State v. Padilla

416 P.3d 712, 190 Wash. 2d 672
Washington Supreme Court·Decided May 10, 2018·No. No. 94605-1·Published·Cited by 114 cases

Opinion

González, J.

*674¶ 1 Jameel Padilla was convicted for communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. At issue here is Padilla's community custody condition prohibiting him from "possess[ing] or access[ing] pornographic materials, as directed by his supervising Community Corrections Officer" (CCO). Clerk's Papers (CP) at 37. Padilla argues that the condition and its accompanying definition of "pornographic materials" are unconstitutionally vague.

¶ 2 Although the condition includes a definition of "pornographic materials," the definition itself is vague and overbroad. A condition cannot be saved from a vagueness challenge merely because it contains a definition when that definition itself suffers the same weakness. Moreover, an overbroad definition does not sufficiently put the offender on notice of what materials are prohibited and subjects him *675to possible arbitrary enforcement. We therefore reverse the Court of Appeals' decision upholding the condition and remand to the trial court for further definition of the term "pornographic materials" following a determination of whether the restriction is narrowly tailored based on Padilla's conviction.

FACTS

¶ 3 K.M.,1 a nine-year-old living in California, received a message on her Facebook page. At the time, her profile picture showed her at eight-and-a-half years old. The message, sent from "Jim Wilcox," included sexually explicit texts. Originally, K.M. thought these messages were from a family friend, but quickly realized she was mistaken.

¶ 4 A relevant portion of the conversation includes:

[ WILCOX ]: "are you alone?" ....
[K.M.]: "ya y?" ....
[ WILCOX ]: "cause im jerking off to you. what are you wearing." ....
[ WILCOX ]: "you are so pretty, my cock is still hard for you." ....
[K.M.]: "shut up I am 9!!!!!!!!!!!!" ....
[ WILCOX ]: "suck it" ....
[K.M.]: "no u r gross I am 9 so back off" ....

CP at 113-14. Concerned and confused, K.M. blocked "Wilcox" and told her father about the conversation. K.M.'s father reported the *715messages to California law enforcement and provided screenshots of the conversation. Investigating officers discovered the Internet protocol (IP) address for the computer used to access the "Jim Wilcox" Facebook account was associated with Padilla, who lived in Everett, Washington. At the time, Padilla was 35 years old. *676¶ 5 Everett police seized Padilla's computer pursuant to a valid search warrant. A search of the computer revealed Padilla's various Facebook aliases, including the account of "Jim Wilcox." Initially, Padilla did not admit or deny that he used the "Wilcox" account, but he did admit to engaging in similar conversations via Facebook. A forensic evaluation of Padilla's computer also revealed that Padilla was logged on every time K.M. received a message from the "Wilcox" account. Although officers were not able to find the chats with K.M. on Padilla's computer, they had enough evidence to link Padilla to the communications, including identically phrased messages to other minors.

¶ 6 Padilla was charged and convicted of communication with a minor for immoral purposes.2 The court sentenced him to 75 days of confinement and 12 months of community custody, imposing multiple conditions. Here, Padilla challenges only the condition prohibiting his possession and access to pornographic materials, as directed by his CCO. The term "pornographic material" was defined as "images of sexual intercourse, simulated or real, masturbation, or the display of intimate body parts." CP at 37.

¶ 7 On appeal, Padilla challenged his conviction and both community custody conditions. The State disputed Padilla's challenge to the pornography condition. The court affirmed Padilla's conviction, upheld the pornography condition, and remanded to strike the other concededly vague condition.3 State v . Padilla, No. 73902-6-1, slip op. at 10, 2017 WL 1483979, at *4-5 (Wash. Ct. App. Apr. 24, 2017) (unpublished), http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/739026.pdf. Padilla sought review here, claiming the charging information omitted an essential element of crime and challenging the "pornographic materials" condition as vague. We granted review only as to the sentencing *677condition. State v . Padilla, 189 Wash.2d 1023, 407 P.3d 1134 (2017).

ANALYSIS

¶ 8 Conditions of community custody may be challenged for vagueness for the first time on appeal, and where the challenge involves a legal question that can be resolved on the existing record, the challenge may be addressed before any attempted enforcement of the condition. State v . Bahl , 164 Wash.2d 739, 744, 193 P.3d 678 (2008). This court reviews community custody conditions for abuse of discretion, and will reverse them only if they are " 'manifestly unreasonable.' " State v. Irwin, 191 Wash. App. 644, 652, 364 P.3d 830 (2015) (quoting State v. Sanchez Valencia, 169 Wash.2d 782, 791-92, 239 P.3d 1059 (2010) ). A trial court abuses its discretion if it imposes an unconstitutional condition. Id. Here, Padilla raises a preenforcement vagueness challenge to his community custody condition prohibiting him from possessing or accessing pornography.

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State v. Padilla, 416 P.3d 712, 190 Wash. 2d 672 (Wash. 2018).

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