State v. Tanberg

87 P.3d 788
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 12, 2004
Docket51961-1-I
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 87 P.3d 788 (State v. Tanberg) 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. Tanberg, 87 P.3d 788 (Wash. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

87 P.3d 788 (2004)

STATE of Washington, Respondent,
v.
Shaun Paul TANBERG, Appellant.

No. 51961-1-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

April 12, 2004.

Thomas Michael Kummerow, Washington Appellate Project, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

Seth Aaron Fine, Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office, Everett, WA, for Respondent.

Published in Part Opinion

COLEMAN, J.

Double jeopardy protects persons from multiple punishments for the same crime. The key consideration in analyzing a double jeopardy claim is to determine what punishment the legislature intended. In making this determination, courts employ the same evidence test. Under that test, if the two crimes each have an essential element that is not an element of the other crime, the crimes are not the same in law. Absent clear contrary intent by the legislature, imposing punishments for both crimes does not violate double jeopardy. Here, the appellant argues that his sentence violated double jeopardy because the same conduct supported both convictions. We affirm both convictions and sentences because (1) first degree robbery and second degree assault are not the same in law and (2) there is no clear showing of legislative intent to preclude punishment for *789 both crimes. Additionally, we hold that the trial court did not err in refusing to grant a mistrial based on the prosecutor's comments at closing argument because any resulting prejudice could have been corrected with a proper instruction.

FACTS

CR was attacked by three men as she walked to her bus stop late one evening. Witnesses testified that two African-American men and one Caucasian man took her purse and physically attacked her. The witnesses identified Shaun Tanberg as the Caucasian attacker. Tanberg was charged with first degree robbery by inflicting bodily injury and second degree assault.

At trial, Tanberg denied participating in the robbery and assault. He presented witnesses who testified that he was somewhere else at the time of the attack and that he did not have any African-American friends. Tanberg objected to comments made by the prosecutor during closing argument and moved for a mistrial. The trial court denied the motion for a mistrial, but instructed the prosecutor to restrict her comments to the evidence. At the close of arguments, defense counsel again moved for a mistrial based on the prosecutor's statements. The court denied the motion.

Tanberg was convicted of both first degree robbery and second degree assault, and the trial court sentenced Tanberg on both counts. Tanberg filed a timely notice of appeal, claiming that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct and that his sentence violated double jeopardy.

DISCUSSION

The first issue we address is whether imposing sentences for both first degree robbery and second degree assault violated double jeopardy. Under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, no person shall "be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb[.]" Tanberg did not raise the issue of double jeopardy below, but as a "manifest error affecting his constitutional right to be free from double jeopardy," he may raise it for the first time on appeal. State v. Turner, 102 Wash.App. 202, 206, 6 P.3d 1226 (2000). The key consideration in a double jeopardy analysis is whether the legislature intended separate punishments for the crimes. When there is not an express statement of legislative intent, courts must employ rules of statutory construction in order to determine legislative intent. Here, there is not an express statement of legislative intent, so we turn to tools of statutory construction.

Courts use the same evidence test to determine whether the legislature intended multiple punishments. State v. Calle, 125 Wash.2d 769, 780, 888 P.2d 155 (1995). Under this test, the court must determine whether the crimes are the same in law and in fact:

In order to be the "same offense" for purposes of double jeopardy the offenses must be the same in law and in fact. If there is an element in each offense which is not included in the other, and proof of one offense would not necessarily also prove the other, the offenses are not constitutionally the same and the double jeopardy clause does not prevent convictions for both offenses.

State v. Vladovic, 99 Wash.2d 413, 423, 662 P.2d 853 (1983).

Here, the State charged Tanberg with first degree robbery and second degree assault. Robbery, as defined under RCW 9A.56.190, involves a taking of personal property:

A person commits robbery when he unlawfully takes personal property from the person of another or in his presence against his will by the use or threatened use of immediate force, violence, or fear of injury to that person or his property or the person or property of anyone....

Robbery in the first degree occurs when, "in the commission of a robbery or in immediate flight therefrom, he or she: ... [i]nflicts bodily injury[.]" RCW 9A.56.200(1)(a)(iii). Bodily injury is defined as "physical pain or injury, illness, or an impairment of physical condition[.]" RCW 9A.04.110(4)(a).

*790 Second degree assault is defined under RCW 9A.36.021(1)(a): "A person is guilty of assault in the second degree if he or she ... [i]ntentionally assaults another and thereby recklessly inflicts substantial bodily harm[.]" Substantial bodily harm is defined as "bodily injury which involves a temporary but substantial disfigurement, or which causes a temporary but substantial loss or impairment of the function of any bodily part or organ, or which causes a fracture of any bodily part[.]" RCW 9A.04.110(4)(b).

An essential element of robbery is the taking of property belonging to another person. This is not an element of assault. Intent to assault is an essential element of second degree assault. Intent to assault is not an element of robbery. The crimes, therefore, are not the same in law. Tanberg argues that the crimes, as charged in his case, are the same because the State relied on the same evidence to prove both charges. The issue is not, however, whether the same evidence is required to prove both crimes under the particular facts of the case, but whether proof of the same elements is necessarily required in all cases to establish the crimes.

At oral argument, counsel for Tanberg urged the court to consider the United State Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 125 L.Ed.2d 556 (1993). Tanberg cited Dixon in his briefs, but did not provide analysis. The holding in Dixon,

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87 P.3d 788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tanberg-washctapp-2004.