State v. Smith

707 P.2d 1306, 104 Wash. 2d 497, 1985 Wash. LEXIS 1272
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 3, 1985
Docket51150-1
StatusPublished
Cited by119 cases

This text of 707 P.2d 1306 (State v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Smith, 707 P.2d 1306, 104 Wash. 2d 497, 1985 Wash. LEXIS 1272 (Wash. 1985).

Opinions

Callow, J.

Charles Duane Smith appeals a jury convic[499]*499tion for two counts of cocaine delivery, and two resulting concurrent life sentences imposed pursuant to the habitual criminal statute, RCW 9.92.090.

On September 17, 1982, the defendant rented room 108 of the Dunes Motel in Bremerton. When it was reported to the police that the defendant had received a large number of visitors and telephone calls, they set up surveillance of the defendant's room.

Shortly after midnight, the police arrested Herbert Latham as he left room 108. Incident to the arrest, the police seized marijuana and two glass vials which contained LSD. In the front seat of Latham's car was a bag which contained cocaine. The bag was wrapped in a brochure for the Dunes Motel. Latham told police that he had received the "acid and coke" in room 108. The seller of the LSD was someone named "Maurio." Latham said that the defendant had given him the cocaine.

Two women left room 108 at about the same time as Latham and drove away in a blue Chevrolet. Police believed that these women had seen Latham being arrested. The Chevrolet returned a few minutes later and the police believed the women had returned to warn the occupants of room 108 of Latham's arrest. The police then, without a warrant, entered room 108 and arrested the defendant, the two women, and several others. All were jailed. One of the women dropped or attempted to hide some cocaine wrapped in a folded piece of paper under the seat of the patrol car in which she was riding. The police latér found it. She testified at trial that she had received the cocaine from the defendant.

On September 20, the defendant and the others received a preliminary hearing in superior court pursuant to CrR 3.2A. Following the hearing the defendant was kept in jail because of a parole detainer against him.

On October 14, the State charged the defendant with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, and one count of sale of a controlled substance. The defendant pleaded not guilty at his arraignment held 4 days later. Trial was [500]*500set and the defendant subsequently moved to suppress physical evidence seized from room 108. The parties stipulated that the evidence was unconstitutionally obtained and it was suppressed.

At trial, Latham testified that he had received cocaine from the defendant. The woman also acknowledged that she had received from the defendant the paper containing cocaine, but denied knowing that cocaine was in the paper. At the close of the State's case, the judge dismissed the charge of sale of a controlled substance. The jury convicted the defendant of both counts of delivery.

The State thereafter filed a supplemental information which alleged that the defendant was a habitual offender because of the above mentioned conviction and four previous felony convictions: (1) a grand larceny conviction by guilty plea on July 29, 1976; (2) conviction by guilty plea of a count of cocaine possession and one of amphetamine possession on March 16, 1979; (3) a conviction by guilty plea for two counts of a sale of a controlled substance in violation of RCW 69.50.401 on May 3, 1979; and (4) a conviction for cocaine possession by guilty plea on April 27, 1981. Smith waived his right to a jury and went to trial on January 26, 1983.

The State submitted, inter alia, a statement the defendant had signed with his guilty plea to grand larceny. The statement identified a waiver of a number of constitutional rights but contained nothing about a waiver of defendant's right to remain silent. The defendant never objected to the admission of the document or raised the issue of the volun-tariness of his plea. The trial judge found the defendant to be a habitual offender pursuant to RCW 9.95.040(3), sentenced him to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment, and assessed a $500 fine and $562.96 in court costs. The defendant appealed and the appeal was transferred here pursuant to RAP 4.3.

The first issue is whether the defendant may challenge for the first time, on appeal, the voluntariness of a guilty plea to a prior conviction used to establish his habitual [501]*501criminal status. We hold he cannot.

The resolution of the issue requires addressing a question left unanswered by State v. Holsworth, 93 Wn.2d 148, 607 P.2d 845 (1980). We must outline the scope of a defendant's constitutional right to challenge the voluntariness of a guilty plea. See Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274, 89 S. Ct. 1709 (1969). Boykin held that guilty pleas were unconstitutionally invalid when the defendant had not indicated a clear and intelligent waiver of his constitutional rights. In Holsworth this court extended Boykin to habitual criminal determinations predicated on prior guilty plea convictions that lacked sufficient evidence of waiver. Hols-worth recognized that the constitutional deficiencies in a defendant's prior guilty plea remain relevant if the conviction is used to establish habitual criminal status, and stated:

[I]t can be seen that failure to disclose the nature of the offense or consequences of a plea may result in a procedural defect of constitutional magnitude if the defendant's plea as a consequence of that failure is involuntary. As in Burgett, violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is "renewed" through use in a habitual criminal proceeding of an uninformed guilty plea which thus violates due process.

(Italics ours.) Holsworth, at 157, citing Burgett v. Texas, 389 U.S. 109, 19 L. Ed. 2d 319, 88 S. Ct. 258 (1967). In Burgett, the Court reversed a habitual criminal conviction because the defendant claimed at his habitual criminal hearing that he had not been represented by counsel in a prior guilty plea conviction.

The defendant asks us to extend the constitutional protection of Boykin v. Alabama, supra, beyond the Burgett-Holsworth rationale. The defendants in those cases raised the invalidity of the guilty plea at their habitual criminal hearings. Burgett, at 111-12; Holsworth, at 151-52. Smith failed to raise the voluntariness issue below.

The defendant argues that he can raise the involuntariness of his plea initially on the appeal of his habitual crim[502]*502inal conviction because he has been deprived of a constitutional right. He contends that his guilty plea was involuntary because he was not advised of his right to remain silent. He claims, therefore, that he did not knowingly and intelligently waive that right. See Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 82 L. Ed. 1461, 58 S. Ct. 1019 (1938). An invalid waiver would have deprived the defendant of his right to remain silent. Boykin v. Alabama, supra at 242-43. Burgett v. Texas, supra, and State v. Holsworth, supra,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
707 P.2d 1306, 104 Wash. 2d 497, 1985 Wash. LEXIS 1272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-smith-wash-1985.