State v. Knutz

161 Wash. App. 395
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 20, 2011
DocketNo. 39925-3-II
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 161 Wash. App. 395 (State v. Knutz) 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. Knutz, 161 Wash. App. 395 (Wash. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Hunt, J.

¶1 — Lisa Renee Knutz appeals her jury conviction and exceptional sentence for first degree theft with aggravating factors. She argues that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury more specifically on the “reliance” element of first degree theft, failing to give a Petrich1 unanimity instruction, and imposing a clearly excessive sentence. We affirm.

FACTS

I. Theft by Fraud from Senior Citizen

¶2 Robert J. Von Gruenigen is a retired music professor from Ohio State University. In 2005, at age 75, Von [399]*399Gruenigen moved to an “assisted living home” in Seattle. I Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRP) at 75. Soon thereafter he met Lisa Renee Knutz. On December 8, 2005, he loaned Knutz $470 in cash, the first of many such cash loans,2 which totaled approximately $347,000 between December 8, 2005, and April 2, 2008.

¶3 According to Von Gruenigen, Knutz requested these cash loans for a variety of reasons: “traffic fine,” I VRP at 82; “to open a bank account,” I VRP at 83; “gas,” I VRP at 85; “welfare penalty” VRP at 94; replacement of a previous cash loan from Von Gruenigen that was missing or stolen; medical bills; and bail. Between October 1,2007, and March 7, 2008, Von Gruenigen provided Knutz with 43 cash loans, all but one of which exceeded $2,000:3 for example, one loan was for $20,000. Another large loan was for $11,500, “to reimburse [Knutz’s] landlord so that [Knutz] wouldn’t be in legal trouble” because of “vandalism.” I VRP at 106. On March 17 and 18,2008, Von Gruenigen provided Knutz with $13,700 and $10,000, respectively, when Knutz told Von Gruenigen that she had cancer and needed an operation.

¶4 “Only once in a while” did Von Gruenigen ask Knutz for documented proof of her alleged purchases or bills. I VRP at 87. He asked questions about her purchases only “sometimes.” I VRP at 88. According to Von Gruenigen, despite some suspicions, he did not ask more questions or demand more proof because “I guess I believed her.” I VRP at 89.

¶5 Although Von Gruenigen eventually stopped believing that Knutz would repay him, he continued to provide her cash out of fear that, if he stopped, she would go to prison, and would then be unable to take care of her siblings, whose parents, Knutz had said, were incarcerated. Von Gruenigen also believed that Knutz had given birth to [400]*400triplets, one of whom had died, one of whom Knutz had relinquished for adoption, and one of whom Knutz had kept and cared for. Knutz did repay some of the loans by performing tasks for Von Gruenigen such as hanging pictures, and driving him around in her car. The last cash transfer from Von Gruenigen to Knutz occurred on April 2, 2008. He stopped giving Knutz money in April 2008 after a person at his assisted living home told him that Knutz might be taking advantage of him.

¶6 On April 9, 2008, Centraba Police Department Detective Patrick F. Beall received a report from Adult Protective Services that Von Gruenigen had provided Knutz with $50,000 for the costs of surgery. Centraba Police Department Detectives Beall and Buster4 arrived at Knutz’s residence while she was exiting her vehicle in the driveway. Knutz invited the detectives into her home. After Beall asked about her surgery, Knutz started crying and admitted to having bed to Von Gruenigen about the surgery in order to obtain money. She told Beall and Buster she had given some of the money to her father, a methamphetamine addict, and to her boyfriend, also a drug addict with a “gambling problem.” I VRP at 217. She admitted to Beall that she had bed to Von Gruenigen to obtain money from him.

II. Procedure

¶7 The State charged Knutz with first degree theft under RCW 9A.56.030(l)(a) and RCW 9A.56.020(l)(b), alleging the following aggravating factors:

[A]t the time of the commission of said offense, the defendant knew or should have known that the victim of the current offense was particularly vulnerable or incapable o[f] resistance, thus adding to defendant’s offender score pursuant to [former] RCW 9.94A.5[3]5(3)(b) [(2008)].
[401]*401[T]he commission of said offense was a major economic offense or series of offenses in that the offense involved multiple victims or multiple incidents per victim, thus adding to defendant’s offender score pursuant to [former] 9.94A.535(3)(d)(i) [(2008)].
[T]he commission of said offense was a major economic offense or series of offenses in that the offense involved attempted or actual monetary loss substantially greater than typical for the offense, thus adding to defendant’s offender score pursuant to [former] RCW 9.94A.535(3)(d)(ii) [(2008)].

Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 28-29.

¶8 The “to convict” instruction provided:

To convict the defendant of the crime of theft in the first degree, each of the following four elements of the crime must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt:
(1) That on or about and between January 1,2005 and March 30, 2008 the defendant by color or aid of deception, obtained control over property or services of another, to wit: money belonging to Robert J. Von Gruenigen, or the value thereof; and
(2) That the property exceeded $1500 in value;
(3) That the defendant intended to deprive the other person of the property;
and
(4) That this act occurred in the State of Washington.
If you find from the evidence that elements (1), (2), (3), and (4), have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, then it will be your duty to return a verdict of guilty.
On the other hand, if, after weighing all of the evidence, you have a reasonable doubt as to any one of the elements (1), (2), (3) or (4), then it will be your duty to return a verdict of not guilty.

CP at 37 (Jury Instruction 4) (emphasis added).

¶9 The trial court also instructed the jury on the definition of “theft” “by color or aid of deception,” CP at 38 (Jury Instruction 5), 39 (Jury Instruction 6), which the trial court defined as follows:

[402]*402[DJeception occurs when an actor knowingly creates or confirms another’s false impression that the actor knows to be false, or fails to correct another’s impression that the actor previously has created or confirmed, or prevents another from acquiring information material to the disposition of the property involved, or promises performance that the actor does not intend to perform or knows will not be performed.

CP at 40 (Jury Instruction 7). Knutz did not ask the trial court to instruct the jury that it must be unanimous as to the method she used to deceive or to obtain the money from Von Gruenigen.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
161 Wash. App. 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-knutz-washctapp-2011.