Opinion ID: 1135638
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Heading: the development of lesser included offense law in washington

Text: A survey of the development of lesser included offense law in Washington indicates the absence of authority for departing from the statutory approach. Court rule CrRLJ 6.15(f) provides with respect to lesser included offense instructions: Several Offenses. The verdict forms for an offense charged or necessarily included in the offense charged or an attempt to commit either the offense charged or any offense necessarily included therein may be submitted to the jury. RCW 10.61.006 similarly provides: [T]he defendant may be found guilty of an offense the commission of which is necessarily included within that with which he is charged in the indictment or information. In State v. Roybal, 82 Wn.2d 577, 583, 512 P.2d 718 (1973), we clarified the meaning of necessarily included as follows: A lesser included offense exists when all of the elements of the lesser offense are necessary elements of the greater offense.... Put another way, if it is possible to commit the greater offense without having committed the lesser offense, the latter is not an included crime. In State v. Workman, 90 Wn.2d at 447-49, we adhered to the statutory approach, but extended the statutory inquiry beyond the explicit statutory language, to include elements necessarily and invariably included in the greater offense. Workman involved the question whether unlawfully carrying a weapon (under RCW 9.41.270) was included within the charged crime of first degree robbery. First degree robbery required that the defendant be armed with a deadly weapon in the commission of a robbery. RCW 9A.56.200; Workman, 90 Wn.2d at 448. Unlawfully carrying a weapon contained an element not explicit in the definition of attempted first degree robbery, namely carrying a weapon under circumstances warranting alarm for the safety of others, RCW 9.41.270(1); see Workman, 90 Wn.2d at 447. We concluded that a lesser included instruction should have been given: It is clear that the element of carrying a weapon under RCW 9.41.270, the gross misdemeanor, is a necessary element of the greater crime of first-degree robbery. Likewise, the element of circumstances warranting alarm under the lesser offense is an inherent characteristic of an attempt to commit a robbery. The existence of such circumstances therefore qualifies as a necessary element of the greater offense of attempted first-degree robbery. The first condition of the test for an included offense is thus met here. (Italics ours.) Workman, 90 Wn.2d at 448. One Court of Appeals case, State v. Gatalski, 40 Wn. App. 601, 612-13, 699 P.2d 804, review denied, 104 Wn.2d 1019 (1985), subsequently mistook Workman to sanction a factual rather than a statutory inquiry. A concurrence in a different case identified the conceptual subtlety in Workman that gave rise to the misunderstanding: The opinion in Workman introduced confusion and uncertainty into the subject of lesser included offenses because, while not following strictly the established rule, the court did not expressly recognize that it was adopting a different rule. State v. Partosa, 41 Wn. App. 266, 274, 703 P.2d 1070 (also misreading Workman), review denied, 104 Wn.2d 1017 (1985). A careful reading of Workman would have dispelled the confusion. In Workman we did not abandon the statutory approach; rather, we modified it to reduce some of its rigidity. We did so by continuing to focus on the statutory elements, but in a manner that no longer rendered dispositive the precise verbal formulation by which they were expressed. See Workman, 90 Wn.2d at 447-48. In Workman and subsequent cases, we continued to focus on the statutory elements. In State v. Johnson, 100 Wn.2d 607, 674 P.2d 145 (1983), overruled on other grounds in State v. Bergeron, 105 Wn.2d 1, 711 P.2d 1000 (1985), for example, we were asked to consider whether possession of stolen property was a lesser included offense of burglary. The defendant in that case conceded that the instruction was properly denied under Workman, but urged the court to adopt the standard of the Ninth Circuit on lesser included offenses. See Johnson, 100 Wn.2d at 627-28. Under that approach, a lesser included offense instruction must be given whenever (1) the offenses relate to protection of the same interests and (2) in the general nature of these crimes, though