State v. Torngren

147 Wash. App. 556
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedNovember 25, 2008
DocketNo. 26561-7-III
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 147 Wash. App. 556 (State v. Torngren) 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. Torngren, 147 Wash. App. 556 (Wash. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Sweeney, J.

¶1 The question of same criminal conduct has been viewed as subject only to the abuse of discretion [559]*559standard. Nonetheless, cases passing on the question appear to apply something more akin to de novo review. Here, the defendant challenges the inclusion of a number of prior convictions in his criminal history. He argues that they should have been counted as the same criminal conduct when calculating his offender score for his current sentence. We disagree. The defendant also contends that his sentence for third degree assault exceeds the statutory maximum. We affirm his judgment and sentence but remand it for clarification that his total confinement and community custody will not exceed 60 months.

FACTS

¶2 A judge, sitting without a jury, found Thomas B. Torngren guilty of third degree assault and attempting to elude a police vehicle. Mr. Torngren and the State disagreed on the proper offender scores for his sentence. Mr. Torngren’s criminal history consisted of 12 prior offenses. It included two juvenile adjudications from 1994 for third degree assault and attempted second degree robbery. It also included two convictions as an adult for second degree assault and second degree robbery in 1996.

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Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 41, 45 (emphasis added).

[560]*560¶3 Mr. Torngren argued that his 1994 adjudications and 1996 convictions, respectively, should have been treated as the same criminal conduct.

¶4 The sentencing court concluded that Mr. Torngren’s offender score on his third degree assault conviction was 9 and the score on his attempting to elude conviction was 11. The judgment and sentence reflects a “9+” offender score for each conviction. CP at 45.

¶5 The court imposed 60 months of confinement and 9 to 18 months of community custody on the third degree assault conviction. It imposed 29 months of confinement on the attempting to elude conviction. Both sentences run concurrently.

DISCUSSION

¶6 Mr. Torngren takes issue with the sentencing court’s calculation of his offender score for several reasons. He contends that the two 1994 adjudications merge, are facially unconstitutional, or, at least, constitute the same criminal conduct for sentencing purposes. He makes these same arguments for the two 1996 convictions. Mr. Torngren also argues that the trial court imposed a term of community custody that exceeds the statutory maximum for his current third degree assault conviction.

Merger Doctrine (Double Jeopardy)

¶7 Mr. Torngren contends that the current sentencing court erred when it concluded that neither his 1994juvenile adjudications nor his 1996 adult convictions merge.

¶8 But Mr. Torngren “has no right to contest a prior conviction at a subsequent sentencing.” State v. Ammons, 105 Wn.2d 175, 188, 713 P.2d 719, 718 P.2d 796 (1986). Indeed, the argument is an improper collateral attack on the constitutionality of multiple prior convictions. Id. at 189. The sentencing court properly refused to pass on whether Mr. Torngren’s 1994 adjudications or his 1996 convictions merged.

[561]*561Facial Invalidity

¶9 Mr. Torngren next challenges the validity of the two 1996 adult convictions and the two 1994 juvenile adjudications. He relies on State v. Freeman and In re Personal Restraint of Butler for the proposition that his prior convictions merge or are the same criminal conduct. State v. Freeman, 153 Wn.2d 765, 108 P.3d 753 (2005); In re Pers. Restraint of Butler, 24 Wn. App. 175, 599 P.2d 1311 (1979).

¶10 Freeman and Butler, however, are distinguishable. The defendants in Freeman and Butler directly challenged their multiple current convictions on the ground that they merged. Freeman, 153 Wn.2d at 769-70; Butler, 24 Wn. App. at 175-76. Here, Mr. Torngren collaterally attacks his multiple prior convictions. Freeman and Butler, therefore, do not apply.

¶11 The court may base a defendant’s current sentence on prior convictions so long as those convictions are constitutionally valid on their face. State v. Gimarelli, 105 Wn. App. 370, 375, 20 P.3d 430 (2001). A conviction is not “valid on its face” where the judgment and sentence shows the constitutional invalidity without further elaboration. Ammons, 105 Wn.2d at 188. Said another way, a constitutional flaw must be apparent from the judgment and sentence and any documents signed as part of any plea agreement for a conviction to be facially invalid. Gimarelli, 105 Wn. App. at 375-76.

¶12 Here, Mr. Torngren has not provided us with the judgment and sentence for his 1994 adjudications or 1996 convictions. He offers only different versions of the information filed in each case to argue their invalidity. That does not help. He has failed to produce the documents necessary for us to conduct a meaningful review of the validity of the challenged convictions. State v. Locati, 111 Wn. App. 222, 226, 43 P.3d 1288 (2002). We, therefore, conclude on what we have that the trial court properly considered Mr. Torngren’s 1994 adjudications and 1996 convictions.

[562]*562Same Criminal Conduct (Sentencing)

¶13 Mr. Torngren next argues that both his 1994 adjudications and his 1996 convictions constitute the same criminal conduct for sentencing purposes. And he argues that the sentencing court here had to consider whether prior convictions constitute the same criminal conduct. He is correct. RCW 9.94A.525(5)(a) provides:

In the case of multiple prior convictions, for the purpose of computing the offender score, count all convictions separately, except:
(i) . . . The current sentencing court shall determine with respect to other prior adult offenses for which sentences were served concurrently or prior juvenile offenses for which sentences were served consecutively, whether those offenses shall be counted as one offense or as separate offenses using the “same criminal conduct” analysis.

¶14 The state Supreme Court first announced a test for “same criminal conduct” in State v. Dunaway.1 The legislature codified this test in former RCW 9.94A.400(1)(a) (1987). Dunaway, 109 Wn.2d at 215-16. The announced standard of review for a determination of “same criminal conduct” is abuse of discretion. State v. French, 157 Wn.2d 593, 613, 141 P.3d 54 (2006); State v. Tili, 139 Wn.2d 107, 122, 985 P.2d 365 (1999); State v. Davison, 56 Wn. App. 554, 558, 784 P.2d 1268 (1990).

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147 Wash. App. 556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-torngren-washctapp-2008.