State v. Westwood

CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 7, 2023
Docket100,570-9
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of State v. Westwood (State v. Westwood) 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. Westwood, (Wash. 2023).

Opinion

NOTICE: SLIP OPINION (not the court’s final written decision)

The opinion that begins on the next page is a slip opinion. Slip opinions are the written opinions that are originally filed by the court. A slip opinion is not necessarily the court’s final written decision. Slip opinions can be changed by subsequent court orders. For example, a court may issue an order making substantive changes to a slip opinion or publishing for precedential purposes a previously “unpublished” opinion. Additionally, nonsubstantive edits (for style, grammar, citation, format, punctuation, etc.) are made before the opinions that have precedential value are published in the official reports of court decisions: the Washington Reports 2d and the Washington Appellate Reports. An opinion in the official reports replaces the slip opinion as the official opinion of the court. The slip opinion that begins on the next page is for a published opinion, and it has since been revised for publication in the printed official reports. The official text of the court’s opinion is found in the advance sheets and the bound volumes of the official reports. Also, an electronic version (intended to mirror the language found in the official reports) of the revised opinion can be found, free of charge, at this website: https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports. For more information about precedential (published) opinions, nonprecedential (unpublished) opinions, slip opinions, and the official reports, see https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions and the information that is linked there. For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. FILE THIS OPINION WAS FILED FOR RECORD AT 8 A.M. ON SEPTEMBER 7, 2023 IN CLERK’S OFFICE SUPREME COURT, STATE OF WASHINGTON SEPTEMBER 7, 2023 ERIN L. LENNON SUPREME COURT CLERK

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) ) No. 100570-9 Petitioner, ) ) v. ) En Banc ) DAHNDRE KAVAUGN WESTWOOD, ) ) Filed: September 7, 2023 Respondent. ) )

JOHNSON, J.—In 1987, the legislature amended the sentencing law to add

a definition of “same criminal conduct” as “two or more crimes that require the

same criminal intent, are committed at the same time and place, and involve the

same victim.” RCW 9.94A.589(1)(a); former RCW 9.94A.400(1)(a) (1984).

Before this amendment, courts used the “same objective intent” test to determine

whether a defendant’s actions constituted same criminal conduct for sentencing

purposes. State v. Dunaway, 109 Wn.2d 207, 743 P.2d 1237, 749 P.2d 160 (1987).

Following the amendment, this court determined that the objective intent test from For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. State v. Westwood, No. 100570-9

Dunaway continued to be part of the same criminal conduct analysis for defining

“same criminal intent.” Postamendment cases have consistently applied the

Dunaway test, requiring that courts look to the objective statutory criminal intent

of the crimes charged, as did the court in State v. Chenoweth, 185 Wn.2d 218, 370

P.3d 6 (2016).

Some lower courts have found conflict between the analysis in Dunaway and

that in Chenoweth. We take this opportunity to provide guidance on the

relationship between these cases and find that no conflict exists between these

preamendment and postamendment cases. We hold that the objective statutory

intent analysis is the proper test. We affirm the sentencing court’s decision and

reverse the Court of Appeals.

FACTS

The parties do not dispute the material facts. Dahndre Westwood entered

A.B.’s house around 4:30 a.m. A.B. saw Westwood standing in her hallway and

holding a knife in his hand. A.B. yelled at him to get out, but Westwood pushed

A.B. into her room and onto her bed. Westwood told her to get undressed and

threatened to kill her if she did not cooperate. A.B. screamed for help and pleaded

for her life; she clawed at Westwood and knocked the knife out of his hand. During

the struggle, Westwood nicked A.B. with the knife, leaving a scar on her cheek.

2 For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. State v. Westwood, No. 100570-9

Westwood choked and suffocated A.B. to muffle her screams for help and hit her

repeatedly on the head.

Several cars passed A.B.’s house while this transpired, and the headlights

shone in the window. Westwood stopped his assault after the second or third set of

headlights passed. He threatened A.B. that if she told anyone about the assault he

would come back to kill her. Westwood then ran into the living room and out the

front door. A.B. called 911 and was taken to the hospital by first responders shortly

after.

At trial, a jury convicted Westwood of attempted rape in the first degree,

assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree,1 and burglary in the first

degree. At sentencing, Westwood argued that his convictions encompassed the

same criminal conduct for scoring purposes. The State disagreed and asked the

court to apply the analysis from Chenoweth. The trial court determined that the

three convictions did not constitute the same criminal conduct because each of the

crimes required a different statutory intent.

Westwood appealed, arguing that Dunaway controlled. The Court of

Appeals, Division Three, in an unpublished decision, remanded the case to the trial

court for determination of whether the convictions encompassed the same criminal

conduct under the analysis of Dunaway. The court noted that Chenoweth was

1 This charge was dismissed by the court based on double jeopardy issues.

3 For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. State v. Westwood, No. 100570-9

limited to cases of rape and incest. State v. Westwood, No. 35792-9-III, slip op. at

13 (Wash. Ct. App. Mar. 19, 2020) (unpublished),

https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/357929_unp.pdf.

In April 2020, before the trial court could decide the new sentence on

remand, the Court of Appeals, Division Two, issued State v. Johnson, 12 Wn. App.

2d 201, 460 P.3d 1091 (2020), aff’d, 197 Wn.2d 740, 487 P.3d 893 (2021). In

Johnson, the court applied Chenoweth outside the context of child rape and incest.

On remand, the State again argued that the test from Chenoweth is correct.

The trial court again agreed and concluded that the defendant did not prove that the

crimes constituted same criminal conduct. Westwood again appealed. The Court of

Appeals, Division Three, acknowledged the conflict with Johnson but reversed and

remanded Westwood’s sentence with directions to apply Dunaway. State v.

Westwood, 20 Wn. App. 2d 582, 591-92, 500 P.3d 182 (2021). The State then

sought review by this court, which we granted. State v. Westwood, 199 Wn.2d

1030 (2022).

ANALYSIS

The legislature updated the Sentencing Reform Act of 1981 (SRA), ch.

9.94A RCW, in 1987, to clarify how courts will determine an offender score and

whether sentences will be served consecutively or concurrently. The relevant

section now reads:

4 For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. State v. Westwood, No. 100570-9

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Washington v. Fernando Marcos Gutierrez
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2022

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State v. Westwood, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-westwood-wash-2023.