State v. Jacobs

115 P.3d 281
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 7, 2005
Docket75436-5
StatusPublished

This text of 115 P.3d 281 (State v. Jacobs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jacobs, 115 P.3d 281 (Wash. 2005).

Opinion

115 P.3d 281 (2005)

STATE of Washington, Respondent,
v.
James Allen JACOBS, Petitioner.
State of Washington, Respondent,
v.
Kathy Ann Austin-Bocanegra, Petitioner.

No. 75436-5.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued February 27, 2005.
Decided July 7, 2005.

*282 Thomas Edward Doyle, Hansville, Patricia Anne Pethick, Tacoma, for Petitioner.

Steven Curtis Sherman, Allyn, for Respondent.

FAIRHURST, J.

¶ 1 Codefendants James Allen Jacobs and Kathy Ann Austin-Bocanegra were convicted of manufacturing a controlled substance. The jury also returned two special verdicts finding that they committed the crime while a person under 18 was present and that they manufactured a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop. The sentencing judge imposed two 24-month sentence enhancements based on those findings and applied them consecutively. Petitioners challenge their sentences, arguing that former RCW 9.94A.510 (2001),[1]recodified as RCW 9.94A.533(6),[2] only intends one 24-month sentence enhancement where these circumstances are present and, alternatively, that even if both may be applied, they must run concurrently.

¶ 2 Without deciding whether RCW 9.94A.533(6) allows for two 24-month enhancements, we hold that it is ambiguous as to whether the enhancements should be applied concurrently or consecutively. Under the rule of lenity, we must interpret the statute in favor of concurrent sentences. We reverse the Court of Appeals decision to the contrary, vacate the sentences, and remand for resentencing to include no more than 24-months of sentence enhancement.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 3 For allegedly conducting a methamphetamine lab in their mobile home with their infant child present, Austin-Bocanegra and Jacobs were charged as codefendants with manufacturing a controlled substance *283 within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop, while a person under 18 was present in or upon the premises (count I), and criminal mistreatment in the second degree (count II). A jury convicted each of manufacturing a controlled substance but found them not guilty of criminal mistreatment. The jury also returned two special verdicts that the crime was (1) committed within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop, (2) while a person under 18 was present in or upon the premises. Each special verdict supported a 24-month enhancement.

¶ 4 Based on his offender score of zero, the standard range sentence for Jacobs would have been 51-68 months. After applying the two 24-month enhancements, the judge concluded that the applicable range was 99-116 months and sentenced Jacobs to 107.5 months. Based on Austin-Bocanegra's offender score of 7, her standard range sentence would have been 108-144 months. After applying the two 24-month enhancements, the range was 156-192 months. But the sentencing judge imposed a lesser sentence of 87 months, which was half of the midpoint of that range according to the drug offender sentencing alternative, RCW 9.94A.660.

¶ 5 Jacobs and Austin-Bocanegra appealed, arguing, among other things, that the sentence enhancements were incorrectly applied. In an opinion initially unpublished,[3] the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court, holding in pertinent part that the trial court did not err in applying two consecutive 24-month sentence enhancements. State v. Jacobs, 121 Wash.App. 669, 683, 89 P.3d 232 (2004). Jacobs and Austin-Bocanegra subsequently petitioned this court for review. We granted review of only one issue, "whether the sentencing court properly added two consecutive sentence enhancements to the standard range" and consolidated the two cases. State v. Jacobs, No. 75436-5, Order (Dec. 1, 2004).

II. ISSUE

¶ 6 Did the sentencing court properly add two consecutive sentence enhancements to the standard range sentences at issue here?

III. ANALYSIS

¶ 7 We are asked to interpret RCW 9.94A.533. Statutory interpretation involves questions of law that we review de novo. Dep't of Ecology v. Campbell & Gwinn, L.L.C., 146 Wash.2d 1, 9, 43 P.3d 4 (2002). In construing a statute, the court's objective is to determine the legislature's intent. Id. "[I]f the statute's meaning is plain on its face, then the court must give effect to that plain meaning as an expression of legislative intent." Id. at 9-10, 43 P.3d 4. The "plain meaning" of a statutory provision is to be discerned from the ordinary meaning of the language at issue, as well as from the context of the statute in which that provision is found, related provisions, and the statutory scheme as a whole. Wash. Pub. Ports Ass'n v. Dep't of Revenue, 148 Wash.2d 637, 645, 62 P.3d 462 (2003); Campbell & Gwinn, 146 Wash.2d at 10-12, 43 P.3d 4. If after that examination, the provision is still subject to more than one reasonable interpretation, it is ambiguous. Id. If a statute is ambiguous, the rule of lenity requires us to interpret the statute in favor of the defendant absent legislative intent to the contrary. In re Post Sentencing Review of Charles, 135 Wash.2d 239, 249, 955 P.2d 798 (1998); State v. Roberts, 117 Wash.2d 576, 585, 817 P.2d 855 (1991).

¶ 8 RCW 9.94A.533(6) states: "twenty-four months shall be added to the standard sentence range for any ranked offense involving a violation of chapter 69.50 RCW [the Uniform Controlled Substances Act] if the offense was also a violation of RCW 69.50.435[[4]] or 9.94A.605.[[5]]" Here, there was *284 a violation of RCW 69.50.435(1)(c) and RCW 9.94A.605. At least one 24-month enhancement, and possibly two, apply to this fact situation. However, we need not decide whether two 24-month enhancements may be imposed where both RCW 69.50.435

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Related

State v. Roberts
817 P.2d 855 (Washington Supreme Court, 1991)
Childers v. Childers
575 P.2d 201 (Washington Supreme Court, 1978)
In the Matter of Charles
955 P.2d 798 (Washington Supreme Court, 1998)
State v. DeSantiago
68 P.3d 1065 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
In Re the Detention Swanson
793 P.2d 962 (Washington Supreme Court, 1990)
State v. Jacobs
89 P.3d 232 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)
State, Dept. of Ecology v. Campbell & Gwinn
43 P.3d 4 (Washington Supreme Court, 2002)
State v. Lewis
135 Wash. 2d 239 (Washington Supreme Court, 1998)
Department of Ecology v. Campbell & Gwinn, L.L.C.
146 Wash. 2d 1 (Washington Supreme Court, 2002)
Washington Public Ports Ass'n v. Department of Revenue
62 P.3d 462 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. DeSantiago
149 Wash. 2d 402 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Jacobs
115 P.3d 281 (Washington Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Jacobs
121 Wash. App. 669 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
115 P.3d 281, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jacobs-wash-2005.