State v. Milam

228 P.3d 788
Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided April 5, 2010·No. 63049-1-I·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

228 P.3d 788 (2010)

STATE of Washington, Respondent,
v.
Michael Darrel MILAM, Appellant.

No. 63049-1-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

April 5, 2010.

*789 Jennifer M. Winkler, Nielson, Broman & Koch, PLLC, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

Dennis John McCurdy, King County Prosecutor's Office, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

PUBLISHED IN PART

COX, J.

¶ 1 Michael Milam appeals his judgment and sentence for second degree theft and second degree identify theft, claiming that his convictions violate the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy. Because the two crimes are not the same in law under the "same evidence" test, we disagree and affirm.

¶ 2 In October 2007, Milam used a stolen automated teller machine (ATM) card and personal identification number (PIN) to withdraw $360 from an ATM. The State charged him with second degree theft and second degree identity theft. A jury convicted him as charged.

¶ 3 The trial court imposed a standard range Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA) sentence and ordered Milam to pay a $500 Victim Penalty Assessment and a $100 DNA collection fee. The court waived all non-mandatory costs, fees, and assessments.

¶ 4 Milam appeals.

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

¶ 5 Milam argues that his convictions for second degree theft and second degree identity theft, based on his use of a stolen ATM card and PIN to withdraw $360 from an ATM, violate double jeopardy. We disagree.

¶ 6 The State may bring multiple charges arising from the same criminal conduct in a single proceeding.[1] But the double jeopardy clauses of the United States and Washington State Constitutions protect against multiple punishments for the same offense.[2]

¶ 7 If a defendant's acts support charges under two different criminal statutes, we must determine whether the legislature intended to authorize multiple punishments *790 for the crimes in question.[3] If the applicable statutes expressly permit multiple punishments, there is no violation of double jeopardy.[4]

¶ 8 If the statutes do not speak to multiple punishments for the same act, we turn to the "same evidence" rule of construction.[5] Multiple convictions violate double jeopardy under the "same evidence" test if they are the same "in law" and "in fact."[6] "If each offense includes an element not included in the other, and each requires proof of a fact the other does not, then the offenses are not constitutionally the same under this test."[7]

¶ 9 Even if the two statutes pass the "same evidence" test, multiple convictions may not stand if the legislature has otherwise clearly indicated its intent that the same conduct or transaction should not be punished under both statutes.[8]

¶ 10 We review de novo whether multiple punishments violate the constitutional protections against double jeopardy.[9]

Legislative Intent

¶ 11 The first question is whether the legislature intended to punish separately identity theft and second degree theft. We conclude that neither of the former versions of these statutes that were in effect in October 2007[10] expresses a clear legislative intent to authorize punishment under both statutes for the same act or transaction.

¶ 12 Former RCW 9.35.020 (2004), the statute defining identity theft in effect in October 2007, provided in relevant part:

(1) No person may knowingly obtain, possess, use, or transfer a means of identification or financial information of another person, living or dead, with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any crime.
. . .
(3) Violation of this section when the accused or an accomplice uses the victim's means of identification or financial information and obtains an aggregate total of credit, money, goods, services, or anything else of value that is less than one thousand five hundred dollars in value, or when no credit, money, goods, services, or anything of value is obtained shall constitute identity theft in the second degree. Identity theft in the second degree is a class C felony punishable according to chapter 9A.20 RCW.

¶ 13 Former RCW 9A.56.040(1)(a) (2007), the statute defining theft in the second degree in effect in October 2007, provided in relevant part:

(1) A person is guilty of theft in the second degree if he or she commits theft of:
(a) Property or services which exceed(s) two hundred and fifty dollars in value, . . . other than a firearm as defined in RCW 9.41.010 or a motor vehicle.

¶ 14 "Theft" was defined then, as it is now, as "[t]o wrongfully obtain or exert unauthorized control over the property . . . of another. . . with intent to deprive him or her of such property. . . ."[11]

¶ 15 There is nothing in either of these statutes that either party has called to our attention that shows a legislative intent to authorize multiple punishments for these offenses. *791 Thus, we must next apply the "same evidence" test to determine if the two offenses are the same "in law" and "in fact."[12]

"Same Evidence" Test

¶ 16 This test has both a legal prong and factual prong. "If each offense includes an element not included in the other, and each requires proof of a fact the other does not, then the offenses are not constitutionally the same under this test" and the double jeopardy clause does not prevent convictions for both offenses.[13]

¶ 17 The State does not dispute that the factual prong of this test is satisfied. The same acts proved both crimes in this case. Here, the charge for second degree identity theft was that Milam used another's financial information—an ATM card and PIN—to steal $360. The jury convicted him as charged. Likewise, the jury also convicted him of theft based on the same $360. But this factual analysis does not end our inquiry. We next consider whether the two crimes are also the same in law.

¶ 18 Theft in the second degree required proof that the defendant wrongfully deprived another person of property with a value between $250 and $1,500.[14] Thus, value is an essential element of that crime.

¶ 19 On the other hand, second degree identity theft required proof that the defendant knowingly obtained, possessed, used or transferred a means of identification or financial information with intent to commit another crime.[15] Commission of another crime was not an element of the identity theft statute. The supreme court made this clear in State v. Baldwin.[16]

¶ 20 There, Baldwin was convicted of three counts of identity theft and two counts of forgery.[17] He challenged the multiple convictions on the basis that they violated the prohibition against double jeopardy.[18] This court disagreed.[19] On review, the supreme court followed the same analysis that we do here, concluding that the same evidence test was not satisfied.[20] Specifically, the court cited this court with approval, stating: "[l]dentity theft only `requires use of a means of identification with the intent

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State v. Milam, 228 P.3d 788 (Wash. Ct. App. 2010).

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