State v. Stegall

881 P.2d 979, 124 Wash. 2d 719, 1994 Wash. LEXIS 571
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 29, 1994
Docket60614-5
StatusPublished
Cited by93 cases

This text of 881 P.2d 979 (State v. Stegall) 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. Stegall, 881 P.2d 979, 124 Wash. 2d 719, 1994 Wash. LEXIS 571 (Wash. 1994).

Opinions

Madsen, J.

A 10-member jury convicted Carl David Hansen of two counts involving the possession of cocaine. The Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions. Hansen obtained review in this court, limited to the issue of whether Hansen validly waived his right to be tried by 12 jurors.

Facts

A police informant met with Defendants Carl David Hansen and James William Stegall and proposed selling them 1 kilogram of cocaine. All three individuals discussed terms of the proposed sale. Stegall subsequently purchased the cocaine from the informant. The police arrested Stegall on the spot and shortly thereafter arrested Hansen in a nearby parking lot. The police arresting Hansen found cocaine in Hansen’s car.

Hansen was charged by amended information with two counts of possessing cocaine with intent to manufacture or deliver. The first count charged Hansen as an accomplice in Stegall’s purchase of cocaine; the second count related separately to the cocaine found in Hansen’s car.

Hansen was tried separately from Stegall. During a pretrial hearing the trial judge suggested to the attorneys that they might want to select a 13th juror as an alternate. The [721]*721defense attorney, in the presence of the Defendant, indicated that this would not be necessary:

[W]e will waive the problem on losing the one [juror]. I don’t think it is neecessary to have thirteen. If we start with twelve and we have one that is sick and can not participate. We will waive that problem and go with eleven.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings (Mar. 22, 1991), at 9-10.

Three days later jury selection began. At some point during the afternoon session, counsel had a mishap with the zipper of his trousers. The following portion of the record illuminates the role that counsel’s broken zipper played in the waiver of Hansen’s right to a 12-person jury.

the court: Madam Clerk, if you would call 13 jurors, please.
[defense counsel]: Your Honor, since part of the problem on a trial like this is selecting the jury, we had agreed we would have 12 and if one dropped out we would be bound by the 11. the court: Tradition is sometimes hard to break. Twelve jurors, please.
(Whereupon, a jury was impanelled.)
[defense counsel]: Your Honor, I hate to say this Your Honor, but I have kind of a problem in continuing in this case. It’s personally embarrassing. My zipper has broken on my fly. I had some difficulties after lunch. I was able to get it closed and now I found that it’s undone from the bottom up. It’s rather embarrassing. I have been unable to stand up.
the court: You can use the podium.
[defense counsel]: I was wondering if we can finish doing the juror and maybe we can have the prosecutor do his opening statement and we could be dismissed and come back in the morning.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings (Mar. 25,1991), at 2-3.

When the prosecutor objected to any delay in the trial, the trial judge decided to proceed with questioning a juror who had requested removal from the case. Defense counsel then indicated he was willing to proceed with 11 jurors, or even with 10 if need be:

[defense counsel]: Your Honor, my client would have no objection of doing it with an eleven-person jury. If you would dismiss him, I don’t want to go through the whole mess of another juror. I do feel uncomfortable if the juror himself or herself expressed the idea they would not like to be on specifically a four-day case.
[722]*722So we would have no objection to proceeding at this point with a[n] eleven-person jury with the same provision; if another one gets sick, we’ll go with ten, if that’s all right with counsel.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings (Mar. 25, 1991), at 3-4.

The trial court and counsel then proceeded to examine the juror in question. The trial judge excused the juror. The following colloquy immediately ensued:

[Prosecutor]: Your Honor, [excusing the juror] that is still subject to the stipulation of counsel that he’s willing to go forward in this case with 11 jurors?
[Defense Counsel]: Yes, Your Honor, that still is. I know we don’t want to be in a mess where we have to keep selecting jurors and jurors and jurors. Eleven would be sufficient.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings (Mar. 25, 1991), at 9.

The next day one of the remaining jurors called in sick. The trial judge noted this reduced the number of jurors to 10 and. asked defense counsel if he still wanted to proceed. Defense counsel responded, "I am all right with ten”. Verbatim Report of Proceedings (Mar. 26, 1991), at 5. After some unrelated colloquy with counsel, each party gave an opening statement and the testimony began.

The jury convicted Hansen on count 1 as charged. On count 2 the jury convicted Hansen of a lesser included offense, simple possession of cocaine. Hansen was sentenced to 34 months’ imprisonment.

Hansen appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeals. He argued, among other issues, that his attorney’s stipulations to proceed with fewer than 12 jurors did not constitute a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of his right to a 12-person jury. Hansen also filed a separate personal restraint petition to supplement the trial record with Hansen’s own declaration as to the 12-juror waiver. In that declaration, Hansen stated: (1) his trial attorney never consulted with him before making these stipulations; (2) his trial attorney never informed him of the significance of having 12 jurors hear his case, especially as it relates to the requirement that jury verdicts be unanimous; and (3) if he had received this information, he would not have consented to proceedings with 10 or 11 jurors.

[723]*723The Court of Appeals affirmed Hansen’s conviction in State v. Stegall, 69 Wn. App. 750, 850 P.2d 571 (1993). The Court of Appeals held that defense counsel’s stipulations, made in Hansen’s presence, constituted a valid waiver of his right to be tried by a full jury.

Hansen filed a Petition for Review in this court on two issues: the omission of an entrapment instruction and the waiver of the 12-member jury. This court granted review only as to the jury issue.

Analysis

A criminal defendant in superior court has a right to be tried by 12 jurors. Const. art. 1, § 21; CrR 6.1(b); State v. Lane, 40 Wn.2d 734, 736-37, 246 P.2d 474 (1952). This right, however, may be waived by the defendant in noncapital cases, so that a trial may be held with as few as six jurors. See CrR 6.1(b); Lane, at 736-37.

The state constitution further provides that:

The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, but the legislature may provide for a jury of any number less than twelve in courts not of record, and for a verdict by nine or more jurors in civil cases in any court of record, and for waiving of the jury in civil cases where the consent of the parties interested is given thereto.

Const. art. 1, § 21.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
881 P.2d 979, 124 Wash. 2d 719, 1994 Wash. LEXIS 571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stegall-wash-1994.