State v. McSorley

116 P.3d 431
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 26, 2005
Docket31297-2-II
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 116 P.3d 431 (State v. McSorley) 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. McSorley, 116 P.3d 431 (Wash. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

116 P.3d 431 (2005)

STATE of Washington, Respondent,
v.
Brian Leonard McSORLEY, Defendant.

No. 31297-2-II.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division Two.

July 26, 2005.

*432 Donna Yumiko Masumoto, Attorney at Law, Tacoma, WA, for Respondent.

Rita Joan Griffith, Attorney at Law, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

MORGAN, J.

¶ 1 Brian L. McSorley appeals his conviction for child luring. Through counsel, he claims that the trial court erred by instructing on an affirmative defense at the State's request and over his objection. Pro se, he claims that he received ineffective assistance from his trial counsel. Agreeing on both counts, we reverse and remand for new trial.

¶ 2 On the morning of May 21, 2003, D.J., then age ten, was waiting for his school bus at the end of his driveway. He saw a red *433 Jeep pickup "drive down the road a couple times."[1] He did not know the man behind the wheel.

¶ 3 The pickup returned and stopped. The man opened his door and said something that sounded like, "Get in the truck."[2] According to, D.J.'s later testimony, "I didn't hear one of the words that he said. It pretty much sounded like, Get in the truck, or I'll hurt you, but it sounded — I heard, Get in the truck, or and then hurt you."[3] D.J. could not see the man's "whole face," as the man "wasn't looking at [him]."[4] D.J. ran back to his house and found his mother. He was upset, crying, and yelling that "some man pulled over and said to get in his truck or he was going to hurt" him.[5]

¶ 4 His mother walked him back to the school bus, which was then just arriving. He got on, told the driver what had happened, and was looking out the window when he saw the red Jeep pickup drive by again. The bus driver could not get the license number, but he had the school bus dispatcher broadcast the pickup's description over the school bus radio.

¶ 5 A second school bus driver was picking up students a short distance away when she saw a red Jeep pickup matching the description she had just heard over the radio. The pickup pulled into the parking lot of a post office, and the driver, a man, went into the post office. The bus driver pulled in behind the truck, obtained its license number, and notified the school bus dispatcher, who in turn notified the police.

¶ 6 Deputy Waterman heard over the police radio that a man who had tried to lure a child was driving a rust-colored Jeep pickup. Waterman spotted a matching vehicle, stopped it, and had the driver, McSorley, step out. He read McSorley his rights, to which McSorley "didn't respond. He just sat there."[6] Waterman then asked McSorley what had happened that morning, and McSorley answered that "he was going to a doctor's office visit" and had "stopped at the post office."[7] McSorley admitted having driven past a school bus stop, but he denied talking to any children.

¶ 7 While Waterman was talking to McSorley, Deputy Donato was interviewing D.J. at school. D.J. gave a description that matched McSorley, so Waterman arrested McSorley.

¶ 8 On May 23, 2003, the State charged McSorley with child luring in violation of RCW 9A.40.090. RCW 9A.40.090 provides in pertinent part:

A person commits the crime of luring if the person:
(1)(a) Orders, lures, or attempts to lure a minor . . . into a motor vehicle;
(b) Does not have the consent of the minor's parent or guardian . . .; and
(c) Is unknown to the child . . .
(2) It is a defense to luring, which the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant's actions were reasonable under the circumstances and the defendant did not have any intent to harm the health, safety, or welfare of the minor.

Subsection (3)(a) defines a "minor" as a person under sixteen, and subsection (4) classifies the crime of luring as a Class C felony.

¶ 9 On November 18, 2003, the State moved in limine to exclude two prior "pranks"[8] by D.J. In one instance, D.J. gestured "wildly" for a passing car to stop.[9] The driver stopped, ran to help, and was "met with a torrent of profanity and laughs from [D.J.'s] friends hiding in the bushes."[10] In the other instance, D.J. lay in the road with his bike, as if he had just been involved in a bike accident. When a driver stopped *434 and ran to help, D.J. "jumped up, laughed, and did a little dance."[11] McSorley argued that he was entitled to cross-examine D.J. about both of these incidents and, if D.J. denied them, to call witnesses who would describe them. The trial court excluded both incidents.

¶ 10 On November 19, 2003, a jury trial started. D.J. identified McSorley on direct examination. But when asked on cross whether McSorley was "the same person that told you to get into the car," he said, "I don't know."[12]

¶ 11 During the State's case in chief, Detective Dogeagle testified that he had contacted Group Health to find out when McSorley's medical appointment was. According to Dogeagle's understanding, someone there had said that the appointment was not in the morning, but rather at 3:30 P.M. Much later, several weeks after verdict, the doctor's office said in writing that the appointment was at 10:30 A.M.

¶ 12 Taking the stand on his own behalf, McSorley said that on the morning of May 21, he intended to go to a morning doctor's appointment and run errands. He left home about 8 A.M. but soon realized he had forgotten his glucometer.[13] He returned home to get it, so he twice drove past D.J.'s bus stop. He had seen D.J. at the bus stop, but he had not spoken to him. After retrieving the glucometer, he stopped at the post office.

¶ 13 When testimony ended, the State requested Instruction 5, which was based on RCW 9A.40.090(1), and Instruction 6, which was based on RCW 9A.40.090(2). Instruction 6 stated:

It is a defense to a charge of luring that:
(1) The defendant's actions were reasonable under the circumstances; and
(2) The defendant did not have any intent to harm the health, safety, or welfare of the minor.
This defense must be established by a preponderance of the evidence. Preponderance of the evidence means that you must be persuaded, considering all the evidence in the case, that it is more probably true than not true. If you find that the defendant has established this defense, it will be your duty to return a verdict of not guilty.[[14]]

McSorley "most strenuously" objected to Instruction 6, in essence asserting that he had the right to control his defense, that the State could not force him to raise or rely on an affirmative defense, and that Instruction 6 would confuse the jury by imposing on him the burden of proving facts not in issue.[15] The trial court overruled and gave Instruction 6.

¶ 14 On November 21, 2003, the jury found McSorley guilty. On December 26, 2003, McSorley orally moved for a new trial.

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Bluebook (online)
116 P.3d 431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mcsorley-washctapp-2005.