State v. Morris

150 Wash. App. 927
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJune 30, 2009
DocketNo. 36923-1-II
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 150 Wash. App. 927 (State v. Morris) 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. Morris, 150 Wash. App. 927 (Wash. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Quinn-Brintnall, J.

¶1 On March 30, 2007, Macy’s loss prevention officers, via closed circuit camera, saw Darnell Morris take two watches valued at $205.02 from a clearance display at the Tacoma Mall Macy’s and leave without paying for them. Because Macy’s had revoked Morris’s right to enter the store for one year (“trespassed” him) on February 6, 2007, the Pierce County prosecuting attorney’s office charged Morris with one count of second degree burglary, RCW 9A.52.030(1). A jury found Morris guilty as charged, and the trial court sentenced him to 43 months, the high end of the standard range for an offender score of 7.

¶2 On appeal, Morris asserts that the prosecutor deprived him of a fair trial by commenting on his right to remain silent in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 9 of the Washington Consitution. In a pro se statement of additional grounds (SAG),1 Morris contends that (1) the State should have charged him with only trespassing and misdemeanor theft and (2) the trial court miscalculated his standard range using an offender score of [930]*9307 when his correct score is 5. The prosecutor’s mere mention in his closing argument that the evidence presented by the witnesses was uncontradicted is an argument based on the evidence, not a comment on Morris’s exercise of his right to remain silent. Moreover, the State properly charged Morris with second degree burglary because Morris was prohibited from entering Macy’s and, while unlawfully inside Macy’s, intended to commit the crime of theft. Finally, Morris’s offender score was properly calculated as 7. Accordingly, we affirm.

Discussion

Prosecutorial Misconduct

¶3 Morris argues that “the prosecutor committed misconduct [by] both commenting on [his] exercise of his right to be free from self-incrimination and improperly shifting a burden of proof to the defense in violation of due process.” Br. of Appellant at 4. In making this argument, Morris relies on the following sentence at the end of the prosecution’s five-page closing argument: “What I’m asking you to do is to deliberate that there has been no real contradiction on any of these facts and to come back with a verdict of guilty.” 4 Report of Proceedings (RP) at 163. The defense counsel did not object. Instead, in closing argument, she argued that the State’s witnesses had done a “lovely job” of contradicting themselves and pointed to each contradiction for the jury to consider during its deliberations. Specifically, Morris’s defense counsel stated:

The prosecutor is going to say, well, you know, nothing has been contradicted, and, you know, we have all of this lovely evidence. It is not contradicted. He is guilty. That’s not the way that the law works.
You, as jurors, are given a very peculiar job and a very special context to look at evidence in. The context is ... that Mr. Morris is innocent. He was when he walked in last week. He still is. It doesn’t matter that there were no defense witnesses. It doesn’t matter about anything else, that there wasn’t any [931]*931direct maybe contradiction of testimony; but, you know, the State’s witnesses did a really lovely job of contradicting themselves. What does the defense need to do?

4 RP at 163-64.

¶4 Absent a timely and proper objection, a prosecutor’s alleged misconduct cannot be raised on appeal unless it was so flagrant and ill intentioned that no curative instruction could have obviated the resulting prejudice. State v. Warren, 165 Wn.2d 17, 29, 195 P.3d 940 (2008). A prosecutor may state that certain testimony is not denied, without reference to who could have denied it, State v. Ashby, 77 Wn.2d 33, 37, 459 P.2d 403 (1969), and may comment that evidence is undisputed. State v. Crawford, 21 Wn. App. 146, 584 P.2d 442 (1978), review denied, 91 Wn.2d 1013 (1979); accord State v. Sutherland, 24 Wn. App. 719, 604 P.2d 957 (1979), rev’d on other grounds, 94 Wn.2d 527, 617 P.2d 1012 (1980). Our Supreme Court first enunciated this rule in State v. Litzenberger, 140 Wash. 308, 311, 248 P. 799 (1926), stating:

Surely the prosecutor may comment upon the fact that certain testimony is undenied, without reference to who may or may not be in a position to deny it and, if that results in an inference unfavorable to the accused, he must accept the burden . . . because the choice to testify or not was wholly his.

¶5 More recently, in State v. Brett, 126 Wn.2d 136, 176, 892 P.2d 29 (1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1121 (1996), our Supreme Court rejected the argument that Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S. Ct. 2240, 49 L. Ed. 2d 91 (1976), rendered Litzenberger no longer viable, stating:

Brett asserts the standards set forth in Ashby, Crawford, and Litzenberger are no longer viable because they were decided prior to Doyle. . . . We disagree.

¶6 We agree with the State that it was no more improper for the prosecutor to comment on the consistency of the testimony of the six witnesses who testified in the State’s case-in-chief than it was for defense counsel to point out the [932]*932inconsistencies in that same testimony. Moreover, the court instructed the jury that “[t]he defendant is not compelled to testify, and the fact that the defendant has not testified cannot be used to infer guilt or prejudice him in any way.” Clerk’s Papers at 33. We presume that the jury followed the court’s instructions. State v. Stein, 144 Wn.2d 236, 247, 27 P.3d 184 (2001); see also State v. Jackson, 145 Wn. App. 814, 187 P.3d 321 (2008). Accordingly, Morris’s claim that the prosecutor’s reference to the consistency of the testimony of State witnesses amounts to a comment on his right to remain silent fails.

Statement oe Additional Grounds

¶7 In his SAG, Morris asserts two grounds. First, he argues that because Macy’s is a place open to the public, the State should have charged him with trespassing and misdemeanor theft instead of second degree burglary. And second, he challenges the calculation of his offender score, asserting, as he did at sentencing, that the trial court had miscalculated his offender score as a 7 when it should have been a 5.

¶8 But Macy’s revoked Morris’s invitation to enter the store when it “trespassed” him for shoplifting on February 6, 2007. Under the trespass notice, Morris was prohibited from entering any Macy’s for one year, until February 7, 2008. Morris went to the Macy’s located inside the Tacoma Mall on March 30, 2007, he was entering without the owner’s permission and was trespassing.

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

Related

State v. King.
386 P.3d 886 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2016)
In Re The Detention Of Gregory Jaeger
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2016
State v. Fedoruk
339 P.3d 233 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2014)
State v. Sells
271 P.3d 952 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
150 Wash. App. 927, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-morris-washctapp-2009.