State v. Kindsvogel

43 P.3d 73, 110 Wash. App. 750
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 2, 2002
DocketNo. 20213-5-III
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 43 P.3d 73 (State v. Kindsvogel) 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. Kindsvogel, 43 P.3d 73, 110 Wash. App. 750 (Wash. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Schultheis, J.

— During an investigation of a domestic violence report, the victim showed police officers a marijuana grow operation in her house. The victim’s husband, Kirk Kindsvogel, was arrested and charged with fourth degree assault (domestic violence). Several months after Mr. Kindsvogel pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, he was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to manufacture. He moved to dismiss the marijuana charges for violation of his right to speedy trial. The motion was denied and Mr. Kindsvogel was convicted on stipulated facts of manufacture of a controlled substance — marijuana.

On appeal, Mr. Kindsvogel contends the time for trial period for the marijuana charges began to run when he was arraigned on the assault charge. He bases this argument on policies established in the application of CrR 3.3 and on Washington court decisions. Because we find that the two charges arose from the same criminal episode and that the [753]*753State unreasonably delayed bringing the marijuana charge, we reverse and dismiss.

Facts

The trial court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law in its denial of Mr. Kindsvogel’s motion to dismiss. In the body of its response brief, the State challenges some of these findings. Because the State did not file a notice of cross-appeal and did not assign error to the findings, this court is precluded from considering the State’s factual allegations. RAP 5.1(d); RAP 10.3(a)(3); State v. Vanderpool, 99 Wn. App. 709, 714, 995 P.2d 104 (2000). At any rate, most of the following facts are taken from police reports that were filed as supplemental records for this appeal.

On May 12, 2000, Sergeant Dave McCabe of the Spokane Police Department was off duty. He received a telephone call at his home from a family friend, Liana Kindsvogel. Ms. Kindsvogel told Sergeant McCabe that her husband had assaulted her and that he had a marijuana grow operation hidden in the basement of their home. Sergeant McCabe called in a report of domestic violence and marijuana manufacture. Two county sheriff’s deputies responded and agreed to meet Sergeant McCabe at the residence. As the officers met on the front lawn, Mr. Kindsvogel arrived in his car and was detained while the officers investigated the domestic violence call. Ms. Kindsvogel let all of the men into the home, took officers to the basement grow operation, and consented to a search of the house. Eventually Mr. Kindsvogel was arrested and read his Miranda1 rights. He waived his rights and admitted he was growing marijuana. Officers confiscated 26 plants. One week later, laboratory results confirmed that the plants were marijuana.

The record does not show when domestic violence charges were filed against Mr. Kindsvogel in district court, but he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on September 8, 2000. Over four months later, on January 16, 2001, the State filed [754]*754an information in superior court charging Mr. Kindsvogel with one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture, RCW 69.50.401. He moved to dismiss before trial, arguing that the State violated his rights to mandatory joinder and speedy trial. The trial court found that the domestic violence charge and the controlled substance charge could have been joined permissively, and that the delay in filing the drug charge was prejudicial. However, the court denied the motion, concluding that the criminal acts had no “relationship” and were dissimilar in nature. Clerk’s Papers at 16. Mr. Kindsvogel was found guilty of the charge on stipulated facts and now appeals.

Analysis

Mr. Kindsvogel confines his appeal to the issue of speedy trial limits. He contends that both the domestic violence charge and the manufacture of marijuana charge arose from the same criminal episode. Citing State v. Peterson, 90 Wn.2d 423, 431, 585 P.2d 66 (1978) and State v. Harris, 130 Wn.2d 35, 44,921 P.2d 1052 (1996), he asserts that the time for trial period began on the date he was held to answer on the first of these charges.

CrR 3.3 provides that a defendant has a right to be brought to trial within 90 days of the arraignment if the defendant is not held in custody, or within 60 days if incarcerated during that period. The State is primarily responsible for seeing that the defendant is tried in a timely manner, although the trial court is ultimately responsible for enforcing the speedy trial rule. State v. Ross, 98 Wn. App. 1, 4, 981 P.2d 888, 990 P.2d 962 (1999). In bringing the defendant to trial, the prosecution must uphold its duty in good faith and with due diligence. Id. The failure to comply with the speedy trial rules requires dismissal, whether or not the defendant can show prejudice. Id. at 5.

CrR 3.3 does not address those situations wherein multiple charges arise from the same criminal conduct or criminal episode. Consequently, in Peterson, 90 Wn.2d at [755]*755431, the Supreme Court looked to American Bar Association (ABA) standards to supplement the rule. Mr. Peterson was charged in district court with assault for shooting at police officers as he ran from a bank robbery. He was then tried and convicted on federal bank robbery charges. The State did not pursue the original assault charge. Two years after the federal conviction, he was charged in state superior court with two new assault charges that stemmed from the same shooting incident. Applying what is now 2 ABA, Standards for Criminal Justice std. 12-2.2 (2d ed. 1980), Peterson held that the time for trial period for all crimes based on the same conduct or arising from the same criminal incident should begin whenever the defendant is held to answer any charge with respect to that conduct or episode. Peterson, 90 Wn.2d at 431. Recent cases have reinforced the viability of the Peterson rule. See, e.g., State v. Lee, 132 Wn.2d 498, 502-03, 939 P.2d 1223 (1997); Harris, 130 Wn.2d at 39-40; Ross, 98 Wn. App. at 5.

The key question is what constitutes “conduct involving a single criminal incident or episode.” Lee, 132 Wn.2d at 503 (applying the Peterson rule to mandatory joinder). According to Lee, this conduct includes all offenses based on the same series of physical acts, or a series of acts constituting the same criminal episode. Id. These acts “could span a period of time and involve more than one place, such as one continuous criminal episode involving a robbery, kidnapping, and assault on one victim occurring over many hours or even days.” Id. at 504. Usually the offenses will have been committed close in time or space. Id. at 503. A typical example is the vehicular stop that results in charges for a driving violation and a separate offense based on evidence discovered during the search incident to the arrest. See, e.g., Ross, 98 Wn. App. 1; Harris, 130 Wn.2d 35.

The defendant in Ross

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Related

State v. Kindsvogel
149 Wash. 2d 477 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
43 P.3d 73, 110 Wash. App. 750, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kindsvogel-washctapp-2002.