State v. Holland

635 P.2d 142, 30 Wash. App. 366, 1981 Wash. App. LEXIS 2705
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedSeptember 28, 1981
Docket8514-0-I
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 635 P.2d 142 (State v. Holland) 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. Holland, 635 P.2d 142, 30 Wash. App. 366, 1981 Wash. App. LEXIS 2705 (Wash. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

Callow, J.

— Daniel Holland appeals from a juvenile *368 court order declining jurisdiction and a superior court jury conviction of murder in the second degree and rape in the second degree.

On August 14, 1979, the body of ll-year-old Ruth Spencer was found by her brother in a shallow grave near the family's home. She had been shot through the head with a .22 caliber rifle and there was evidence of sexual intercourse. The defendant, Ruth's 16-year-old cousin, was living with the Spencers at the time and admitted to them that he was to blame. The police were called and Holland was taken into custody, where he gave a statement concerning the matter.

Holland was arraigned in juvenile court and charged with murder in the first degree, rape in the first degree, and statutory rape in the second degree. A juvenile court probation counselor was assigned as Holland's caseworker. Pursuant to RCW 13.40.110(1)(a), 1 the State filed a motion to decline juvenile court jurisdiction and remand the case for criminal prosecution as an adult. The juvenile court caseworker was ordered by the juvenile court to arrange for psychological or psychiatric evaluations to aid the court in its determination whether to decline jurisdiction. Evaluations were conducted by Drs. Gordon Carlson, James McDermott, and Irwin Dreiblatt, all of whom met with Holland at least once before preparing their reports. Holland's attorney had advised him to speak freely with the professionals, which, to varying degrees, Holland did. He told Dr. Dreiblatt that he pointed the gun intentionally at Ruth, but that the shooting was unintended. Dr. Carlson and Dr. McDermott were told that the sexual intercourse *369 was consensual and that the shooting was accidental when he tripped over a box.

At the decline hearing, testimony was presented establishing that, if Holland remained in the juvenile justice system, he could be released from custody in as little as 19 V2 months, and in no event would he be confined beyond his 21st birthday. Were Holland prosecuted as an adult, he would be eligible for parole no sooner than 13 years and 4 months after sentencing, when he would be about 30 years old. There was a general consensus among those testifying that the juvenile justice system would afford Holland superior rehabilitative services than would the adult system.

The three mental health professionals retained to examine Holland rendered their professional evaluations, testifying as to his mental health, possible danger to society, potential for treatment, and the comparative availability of treatment facilities in the juvenile and adult corrections programs. Their evaluations can generally be summarized by the conclusions of Dr. Dreiblatt:

A. I think without question Dan is an extremely immature, intellectually limited youngster, who comes from a very erratic and deprived environment. As has been mentioned before, a juvenile in every sense of the word, and in that sense, I believe should be dealt with in the juvenile system and would require that kind of intervention and treatment to have any hopes of profiting in the years to come and with any success. I think, as a very limited juvenile, would [fare] very badly in the adult system, that that would be a destructive influence upon him, that he would likely not receive constructive assistance, so in that sense I strongly feel that his needs are such, that he would best be treated in the juvenile system. The other side of the dilemma is that, given the violent nature of the offense, his inability at this point to try to confront that in a way that would give us some better indication of the nature of that act and how he may deal with it in the years to come, and his limited capabilities make me very concerned about his — about the safety of this youngster being in the community without any restrictions four years hence.
*370 Q. Are you able to give this Court any kind of assurance that he will be safe? That he will be safe to be at large in the community in four years?
A. I cannot. .

When the State moved to admit the written reports of the three doctors, counsel for Holland objected to their admissibility in the juvenile's legal file. The juvenile court sustained the objection because the reports were duplicated in the social file, and then ordered the exhibits sealed. 2 Holland's attorney reiterated that the basis for his motion was that much of the testimony relevant to the decline hearing would not be admissible during the adult trial.

In its oral decision, the juvenile court declined jurisdiction and transferred the matter to the adult court. 3

*371 RCW 13.40.110(3) requires that the juvenile court enter written findings of fact supporting its decision. The written findings in this case consisted merely of a standardized form upon which the court checked off those reasons it found to support its conclusion. Holland had previously stipulated to the sufficiency of the evidence as to all counts charged in the information, and this box was checked. The only other finding marked by the court was that "[t]he protection of the community requires a decline due to the seriousness of the alleged offense(s), which was/were committed in an aggressive, violent, premediated [sic] or willful manner."

Prior to trial in superior court, the statement Holland gave to police the evening of the incident was suppressed. The State dismissed count 3, statutory rape in the second degree. Holland made a motion in limine to exclude all inculpatory statements made to Dr. Dreiblatt. The trial *372 court reserved ruling on the motion until the issue arose at trial.

In his opening statement to the jury, counsel for Holland made three separate references to his intention to call all three doctors to testify as to Holland's emotional problems and lack of maturity. In its case in chief, the State did not call the doctors or refer to their reports. After the State rested, Holland was called to testify on his own behalf and recount his version of the incident. On cross-examination, the State extensively questioned Holland, over his objection, about his earlier statements to the doctors. The State also introduced a document, entitled "My Thoughts," which was an inculpatory statement Holland made, under Dr. Dreiblatt's direction, concerning the incident. Holland also called Drs. McDermott and Carlson to the stand. In rebuttal, the State called Dr. Dreiblatt to illustrate inconsistencies in Holland's testimony and underscore that Holland did not assert to Dreiblatt that the shooting was accidental. Unlike Drs. Carlson and McDermott, Dr. Dreiblatt was never questioned about his professional evaluation of Holland's mental health or emotional maturity.

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Bluebook (online)
635 P.2d 142, 30 Wash. App. 366, 1981 Wash. App. LEXIS 2705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-holland-washctapp-1981.