State v. La Porte

365 P.2d 24, 58 Wash. 2d 816, 1961 Wash. LEXIS 369
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 28, 1961
Docket35250
StatusPublished
Cited by67 cases

This text of 365 P.2d 24 (State v. La Porte) 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. La Porte, 365 P.2d 24, 58 Wash. 2d 816, 1961 Wash. LEXIS 369 (Wash. 1961).

Opinions

[818]*818Weaver, J.

This appeal presents four assignments of error: first, defendant was twice placed in jeopardy on Count I of the information; second, certain statements made during trial by the deputy prosecuting attorney constituted prejudicial error; third, four instructions given were erroneous; and fourth, the court erred when it refused to give seven of defendant’s requested instructions.

February 7, 1958, defendant was charged in justice court with the crime of grand larceny — that he “did take, steal and carry away from the person of one Michael Joyce, certain personal property” — on or about February 2, 1958. March 17, 1958, the charge was reduced to petit larceny; defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in the county jail, with credit for time served.

May 15, 1959, defendant was charged in two counts with second-degree assault — the first, committed upon Michael Joyce, on or about February 5,1958, “by forcefully touching his person, with intent to commit a felony, to-wit, Robbery;” the second, committed upon Daniel Quiputla, with the same intent.

The charge of second-degree assault committed against Michael Joyce encompasses the acts of defendant used to support the previous charge of petit larceny, to which defendant pleaded guilty and for which he served a jail sentence.

Has defendant been in double jeopardy? We do not think so.

Double jeopardy does not exist where a defendant stands charged with different offenses, even though they arise out of the same act. State v. Boren, 42 Wn. (2d) 155, 164, 253 P. (2d) 939 (1953), and cases cited.

Double jeopardy does exist if the offenses are identical, or if a lesser offense can be said to be “a constituent element in the perpetration of the greater offense.” State v. Campbell, 40 Wash. 480, 483, 82 Pac. 752 (1905). However, the offenses must be identical in both fact and law. State v. Barton, 5 Wn. (2d) 234, 105 P. (2d) 63 (1940); State v. [819]*819Kingsbury, 147 Wash. 426, 266 Pac. 174 (1928); see State v. Schoel, 54 Wn. (2d) 388, 341 P. (2d) 481 (1959).

The offenses involved in the instant case do not meet this test.

Second-degree assault, insofar as it is here applicable, is defined by statute.

“Every person who, under circumstances not amounting to assault in the first degree—

“(6) Shall assault another with intent to commit a felony, . . .

“Shall be guilty of assault in the second degree and be punished by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not more than ten years or by fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or both.” RCW 9.11.020.

RCW 9.54.010 defines larceny in general; RCW 9.54.090 sets forth specific acts constituting grand larceny and provides:

“Every other larceny shall be petit larceny and shall be a gross misdemeanor.”

Defendant pleaded guilty to petit larceny.

The gravamen of assault in the second degree is assault with intent to commit a felony; petit larceny is a taking of property.

The crimes are not identical in law; hence, defendant has not been in double jeopardy.

Defendant assigns error to six statements made by the deputy prosecuting attorney — one in his opening statement to the jury, the remainder in his closing argument — claiming they were prejudicial and denied him a fair trial.

The most recent statement of the rule applicable to this assignment of error is found in State v. Cogswell, 54 Wn. (2d) 240, 242, 339 P. (2d) 465 (1959), wherein this court said:

“As a general rule, this court will not consider an assignment of error based upon alleged misconduct of a prosecuting attorney unless the aggrieved party has 'made timely objection and requested an instruction that the jury disregard the incident. State v. Taylor, 47 Wn. (2d) 213, 287 [820]*820P. (2d) 298 (1955). An exception to the rule is found in those cases where the misconduct has been so flagrant that an instruction could not cure it. State v. Case, 49 Wn. (2d) 66, 72, 298 P. (2d) 500 (1956), and cases cited. If such be the case, then the aggrieved party has not received a fair trial. See Ryan v. Ryan, 48 Wn. (2d) 593, 600, 295 P. (2d) 1111 (1956).” (Quoted with approval in State v. Bowman, 57 Wn. (2d) 266, 271, 356 P. (2d) 999 (1960).)

When the trial opened, the court told the jury, all of whom had had previous jury experience, that the opening statements of counsel were not to be considered “as testimony or evidence of any facts stated.”

The deputy prosecuting attorney, in his opening statement, reiterated that “nothing that we say is evidence.” He then gave a general outline of the facts the state expected to prove and closed by saying:

“After the evidence is in and under the instructions of the Court, I do not see how you folks, after careful deliberation, can reach any verdict other than guilty on both counts of assault in the second degree.”

At the end of the trial, the deputy prosecutor reviewed the evidence and closed his opening argument to the jury with these words:

“The issues you have to resolve are very simple, but we believe there is sufficient evidence here so that you can resolve the issues, and if you consider the evidence fully, we believe that the evidence does justify a verdict of guilty on each count.”

On both occasions, defense counsel objected to the expression of personal opinion by the deputy prosecutor and moved for a mistrial. On the same occasions, the court cautioned counsel that he could not argue his personal beliefs to the jury and instructed it to disregard these particular statements.

There is a distinction between the individual opinion of the prosecuting attorney (discussed at length in State v. Case, 49 Wn. (2d) 66, 298 P. (2d) 500 (1956)) and “an opinion based upon or deduced from the testimony in the [821]*821case.” State v. Armstrong, 37 Wash. 51, 55, 79 Pac. 490 (1905).

When read in context, the quoted statements fall into the second category. Any prejudice resulting from them, however, was removed by the court’s instruction that they be disregarded.

Defendant’s counsel made no objections to three statements of the deputy prosecutor to which error is now assigned. Conceding arguendo that they were erroneous, the exception to the rule is not applicable, for, when read in context, the statements were not so flagrant that an instruction could not have cured the error. See State v. Case, supra.

The final statement of the deputy prosecutor, to which defendant now assigns error, arose in the following manner. After the jury had retired to consider its verdict, defense counsel addressed the court as follows:

“May it please the Court, using the famous Case case, . . . [49 Wn. (2d) 66, 298 P. (2d) 500 (1956)] I would again object to counsel’s argument that the State urges that the defendant he sent to the penitentiary.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
365 P.2d 24, 58 Wash. 2d 816, 1961 Wash. LEXIS 369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-la-porte-wash-1961.