IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION THREE

STATE OF WASHINGTON,

Respondent,

v.

JASON ANTHONY DAVIS,

Appellant.

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No. 36759-2-III

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

SIDDOWAY, J. —Jason Davis appeals convictions for residential burglary and theft 

in the second degree, challenging the sufficiency of the State’s evidence to prove the 

required intent. Viewed in the light most favorable to the State, the evidence and 

permitted inferences were clearly sufficient. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Sarah Joplin and Daiquiri Rock are co-owners of the Seasoned House, an event 

center located in Pullman. The business operates on the first floor of a building owned 

FILED

FEBRUARY 2, 2021

In the Office of the Clerk of Court

WA State Court of Appeals, Division III
No. 36759-2-III

State v. Davis

2

by the two women; the second floor of the building is private space that includes a 

furnished bedroom apartment that is sometimes used by Ms. Rock.

Ms. Joplin traveled to the event center early in the morning of February 6, 2019, to 

shovel snow. She initially noticed an unusual number of footprints in the snow, including 

leading up the front stairs. She then noticed that a window to the left of the front door 

was broken and a rug that belonged on the floor of the entry way had been tacked up over 

the broken window opening. 

The front door had no exterior key accessibility, so Ms. Joplin went to the back 

door, which she entered using a key pad. Upon entering, she saw Jason Davis standing

directly across the room from her, looking at clocks on the wall and drinking a beer from 

her refrigerator. Ms. Joplin introduced herself and asked Mr. Davis if he had an 

appointment. Mr. Davis said he did; that “he was there to fix the clocks . . . to change the 

batteries.” Report of Proceedings (RP) at 172. Ms. Joplin excused herself and went back 

outside, where she phoned Ms. Rock to find out if she had given Mr. Davis permission to

be in the building. When Ms. Rock said she had not, Ms. Joplin called the police. 

Two officers responded. Ms. Joplin let them into the building, and they located 

Mr. Davis in the upstairs bedroom apartment, where they placed him under arrest. While 

escorting Mr. Davis downstairs, one of the officers noticed that Mr. Davis had a ring that 

was only partially on his finger. Upon arriving downstairs, the officer searched Mr. 

Davis and found a plastic “baggy” in a pocket of Mr. Davis’s jeans that contained a set of 
No. 36759-2-III

State v. Davis

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gold earrings with green and clear stones that turned out to be emeralds and diamonds. 

The officer also searched Mr. Davis’s backpack. Officers showed Ms. Joplin the ring, 

earrings, and a few other items found in Mr. Davis’s possession, and she recognized the 

jewelry as belonging to Ms. Rock. 

In walking through the building after Mr. Davis’s arrest, Ms. Joplin noticed that 

many items were strangely out of place. Candles from a candelabra “had fallen out in the 

basement, upstairs in the shower, kind of everywhere in the house,” furniture had been 

stacked, food items had been consumed, and the glass from the broken out window had 

been hidden under a rug. RP at 169-70. A drink had been made from blue curaçao, the 

bottle of which was missing. The bottle was found several weeks later, behind a 

temporary wall. 

Mr. Davis was eventually charged with residential burglary, second degree theft, 

and third degree malicious mischief. At a two day jury trial, Ms. Joplin testified to the 

events of the morning of February 6 and identified Mr. Davis as the person she 

encountered in her and Ms. Rock’s building. Ms. Rock identified her jewelry. The 

responding officers testified. A jewelry store owner testified that Ms. Rock’s ring was 

worth about $100 and the earrings were worth about $3,000. 

Mr. Davis testified in his own defense. He testified that he entered the Seasoned 

House after sitting on its porch for a while because it was “freezing outside and I didn’t 

think I could handle it anymore.” RP at 265. He claimed not to know the building was a 
No. 36759-2-III

State v. Davis

4

residence. He would not concede that he broke the window, saying “I don’t know if the 

window was—like the officer said, he had stepped on that glass. Those were perfectly 

pieces of glass that would have been able to be put back in to the window. . . . [T]hey 

were not broken.” RP at 265-66. When asked about the property found on his person, 

Mr. Davis said, “I was going to take a picture and do an appraisal.” RP at 265. He said it 

was not his intent to steal the ring, he just wanted to “take a picture of that ring and 

compare it or appraise it to [his acquaintance] Mrs. Stone’s ring that she wears 24/7 that 

looked exactly like that.” RP at 266. 