not necessarily invariably, proof of the lesser offense is necessarily presented as part of the showing of the commission of the greater offense. United States v. Johnson, 637 F.2d 1224, 1239 (9th Cir.1980) (quoting United States v. Whitaker, 447 F.2d 314, 319 (D.C. Cir.1971)), quoted in Johnson, 100 Wn.2d at 628. We rejected an expansive reading of Workman, explaining that although we tacitly recognized such a test in Workman, we did so in a context in which the elements of the lesser offense were invariably inherent in the greater offense and were part of the same act. See Johnson, 100 Wn.2d at 628. Our decision in Johnson to maintain the statutory approach was prompted by our appreciation of its objective merits. These have been methodically identified by another court as follows: The approach (1) is consistent with the necessarily included language of the state rule of criminal procedure; (2) is a clear and therefore easily administrable rule; (3) does not require factfinding or weighing of evidence by the court to determine when a lesser included offense instruction should be given; and, (4) better comports with the constitutional requirement of adequate notice. See State v. Jeffries, 430 N.W.2d 728, 737-38 (Iowa 1988). The interpretation of Workman that supports the State's position in this case, Gatalski, has been abandoned by the very court that authored it. In Gatalski, the offense charged was attempted kidnapping in the first degree. The defendant was convicted of unlawful imprisonment. The Court of Appeals affirmed, despite the fact that not every attempted kidnapping necessarily involves unlawful restraint, because it erroneously read Workman to permit an inquiry beyond the statutory elements. See Gatalski, 40 Wn. App. at 612-13. In a later case, the Court of Appeals explained the rationale for Gatalski's liberal reading of Workman. The Gatalski court had created an exception to the statutory approach in the case of attempted crimes, because attempts always contain the element of `substantial step', which is not[,] and cannot be[,] statutorily defined. See Partosa, 41 Wn. App. at 272 n. 6 (also misreading Workman ). Since Gatalski and Partosa, the Court of Appeals has retreated from its position. Thus in State v. Falco, 59 Wn. App. 354, 359, 796 P.2d 796 (1990), the Court of Appeals held that communication with a minor for an immoral purpose is not the lesser included offense of attempted statutory rape. The court reasoned that, because it is possible to attempt the greater without necessarily committing the lesser, the elements of the lesser offense were not invariably inherent in the greater. Significantly, Falco recognized that Johnson required the elements of the lesser offense to be invariably inherent in the greater. See Falco, 59 Wn. App. 354, 357 (citing State v. Johnson, 100 Wn.2d 607, 674 P.2d 145 (1983) and noting that Gatalski, which held to the contrary, failed to cite Johnson ). Falco, 59 Wn. App. at 357 n. 1. See also State v. Baldwin, 63 Wn. App. 536, 539-40, 821 P.2d 496 (1991) (correctly applying the Workman test and declining to follow Gatalski). The Washington Supreme Court has continued to adhere to the statutory approach. As recently as 1989, in State v. Jackson, 112 Wn.2d 867, 878, 774 P.2d 1211 (1989), we held that malicious mischief is not a lesser included offense of attempted burglary because one does not invariably cause physical damage while attempting a burglary. This recent Washington Supreme Court decision, in the context of an attempted crime, emphasizes our reluctance to depart from the statutory approach even in the case of attempts. The practical effect of reversing the trial court, however, need not unduly hamper prosecutorial discretion. As a practical matter, the State need only charge the defendant in the alternative to render a lesser instruction proper. Indeed, at oral argument, counsel for the State candidly conceded this is the better practice. The approach we reaffirm today is consistent with Washington Supreme Court precedent, and is likewise consistent with the terms of the statute and court rule, see RCW 10.61.006 and CrRLJ 6.15(f), supra, which by their very terms contemplate looking to the necessary elements of the lesser included offense. Harris's conviction is reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. BRACHTENBACH, DURHAM, SMITH, GUY, and JOHNSON, JJ., concur. ANDERSEN, C.J., concurs in the result.