State v. Jones

424 P.2d 665, 70 Wash. 2d 591, 1967 Wash. LEXIS 1102
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 2, 1967
Docket38623
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 424 P.2d 665 (State v. Jones) 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. Jones, 424 P.2d 665, 70 Wash. 2d 591, 1967 Wash. LEXIS 1102 (Wash. 1967).

Opinion

Barnett, J.

By an amended information the defendants were jointly charged with robbery. The jury returned a verdict of guilty. From a judgment rendered upon the verdict defendants have appealed to this court.

The testimony produced at the trial tended to establish that at about 10 p.m., on June 10, 1965, defendant John C. Ringwood approached the owner of the Little Park Cafe, Spanaway, Pierce County, in a back room of the cafe, pointed a gun at the owner’s back and demanded the money that was in the kitchen; that defendant Richard Jones was with John Ringwood in the cafe at this time; that after Ringwood took the money he and Jones left the cafe together.

Plaintiff’s witness, Arnold W. Wiskirken, testified that he was a Washington State Trooper on June 10, 1965, and on that date received a call that the Little Park Cafe had been robbed and to be on the lookout for four subjects, two males and two females in a blue 1965 Ford. About 11 p.m. that night he and Trooper Randy C. Pepper stopped a 1965 Ford about 8 miles from the scene of the crime with four persons in it, the two appellants, John Redden and LeAnn Jones. All four were arrested. Trooper Wiskirken testified he found a .22 pistol and a rifle in the car.

B. R. Regan, a detective with the Pierce County sheriff’s office, testified that he investigated the robbery and collected certain dishes at the scene of the crime allegedly being those from which the defendants had eaten. Another witness for the prosecution testified that he lifted finger *593 prints from the dishes B. R. Regan said he found at the scene of the crime and that these fingerprints matched the fingerprints of the defendants.

The defendants’ first assignment of error is based upon the refusal of the trial court to try the defendant Jones without a jury.

On the first day of the trial and before the jury was empaneled the court was informed by counsel for Richard Jones that Jones objected to being tried by a jury. The court at that time was also informed that John Ringwood desired to proceed with a jury trial. Counsel for Jones stated to the court:

[B]ut I should also make clear for the record that until we walked into court this morning ... I was planning on a jury trial, and I knew nothing about his desires in not wanting a jury trial. Now, I think the Court should interrogate my client to make sure of his desires in this matter.
The Court: All right, I will do that. Mr. Jones, . . . . Is it my understanding that you do not desire to be tried by a jury?
Mr. Jones: No, I thought I was coming down here to be tried by a judge this morning.

The court informed the parties that he would try Jones without a jury and Ringwood with a jury, but that the trials would proceed simultaneously, whereupon defendant Jones objected to this procedure. The court then stated:

Circumstances being what they are now, the request for waiver of the jury having come only on the morning of the trial, and sensing that perhaps there is some maneuvering by someone perhaps a wee bit experienced in the ways of the law, I will now rule I will not consent to waiver to a jury trial.

The statute applicable to the question raised is RCW 10.01.060 which provides in part:

That except in capital cases, where the person informed against or indicted for a crime is represented by counsel, such person may, with the assent of the court, waive trial by jury and submit to trial by the court.

*594 Defendants admit that it is discretionary with the trial court as to whether it will or will not approve a defendant’s request to be tried without a jury. It is urged, however, that the court must exercise a judicial discretion and that there was an abuse of such discretion in this case since the trial court did not interrogate Jones or his counsel as to the reasons Jones had for requesting a nonjury trial.

The answer to this argument is that the court was willing to grant the request to be tried by the court made by Jones. The granting of such a request was only conditional upon the circumstance that the two trials proceed simultaneously. Jones objected to this procedure and lost the assent of the trial court.

We hold that there was no abuse of discretion involved in the facts as presented on this appeal. The defendants were afforded their constitutional rights to a trial by a jury of their peers. No attempt has been made to establish how they were prejudiced in a denial of a non jury trial for the defendant Jones. To justify interference by a reviewing court in cases where it is alleged that a trial court abused its discretion, proof that the discretion exercised was clearly untenable or manifestly unreasonable is required. Abel v. Abel, 47 Wn.2d 816, 289 P.2d 724 (1955) and cases therein cited. Cf. Devine v. Goggin, 69 Wn.2d 144, 417 P.2d 606 (1966).

Assignment of error No. 2 relates to the endorsement of B. R. Regan as a witness during the trial and a denial of the defendants’ motion for a continuance to meet his testimony. B. R. Regan of the Pierce County sheriff’s office was called as a witness, however, his name was not endorsed on the list of witnesses furnished the defendants. There was an endorsement of a B. R. Ryan. The state had intended to endorse the name of B. R. Regan. It appeared that the endorsement of B. R. Ryan was a typographical error. The court stated that he would permit the endorsement after the morning recess and permitted the defendants’ counsel to interview B. R. Regan during the recess. After the interview a motion for a continuance was requested by defendants, but it was denied.

*595 The defendants argue that the court erred in not granting a continuance so that they could prepare to meet the testimony of Regan, basing the request on the fact that Regan’s name was not endorsed on the witness list in compliance with RCW 10.37.030. They contend that the recess interview did not give them sufficient time.

In ruling upon the motion for a continuance the trial court said:

[I]t is not being suggested that any inquiry was made of the Prosecuting Attorney as to what the meaning of the name “Ryan” is, what is significant, and while I agree the primary duty is on the State to furnish an accurate list, the list, however, is furnished for the benefit of defense counsel so they may go and talk to the witnesses, there is nothing wrong with defense counsel talking to the witnesses ahead of time. Had they asked for further assistance of the State and been denied ... I would probably take a different view .... There is no indication that anyone asked the Prosecutor, . . . “Where can we get hold of Ryan. Who is Ryan? . . .”

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Bluebook (online)
424 P.2d 665, 70 Wash. 2d 591, 1967 Wash. LEXIS 1102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jones-wash-1967.