Mr. Davis testified “when the person had seen [him] and called [him] a ghost 

when she came in, the stuff was sitting next to [him] with the hammer.” RP at 268. Mr. 

Davis said he took the jewelry “from the area where the clocks were not working to 

upstairs.” Id. Mr. Davis said he was “not a hundred percent sure if” officers found the 

earrings in his pocket. Id. When asked if the ring was on his finger, Mr. Davis said, “the 

first time [he had] seen the ring it was on the ground.” Id. 

The jury found Mr. Davis guilty as charged. He appeals. 

ANALYSIS

Mr. Davis contends on appeal that the State presented insufficient evidence of 

essential elements of residential burglary and second degree theft. He emphasizes 

evidence of his “odd behaviors” while in the Seasoned House, suggesting that the 

evidence indicates only that he “acted strangely.” Br. of Appellant at 6-7. He contends 
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State v. Davis

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the State failed to show that he intended to commit a crime inside the building as required 

for the burglary charge because he “only intended to seek shelter during a cold winter 

night.” Br. of Appellant at 2. He contends it failed to show that he intended to deprive 

Ms. Rock of her earrings and ring as required for the theft charge, because he “intended 

to take photos of the jewelry found on his person, and . . . made no attempt to leave to 

remove property from the premises.” Id.

Due process requires the State to prove all elements of a crime beyond a 

reasonable doubt. State v. Washington, 135 Wn. App. 42, 48, 143 P.3d 606 (2006). The 

well settled test for sufficiency of the evidence is “whether, after viewing the evidence in 

the light most favorable to the State, any rational trier of fact could have found guilt 

beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Salinas, 119 Wn.2d 192, 201, 829 P.2d 1068 

(1992). All reasonable inferences from the evidence are drawn in favor of the State and 

are interpreted most strongly against the defendant. Id.

“A person is guilty of residential burglary if, with intent to commit a crime against 

a person or property therein, the person enters or remains unlawfully in a dwelling other 

than a vehicle.” RCW 9A.52.025(1). Burglary does not require an intent to commit a 

specific crime; rather, it requires an intent to commit any crime against a person or 

property. State v. Bergeron, 105 Wn.2d 1, 4, 711 P.2d 1000 (1985). Intent to commit a 

crime may be inferred when a person enters or remains unlawfully. State v. Cantu, 156 

Wn.2d 819, 826, 132 P.3d 725 (2006); State v. Bishop, 90 Wn.2d 185, 188-89, 580 P.2d 
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259 (1978). By statute, a person who enters or remains unlawfully in a building may be 

inferred to have acted with intent to commit a crime against a person or property therein

“unless such entering or remaining shall be explained by evidence satisfactory to the trier 

of fact to have been made without such criminal intent.” RCW 9A.52.040. 

“[A] person is guilty of theft in the second degree if he or she commits theft of: (a) 

Property or services which exceed(s) seven hundred fifty dollars in value but does not 

exceed five thousand dollars in value, other than a firearm as defined in RCW 9.41.010 or 

a motor vehicle.” RCW 9A.56.040. Theft is defined as “wrongfully obtain[ing] or 

exert[ing] unauthorized control over the property or services of another or the value 

thereof, with intent to deprive him or her of such property or services.” RCW 9A.56.020.

“Intent may be inferred from all the facts and circumstances surrounding the 

commission of an act or acts.” Bergeron, 105 Wn.2d at 19. “Although intent may not be 

inferred from conduct that is patently equivocal, it may be inferred from conduct that 

plainly indicates such intent as a matter of logical probability.” Id. 

The obvious problem with Mr. Davis’s claim of evidence insufficiency is that he 

views the evidence in the light most favorable to himself, not the State. The State 

presented evidence that he broke a window to enter a building without permission, rifled 

through the building and upstairs apartment, was found with Ms. Rock’s ring and 

valuable earrings on his person, and when confronted by the owner of the property, lied 

about the reason he was present. The evidence was sufficient.
No. 36759-2-III

State v. Davis

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Affirmed. 

A majority of the panel has determined this opinion will not be printed in the 

Washington Appellate Reports, but it will be filed for public record pursuant to RCW 

2.06.040.

_____________________________

Siddoway, J.

WE CONCUR:

_____________________________

Pennell, C.J.

_____________________________

Lawrence-Berrey, J.