State v. Lee

939 P.2d 1223
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 17, 1997
Docket64212-5
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 939 P.2d 1223 (State v. Lee) 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. Lee, 939 P.2d 1223 (Wash. 1997).

Opinion

939 P.2d 1223 (1997)
132 Wash.2d 498

The STATE of Washington, Petitioner,
v.
Earl S. LEE, Respondent.

No. 64212-5.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

July 17, 1997.

*1224 Jeffrey Sullivan, Yakima County Prosecutor, Michael G. McCarthy, and Bruce Hanify, Deputy County Prosecutors, Yakima, for petitioner.

Hugh Spall, Jr., Ellensburg, for respondent.

MADSEN, Justice.

The trial court held that offenses which are part of a common plan are subject to the mandatory joinder rule of former CrR 4.3(c) and dismissed the charges in this case because they were not joined with those prosecuted in State v. Lee, 128 Wash.2d 151, 904 P.2d 1143 (1995) (Lee I). The Court of Appeals affirmed on different grounds, essentially finding that the purpose of the mandatory joinder rule would be satisfied only if joinder is required. We reverse and remand this case for trial.

FACTS

Defendant and his associate advertised in a local newspaper that they had houses for rent. The facts leading to the charges in Lee I are described in detail in that opinion. In brief, Defendant had signed an earnest money agreement to purchase a house, which he fixed up and rented prior to closing without the permission of the owner. The tenants had been solicited through newspaper advertising. Defendant failed to appear for closing. In August 1992, he was charged with criminal trespass and second degree theft of the rent. The jury acquitted him on the trespass charge and convicted him of theft. His conviction was reversed in Lee I.

The charges in the present case concern other prospective tenants who responded to the newspaper advertising. Defendant and his associate collected rent and deposits in advance in exchange for promised housing at *1225 a later date, and then failed to provide the promised housing. The prospective tenants demanded return of their money, but Defendant and his associate did not return the money. In April 1993, the State charged Defendant with first degree theft for wrongfully obtaining money from eight victims between June 1 and July 15, 1992. The State also charged Defendant with second degree theft, based upon his cashing a rent check issued by the Red Cross for a woman who became homeless in an apartment house fire. He failed to provide her with housing.

Defendant moved for dismissal of the charges for failure to join them with the charges filed in 1992 and for violation of speedy trial rights. The trial court dismissed the charges, finding that that they were related offenses subject to mandatory joinder because they all were part of a common plan or scheme. The court also determined that Defendant's speedy trial rights were violated. The State appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Although that court said that the mandatory joinder rule does not extend to offenses which are part of a common plan, the court nevertheless said the offenses were related and the State had been aware of them when it charged Defendant in 1992 for the offenses which were at issue in Lee I.

We granted the State's petition for discretionary review.

ANALYSIS

Mandatory joinder under former CrR 4.3(c)[1] is required where the offenses are "related offenses," except under certain circumstances identified in the rule. Offenses are "related" under former CrR 4.3(c)(1) "if they are within the jurisdiction and venue of the same court and are based on the same conduct." (Emphasis added.) Permissive joinder under CrR 4.3(a)(2), on the other hand, is authorized where the offenses "[a]re based ... on a series of acts connected together or constituting parts of a single scheme or plan." (Emphasis added.)

The trial court confused mandatory and permissive joinder by holding that offenses which were part of a common plan constitute "same conduct" under Washington's mandatory joinder rule, despite the fact that the permissive joinder rule expressly encompasses offenses constituting part of a single scheme or plan. The Court of Appeals correctly concluded that "[t]he rule providing for dismissal of certain related offenses for failure to join does not extend to offenses which are part of a common plan." State v. Lee, 81 Wash.App. 609, 613, 915 P.2d 1119 (1996) (Lee II).

Similar confusion of permissive and mandatory joinder standards appears in State v. Dailey, 18 Wash.App. 525, 569 P.2d 1215 (1977), which Defendant urges the court to follow. There, the Court of Appeals determined whether offenses were related by examining whether the offenses were of the same or similar character. Id. at 528, 569 P.2d 1215. However, under CrR 4.3(a)(1), permissive joinder is authorized where the offenses "[a]re of the same or similar character, even if not part of a single scheme or plan...." (Emphasis added.) In State v. Thompson, 36 Wash.App. 249, 254, 673 P.2d 630 (1983), Division One of the Court of Appeals recognized the analytical error in Dailey and held that "the Dailey case must be limited to its facts." As the court in Thompson correctly observed, "the permissive joinder provisions ... should not be turned into a mandatory test." Id. at 254, 673 P.2d 630 (emphasis omitted).

We decline to import permissive joinder standards into the mandatory joinder rule. Instead, we take this opportunity to clarify the analysis for determining what constitutes "same conduct" for purposes of the mandatory joinder rule. Only offenses based upon the "same conduct" are "related offenses."

We recently discussed the mandatory joinder rule in State v. Harris, 130 Wash.2d 35, 40, 921 P.2d 1052 (1996). In Harris we adopted the "Peterson rule" for purposes of the juvenile court speedy trial rule. In State v. Peterson, 90 Wash.2d 423, 431, 585 P.2d 66 *1226 (1978), the court held that the time within which trial must be held should be "`based on the same conduct or arising from the same criminal incident' from the time the defendant is held to answer any charge with respect to that conduct or episode." We said in Harris:

The policy behind the Peterson rule is similar to the policy behind mandatory joinder. Joinder principles are designed to protect defendants from
"successive prosecutions based upon essentially the same conduct, whether the purpose in so doing is to hedge against the risk of an unsympathetic jury at the first trial, to place a `hold' upon a person after he has been sentenced to imprisonment, or simply to harass by multiplicity of trials."
[State v.] McNeil, [20 Wash.App. 527,] 532, [582 P.2d 524] (1978). The Peterson rule prevents prosecutors from harassing a defendant by bringing successive charges over a long span of time even though all charges stem from the same criminal episode.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Washington v. Darren Stanley Harris
533 P.3d 135 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2023)
Personal Restraint Petition Of: Domanique Jamal Moore
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2022
State of Washington v. Tommy D. Canfield
463 P.3d 755 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2020)
State Of Washington v. Jonathan D. Harris
422 P.3d 482 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2018)
State Of Washington v. Dougnyl Akeang
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2017
State Of Washington, Resp. v. David Solomona, App.
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2014
State v. SHELMIDINE
269 P.3d 362 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2012)
State v. Green
230 P.3d 654 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
State v. Gamble
168 Wash. 2d 161 (Washington Supreme Court, 2010)
State v. Ashue
188 P.3d 522 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2008)
State v. Korum
157 Wash. 2d 614 (Washington Supreme Court, 2006)
State v. Silva
127 Wash. App. 148 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2005)
State v. Ramos
124 Wash. App. 334 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)
State v. Harris
123 Wash. App. 906 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)
State v. Downing
93 P.3d 900 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)
State v. Moen
150 Wash. 2d 221 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Kindsvogel
149 Wash. 2d 477 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Watson
51 P.3d 66 (Washington Supreme Court, 2002)
State v. Misquadace
644 N.W.2d 65 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2002)
State v. Kindsvogel
43 P.3d 73 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
939 P.2d 1223, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lee-wash-1997.