State v. Meacham

225 P.3d 472, 154 Wash. App. 467
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedFebruary 9, 2010
DocketNo. 38548-1-II
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 225 P.3d 472 (State v. Meacham) 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. Meacham, 225 P.3d 472, 154 Wash. App. 467 (Wash. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Bridgewater, J.

¶1 The trial court granted Mathew Meacham’s pretrial motion to dismiss the sexual motivation special allegations against him in connection with underlying charges of first degree burglary. The State sought and we granted discretionary review. We hold that [469]*469the trial court lacked authority under former RCW 9.94A.835(3) (2008) to dismiss a special allegation over the State’s objection. We vacate and remand.

FACTS

¶2 This case arose from two burglaries based on when Meacham allegedly entered a woman’s garage and stole clothing from her clothes dryer. On both occasions, Meacham took the victim’s underwear, bras, socks, and shirts. Officers arrested Meacham at the scene after the second incident.1

¶3 The day after his arrest, Meacham received and waived his Miranda2 rights and admitted he had entered the garage to look for female clothing. He admitted he had taken clothing from the dryer, but he denied knowing what he took. Meacham also admitted he had entered the garage about a month earlier. When the investigating officer asked Meacham about the clothes from the earlier incident, Meacham said that some of the underwear was in a bottom dresser drawer in his bedroom. Meacham stated that the drawer contained other undergarments, but they were from prior relationships with women. Meacham stored the other clothes taken earlier in a bag in his closet because he had taken the whole load of laundry.

¶4 With Meacham’s written consent, officers transported him to his home to recover the victim’s clothing. Meacham led the officers to his bedroom and, between the mattress and box spring, the officers located the woman’s underwear that Meacham had taken the night before. Meacham directed the officers to his dresser drawer where he had stored the underwear stolen during the first incident. Out of the 10 pairs of underwear found in the drawer, Meacham immediately identified the victim’s underwear.

[470]*470¶5 The State charged Meacham with two counts of residential burglary. Each count included a sexual motivation special allegation.

¶6 In September 2008, Meacham filed a motion to dismiss the sexual motivation special allegations under former RCW 9.94A.835(3),3 CrR 8.3(b), and Knapstad.4 The State argued that sufficient admissible evidence supported the sexual motivation special allegations and that a defendant could not use a pretrial Knapstad motion to dismiss an aggravating factor. The trial court denied Meacham’s motion.

¶7 After the trial court excluded certain material found in Meacham’s bedroom, Meacham renewed his motion to dismiss the special allegations and he again argued for dismissal under former RCW 9.94A.835(3), CrR 8.3(b), and Knapstad. A different trial court judge granted Meacham’s motion over the State’s objection, finding “pursuant to [former] RCW 9.94A.835(3) that there are evidentiary problems which make proving the special allegation doubtful, further, that the only way a fact finder could find the defendant guilty would be through speculation.” Clerk’s Papers at 43.

¶8 Our court commissioner stayed Meacham’s trial and granted the State’s discretionary review motion. We address only the trial court’s dismissal under former RCW 9.94.835(3) because that formed the basis of the trial court’s ruling.

ANALYSIS

A. Argument Raised for the First Time on Appeal

¶9 The State argues that dismissal is inappropriate under former RCW 9.94A.835(3) because that subsec[471]*471tion was intended to permit plea bargains, not pretrial dismissal of a special allegation. Though the State did not make this argument below, we reach it because the issue impinges on constitutional separation of powers. State v. Ramos, 149 Wn. App. 266, 270 n.2, 202 P.3d 383 (2009) (appellant may raise separation of powers for first time on appeal); State v. David, 134 Wn. App. 470, 478-79, 141 P.3d 646 (2006) (separation of powers is a constitutional matter), review denied, 160 Wn.2d 1012 (2007); see also State v. Walsh, 143 Wn.2d 1, 10, 17 P.3d 591 (2001) (Alexander, C.J., concurring) (“Under principles of separation of powers, the charging decision is for the prosecuting attorney.”). The prosecuting attorney is an officer in the executive branch of the government having great discretion to charge offenses. State v. Lewis, 115 Wn.2d 294, 299, 797 P.2d 1141 (1990) (prosecutors have discretion in filing charges); see also State v. Korum, 157 Wn.2d 614, 655, 141 P.3d 13 (2006) (J.M. Johnson, J., concurring) (prosecutor’s discretion to file charges is an executive function). And the dismissal of a portion of a prosecution, whether on the sole authority of the prosecutor or on the sole authority of the judiciary, involves a constitutional intersection of powers. See State v. Starrish, 86 Wn.2d 200, 205, 544 P.2d 1 (1975) (trial courts do not have “the authority to substitute their judgment for that of the prosecutor”); State v. Aguirre, 73 Wn. App. 682, 690 n.7, 871 P.2d 616 (authority of trial court to dismiss a prosecution under former CrR 8.3(b) (1973) is “tempered by underlying separation of powers concerns between prosecutors and the judiciary” (citing State v. Cantrell, 111 Wn.2d 385, 388-89, 758 P.2d 1 (1988))), review denied, 124 Wn.2d 1028 (1994). It is of no moment that the State first argues the statute on appeal.

B. Standard of Review

¶10 We review a trial court’s grant of a motion to dismiss for abuse of discretion. State v. Michielli, 132 Wn.2d 229, 240, 937 P.2d 587 (1997). A trial court abuses its [472]*472discretion when it bases its decision on untenable or unreasonable grounds. State ex rel. Carroll v. Junker, 79 Wn.2d 12, 26, 482 P.2d 775 (1971).

C. Statutory Interpretation

¶11 Under former RCW 9.94A.835(1), the State must file special allegations when appropriate:

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225 P.3d 472, 154 Wash. App. 467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-meacham-washctapp-2010.