was still in the driveway, Hoggatt phoned Clark, and Clark called Stair to the phone. Hoggatt “told Stair that the gun was in a safe place, that he wouldn’t turn himself in, that his father had pointed the gun at him so he took it away, and that he had wrapped the gun up and had put it in a safe place near the river.”3

At about 6:30 p.m., a neighbor called 911 to say that Hoggatt had returned home. Stair went back to Hoggatt’s house and knocked on the front door. Clark “pulled the front door wide open and pointed to the kitchen.”4 When Stair looked where Clark was pointing, he saw Hoggatt standing in the kitchen with his back turned, talking on the phone. As Stair stepped over the threshold, he also saw a handgun on a table within Hoggatt’s reach. Stair entered the house, arrested Hoggatt, and seized the gun.

On June 1, 1999, the State charged Hoggatt with theft of a firearm in Count I and unlawful possession of a firearm in Count II. Hoggatt moved to suppress, claiming that Stair’s warrantless entry had been unlawful and that all resulting evidence was inadmissible. The State responded that Stair’s entry had been lawful due either to Clark’s consent or exigent circumstances.

On July 27, 1999, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. It ruled that Stair’s entry had been justified by Clark’s consent, but not by exigent circumstances. The jury convicted on both counts, and Hoggatt filed this appeal.

The main issue on appeal is whether Stair lawfully arrested Hoggatt and seized the gun. To analyze that issue, we address two separate questions. In section I, we ask whether Stair was lawfully admitted into the living room area of the home that he and Clark shared. In section II, we [262]*262ask whether Stair lawfully approached Hoggatt, arrested him, and seized the gun.

I

Generally, an officer without a warrant may not enter a home to make an arrest.5 Two exceptions are consent and exigent circumstances.6 The trial court found a lack of exigent circumstances, but that Clark gave valid consent. The State does not contest the finding that there were no exigent circumstances.7 Hoggatt does contest the finding that Clark gave valid consent. Accordingly, we analyze Clark’s consent.

Hoggatt advances two arguments on consent. First, he contends that Clark did not consent voluntarily to Stair’s entry into the home. Second, he contends that even if Clark consented voluntarily, she could not consent on his behalf; he had to personally consent where he was in plain sight a few feet away. We take each argument in turn.

A

Consent must be given voluntarily.8 Whether Clark consented voluntarily on the occasion in issue here constitutes a factual inquiry.9 We review the trial court’s findings [263]*263for substantial evidence.10 The precise question is whether a rational trier of fact taking the evidence in light most favorable to the State could find consent by clear and convincing evidence.11

When Clark testified at the suppression hearing, she suggested that Stair and other officers had coerced her into allowing Stair to enter the home. When Stair testified at the suppression hearing, he said that he had not coerced Clark, and that Clark had manifested consent by opening the door and gesturing toward Hoggatt. The trier of fact had the right to credit Clark’s or Stair’s version, and it did not err by crediting Stair’s.

B

The more difficult problem is whether Clark’s voluntary consent bound Hoggatt, who was a few feet away in the kitchen but visible from the front door. Translated into general terms, the problem is whether one cohabitant of a residence may consent to an officer’s entering the common living area of the residence, without the consent of a second cohabitant who is present nearby. We examine federal law first and state law second.

The leading federal case is United States v. Matlock.12 The defendant, his girl friend, and her parents [264]*264jointly occupied a house leased by her parents. The defendant and his girl friend lived in the east bedroom. Believing that the defendant had committed a bank robbery, the police went to the house without a warrant. They encountered the defendant in the front yard and arrested him. Instead of asking for his consent to search the east bedroom, they went to the front door of the house, contacted the girl friend, and asked for her consent to search the east bedroom. She gave consent, and the officers found relevant evidence in the east bedroom. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion to suppress, but the United States Supreme Court reversed. Citing Frazier v. Cupp,13 Coolidge v. New Hampshire,14 and Schneckloth v. Bustamonte,15

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Related

State v. Haapala
161 P.3d 436 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2007)
State v. Morse
156 Wash. 2d 1 (Washington Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Thompson
51 P.3d 143 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)
State v. Floreck
43 P.3d 1264 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
108 Wash. App. 257, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hoggatt-washctapp-2001.