State v. McFarland

867 P.2d 660, 73 Wash. App. 57
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 22, 1994
Docket14272-4-II
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 867 P.2d 660 (State v. McFarland) 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. McFarland, 867 P.2d 660, 73 Wash. App. 57 (Wash. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

Petrich, J. *

— James McFarland appeals his convictions for burglary in the first degree, kidnap in the first degree, attempted robbery in the first degree, and as a felon in possession of a short firearm. He complains of prosecutorial misconduct, the failure to merge the crimes, and the insufficiency of the evidence. In his pro se brief, McFarland claims he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney failed to challenge the legality of his arrest, which led to the seizure of inculpatory evidence, and failed to allow him to testify in his own behalf. We affirm.

*60 At about 10:30, on April 23,1990, two masked men armed with sawed-off shotguns demanded entry into the home of Alan and Suzanne Rogers on South Yakima Avenue in Tacoma. Once in the home, they forced Alan and Suzanne to the living room floor at gunpoint while demanding money. Suzanne’s mother, a recent stroke victim, was allowed to sit in a chair. When Alan responded that he did not have any money, the man standing over him, Pat Flick, kicked him in the ribs. Alan then unwillingly got up and went with the gunman into the dining room and thence to the kitchen. The gunman hit Alan on the side of the head with his shotgun, after which the gunman threatened to shoot him if he did not tell where the money was kept. After giving the gunman his wallet, Alan looked out from the kitchen into the living room. Without warning, the gunman hit him again on the back of the head with the shotgun and shoved him into the bedroom. The gunman then gave Alan 4 seconds with which to come up with the money or he would kill him. After pleading with the gunman, Alan grabbed a plastic bucket filled with change off his nightstand. He approached the gunman with the bucket, slid his hand into the bucket, pulled a small handgun out of it, grabbed onto the gunman’s shotgun, and using the handgun, fatally shot him. Alan then went out to the living room only to face the second gunman, who after facing down Alan, backed out of the house. Somehow Suzanne had already escaped and was outside the house screaming for help. The second gunman fired his shotgun twice from the porch into the house, then rolled over the gate and eventually escaped down the alley between Yakima and Park Avenues.

The police arrived with a K-9 unit, which they used to follow the gunman’s scent. They found a ski mask and tracked the scent to the end of the alley, where the gunman had apparently escaped in a car as evidenced by fresh tire tracks and a fresh oil leak. Several witnesses described the second gunman as about 6 feet tall, weighing 200 to 220 pounds and wearing dark clothing.

*61 The police arrested James McFarland the next day, believing that he was the previously unidentified second gunman. Detective Lynch, who was providing surveillance of McFarland’s residence, saw McFarland leave. Lynch, believing he had probable cause to arrest McFarland, radioed for assistance from uniformed officers, who stopped McFarland at 48th and Yakima, ordered him out of the car and onto the ground, arrested and handcuffed him, impounded his car, and took him to the police station. Detective O’Malley, who headed the investigation, interrogated McFarland. After reading McFarland his Miranda 1 warnings, O’Malley learned that McFarland had been with Flick until about 10:30 the night of the robbery. According to O’Malley, McFarland claimed to have gone with Flick to Flick’s parents’ house at about 9:30 where they drank a few beers and examined two shotguns. Flick then injected heroin and made a phone call, and then they left about 10:30. From there, the two men went to the 38th Street Pub Tavern, where Flick, carrying the two shotguns with him, transferred to another vehicle driven by a large white male. McFarland claims to have gone home, gotten a bite to eat, called his wife and gone to bed. His mother claims he arrived home between 10:40 and 10:45. She remembers the time because she was waiting for the television show "The Love Connection” to come on the air and had time to wash her hair first.

The ski mask that the police officers found in the alley contained eye holes, hair, and blood. Subsequent to McFarland’s arrest and detention, the crime lab ran several tests on the blood and determined that the blood on the hat matched McFarland’s blood to the degree that they could say only .4 percent of the population would have those blood characteristics. The detectives also learned that the location of the blood on the hat matched the location of a laceration on the back of McFarland’s head. The police did not test McFarland’s hair.

*62 The State charged McFarland with first degree burglary, kidnapping, and attempted robbery, and as a felon with possession of a short firearm. After a CrR 3.5 hearing, the trial court found admissible McFarland’s statements to Detective O’Malley made during an interview the day of the arrest. It, however, suppressed other statements McFarland made during trips to Tacoma General Hospital for the purpose of giving hair and blood samples, and for a scalp examination. Trial counsel challenged the State’s efforts to obtain this physical evidence on grounds that it violated McFarland’s right against self-incrimination and that there was insufficient probable cause to believe it was material evidence. Trial counsel did not move to suppress any of the evidence based on an illegal arrest.

Prosecutorial Misconduct

McFarland contends that certain prosecutorial comments during the State’s closing argument denied him a fair trial. No objections were raised during the State’s argument and McFarland did not request curative instructions.

Absent objection to improper remarks during closing argument, "the issue of prosecutorial misconduct cannot be raised on appeal unless the misconduct is 'so flagrant and ill intentioned that no curative instructions could have obviated the prejudice engendered by the misconduct.’ ” State v. Ziegler, 114 Wn.2d 533, 540, 789 P.2d 79 (1990) (quoting State v. Belgarde, 110 Wn.2d 504, 507, 755 P.2d 174 (1988)).

In Ziegler, the court ruled that the "prosecutor’s remarks were not so flagrant that curative instructions could not have obviated any prejudice created” where no objections were made. 114 Wn.2d at 540. See also State v. Lord, 117 Wn.2d 829, 887, 822 P.2d 177 (1991) (prosecutor’s exchange of vulgarities with defendant outside presence of jury insufficient to warrant new trial), cert. denied, 113 S. Ct. 164 (1992); State v. Fowler, 114 Wn.2d 59, 785 P.2d 808 (1990) (prosecutorial argument of evidence not at issue, though "highly inappropriate”, could have been cured with instruction and, therefore, not flagrant or ill intentioned); State v. Neslund, 50 Wn. App. *63 531, 749 P.2d 725 (prosecutorial remark, which may have raised suspicions about defense counsel’s integrity, did not prejudice defendant), review denied, 110 Wn.2d 1025 (1988); State v. York, 50 Wn. App.

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Bluebook (online)
867 P.2d 660, 73 Wash. App. 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mcfarland-washctapp-1994.